Chapter 12- Summer plans
Harry rested his head on Hermione's lap as the train sped through the English countryside. She stroked his hair as he rested, feeling overwhelmed from the end of the year. Harry remembered the meeting they had in Dumbledore's office a few days before term ended.
Dumbledore once told the group he would explain his plans once they came to fruition, and one of the first things he did was pull out a glowing orb. "I thought only me and Voldemort could retrieve those?" Harry asked. Albus smirked. "Only those the Prophecies are made about and those that hear it. During a meeting at the ministry where Cornelius kept trying to enact more reforms on me, I picked it up and brought it here. I will keep a small guard but not to the extent as the last time line." Dumbledore explained. He then placed it in a box and placed it on one of his shelves.
"As for other summer plans. I am not making the same mistake as last time. The Death Eaters cannot approach your home and surrounding neighborhood because of the protection. However, leaving you alone was always a foolish idea so your guards will be out in the open." Albus explained. "Also, Remus and Sirius will have a direct guard post as Sirius bought a house nearby. That home is on the floo network so we don't have to rely on apparition."
"Well, I suppose its good that Harry won't be totally alone with his relatives." Hermione said, she had a sad look as she still felt the Headmaster will still try something dumb. "Yes, and that leaves us with home security. I am assigning one of you to stay at his home." Albus said. All three gave Albus a doubletake that he smirked at them.
"Which one of us?" Ron asked. Albus considered his options. "Ronald, you will spend a week at home at the Burrow then you will head to Privet Drive. You might stay at number six with Sirius and Remus or I might have you stay at Number four. But either way, there will be days you can spend time with your family directly." Albus said then he turned to Hermione. "You will spend time with your parents. However, I am not a fool and am currently arranging a means to get you from Crawley and Surrey. I just need to get Mundungus to purchase the item I need." Albus said. Hermione perked up at the idea of being able to see Harry while Harry was just glad he wasn't going to be totally alone.
"I have a few more things to go over with you but I feel I shall visit to check on you." Albus said as he dismissed them.
The trio had made their way down to the Great Hall and were seen either with suspicion or sympathy. The students from Durmstrung and Beauxbatons were friendly with the trio, seeing as Harry was kind to their Champions. Hufflepuff and most of Gryffindor were loyal to Harry, the Ravenclaws and Slytherins were uncertain.
The Prophet helped very little as the Ministry tried to portray Harry as an attention seeker with Dumbledore as a senile old man. Harry and Albus had planned for this but it still irritated him when Cormac made a scene.
"Hey look, its Potter, everyone clap for his ego!" He said while clapping his hands. Harry schooled his features and sat down with Hermione, ignoring the git. Cormac through was not to be ignored. "Hey Granger, does he pay for you to get all pretied up or can I have a taste?" He said holding up a small bag of gold. Hermione remembered the git's future self and him making a similar offer. She palmed her wand but was stopped by Harry's hand reaching under the table.
Cormac smirked and turned his eyes to Ron. "Hey Weasley, you gunna just stare. You gotta eat sometime!" He said. A bitter memory came over Ron, as he wished he had his axe with him. He merely glared at the smirking Cormac.
"Hey, Brown. Come over here away from those losers. You look tasty." He said to Lavender. Ron though jumped up from his seat and headed towards Cormac with murder in his eyes. Before he could reach him, Vikto intercepted him and pulled him aside. "Allov me." He said and turned his attention to the git.
"You vish to play Quidditch ya?" He asked, glowering at Cormac. The boy merely smirked. "Yea, my father told me I should try out. Good career options for later." He said. Krum then got into his face. "Then you consider your vords. I make friends vith Potter and Veasley. They tell me you are harassing vomen, then I just say one vord about you to several league members and you vill never play professionally in this lifetime." Krum glowered. Cormac still had a smirk in his face, not believing the world famous seeker. After all, Quidditch wasn't forever and he would fade by the time he graduated.
"I am not afraid of scum like you." Cormac whispered and stepped back from the glaring Krum and backed into an equally glaring Dumbledore. "McLaggen. The staff have seen the whole thing. Effective immediately, I hereby ban you from playing Quidditch for the school." He said, giving Cormac a shock. "You can't do that!" He said. Albus smirked. "This is my school. And I will not tolerate your behavior any longer." He then turned to the whole school. "I will not tolerate this behavior from anyone. Bullies are not to be formed here at Hogwarts and next year you will find a few more rules to curb your behavior." He said, causing quiet discussion amongst the tables.
Albus ignored the shocked yet proud looks of the other teachers as he resumed eating. Cormac still seemed to be in shock. Viktor nodded to the headmaster and turned to the others. "I mean it, one vord and McLaggen is mud in Quidditch." He said to Ron. Ron nodded as Viktor gripped his shoulder.
Fleur watched the proceedings and wished she could have gotten to the git first. She had her own way of dealing with men like him. Although she did turn to the other ravenclaw girls. "Who is that leetle boy?" She asked, putting the seed in their minds as she called him a little boy. Cho Chang answered. "He is a creepy git named Cormac McLaggen. But yea, he does seem to be a little boy." She said. And soon all of Hogwarts would know Cormac was considered a little boy.
The quiet chaos of everyone leaving the school was fun as everyone said their farewells and made summer plans. Harry and Ron were helping Hermione and Lavender with their trunks. Lavender giggled as Ron carried her trunk over his shoulder. She figured he put a feather light charm on it, until she noticed he was sweating a bit.
Fleur stopped the group to say good bye to them. "Au revoir my friends." She said hugging both Hermione and Lavender. Both Harry and Ron had their arms full of trunks and were giving kisses on their cheeks by Fleur. "Opefully I weel see you soon. I took a job here in England with Gringotts." She said. Ron smirked, he hoped her and Bill would hook up again. He had to shake the memory of finding the broken bodies of the three of them. He made sure Umbridge paid for killing them.
Back on the train, the door was quickly opened and both Draco and Ginny entered, with Draco looking out with his wand out. "The hell is going on?" Ron asked to his sister. "Cormac. He doesn't seem to give up." She said.
"I saw him try and pull her into his compartment. I used a burning curse on his crotch." Draco said. Harry smirked at the thought.
Ginny was still shaking, what she wasn't telling them was Cormac crabbed her by her chest and was pulling her into the compartment. Draco hitting the git with that curse was all she needed to get away.
"In any case. I was coming by to tell you, the other Slytherins will no longer honor the truce. Except for a few. Myself included. I have much to think about after this past year." Draco said. Harry nodded to him. Ginny was sitting down and had a hand around Draco's arm, still slightly shivering from the encounter. Lavender noticed and pulled the young girl into a hug.
"Well, thank you for helping my sister. You are good people Draco." Ron said. Draco returned the nod before departing. Ginny looked out longingly at the boy as he left.
Before long, they found themselves in London, and to spend the summer resting from the exhausting year. Harry and he others got out of the train and found the Weasleys waiting for them. Molly pulling the all into hugs.
"Oh, it is so good to see you dears!" Molly said as she hugged them. Hermione saw a couple of brown haired people and excused herself to go see them. Harry looked over and saw her get weak kneed as she hugged