Hello everyone, and welcome back to A Final Chance! Wow! My inbox has just been swarmed lately with renewed interest in this story, which of course made me feel the need to upload this next chapter. So sorry about the huge delay, I don't really have an excuse other than Life got in the way. But here in chapter six, I hope you enjoy it, it's a bit shorter than the others but its what I had ready to go, so I suppose I should go get started on chapter 7. I still don't really have a huge plan for this story, just writing it as I can honestly. And I also think that I sent them back too early...so that's been gnawing at me a lot too...I kinda want to restart and go from about year 4 onwards, but then I don't quite know how to get Draco in with Harry and Hermione...and damn, you may just be seeing some new stuff soon knowing me.
I only really do this for fun of course, so blah blah blah JK Rowling owns HP and all that jazz...
Chapter Six: Wait, What?
The three first years in the train carriage were laughing as Harry and Hermione introduced Draco to the muggle sweets they had acquired before meeting him. Draco especially enjoyed the M&Ms.
Suddenly the door slammed open, and a panting redheaded boy peered into the small room.
'Can we help you?' sneered Draco.
'I'm looking for Harry Potter,' the boy said. 'I heard he's on the train today.'
'Well, he's not in here,' said Harry quickly, drawing an odd look from Draco, which Hermione quickly diffused with a subtle shake of her head.
Without even a goodbye, the boy was gone.
'What was that about?' demanded Draco as Hermione sighed and got up to close the door.
Harry rolled his eyes. 'Come on Draco, you saw him. He burst in here without even a hello, demanding to see Harry Potter. I don't think I want to associate with anyone like that, do you?'
'No, when you put it that way, I suppose not.'
There was a polite knock at the door, and they all glanced at each other and shrugged.
'Come in,' called Hermione.
The door slid open gently and a dreamy voice said 'Hello Harry Potter, Hermione Dagworth-Granger. It's nice to see you both again.'
'Luna?' Gaped Harry as he and Hermione stared at the small blonde-haired girl in front of them.
Luna grinned at them as she told them to shut their mouths before the gulping mimsies took refuge there. Harry and Hermione snapped their mouths shut with a laugh and launched themselves at the blonde and hugged the breath out of her, all three laughing and crying happily.
Draco was frowning at the interaction. Hadn't Harry just said he didn't want to associate with people who just wanted to be seen with the Boy Who Lived?
'Draco,' said Hermione after they separated. 'This is our good friend Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is a new friend, Draco Malfoy.'
'A pleasure to meet you, Draco Malfoy,' said Luna dreamily as Harry closed the door and gestured for her to sit. 'I hope we can also be friends.'
'Uh, well met Miss Lovegood. I'm sure that once we get to know each other we shall indeed be friends. Harry, Hermione, if you'll excuse me, I think I should go find my friends and let them know I made it on the train okay.'
'Of course, you go on Draco,' said Hermione. 'We have some catching up to do with Luna here anyway.'
'Please join us again later though,' Harry said with a smile. 'And bring your friends too if you like, we'd love to meet them.'
'Of course,' Draco nodded. 'Until later then.'
After the young pureblood had left, Harry and Hermione turned expectedly to Luna who giggled before beginning her tale.
'Alright, I know you're both shocked, so let me tell how I'm here. In the Before, as Rainbow called it, yes, she was my Reaper too, I was killed after that big fight at Hogwarts.'
'Oh Luna, I'm so sorry,' said Hermione as she hugged her friend. 'If you don't mind me asking, what happened? Was it a Deatheater?'
'Oh no, not a Deatheater.' Replied Luna sadly. 'No, it was Ginny.'
'Ginny?' Harry asked, startled. Yes, he'd been told of her actions towards him, but she had killed her best friend?
'Yes, I'm afraid so. I had just witnessed Ronald trying to potion Hermione, I later learnt he was actually trying to re-potion you. I tried to help you, Hermione, but I was too late. Ginny said she couldn't risk me telling anyone what I knew, especially you Harry, she was adamant that you weren't dead, but that even if you were she could bring you back and make you hers again. I tried to get away from her, but she killed me with an Avada. The last thing I saw was her face twisting into this evil grin, it was terrifying to see. That's when I met Rainbow.'
'That's horrible Ginny, I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but that doesn't explain how you're here now. I mean, I get the Redo, we both had it after all, but you're a year younger than us, how can you be here on the train a year early?'
'Easy. I made them make me a year older so I could join you both.'
Before Harry and Hermione could say anything in reply to that, Rainbow appeared before them again.
'This is getting tiresome,' she complained. 'Never have I had to interact with the Living so many times. Alright, listen up, because I am not answering any questions, and I don't want to have to come back here again, it's uncomfortable for me. Luna is here because she is quite tenacious when it comes to getting her way. She demanded that she be able to join you for first year in order to help you overcome everything. I won't go into the specifics of how we made that happen, even I don't understand everything, or even how she managed to convince those higher powers to do what she wanted, but here we are. Now, I'm going, and no offence but I hope I don't have to see you again until you all die.' And with that, Rainbow faded away.
'Well, Rainbow was right about one thing,' said Harry into the stunned silence that had followed their joint Reaper's retreat. 'Our Luna sure is tenacious.'
Hermione and Luna stared at him and burst into giggles. Harry quickly joined them, and they were all still laughing when Draco returned with his friends.
'What's so funny?' He asked as he retook his seat, gesturing for his friends to sit too.
'Just an old joke between us,' Hermione said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. 'Don't worry about it. Hello,' she said, turning to the newcomers. 'I'm Heir Hermione Dagworth-Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you.'
'And I'm Harry Potter,' said Harry with an easy smile. 'This is our friend, Luna Lovegood.'
Luna smiled and nodded at the others.
'Did you say Dagworth-Granger?' Gaped the boy. 'I thought that family was long extinct.'
'Blaise, manners!' Hissed the girl. She turned to the three friends and introduced herself. 'Pansy Parkinson, a pleasure to meet you all.'
'Well met Miss Parkinson,' smiled Harry. 'And, Blaise, was it?' He added as he looked at the other boy in the carriage.
'Uh, yes, so sorry. Blaise Zabini,' the boy blushed. 'Please excuse my rudeness Miss Dagworth-Granger, it's just, your family name hasn't been heard for generations.'
'Yes, I expect I'll be getting a lot of attention due to my name,' mused Hermione. 'But no harm done Blaise. Truth is, I thought I was a muggleborn until Harry convinced me to do an ancestry test at Gringotts not too long ago. The goblins were very surprised to discover my lineage, as was I. Turns out, there was a Dagworth-Granger who was a squib but was never actually formally disowned from the family, and they had a family but magic didn't resurface until myself. The goblins were very happy to reopen an old family vault and get that gold back into circulation, though of course I can't access the main vault until I'm of age, but I do have a rather substantial trust vault and was able to claim the Heir ring.' She flashed the ring for a moment, and Harry showed his Potter Heir ring too, and then Luna showed her Lovegood Heir ring. Draco then had to show off his Malfoy Heir ring.
Neither Pansy nor Blaise had Heir rings, Blaise because his mother hadn't deemed him ready to claim the ring yet, and Pansy because though she was the first born, her father still held out hope for a male heir, despite her mother failing to fall pregnant again after her.
By the time the train pulled in at Hogwarts, all six of them were well on the way to being good friends.
The girls had kicked the boys out in order to get changed into their robes first, then vacated the compartment to give the boys a chance to get changed. Both Pansy and Blaise had had their shrunken trunks in their pockets, but now both were stowed with the others in the compartment as they had been told by a passing prefect that their trunks would be delivered to their dorms after the Sorting.
The train slowed and finally came to a stop, so they joined the throngs of students disembarking the train, saying a fond farewell to their various familiars until they were reunited after the Sorting. In addition to Hedwig and Crookshanks, Luna had a black cat this time around that she had named Midday, Draco had a large eagle owl named Ulyses, Blaise also had a cat, a spotted tabby he had named Donatella, and Pansy had a purebred kneazle called Scarlet.
'Firs' years! Firs' years over 'here!' Harry, Hermione, and Luna all grinned at the familiar drawl of the gamekeeper, Hagrid.
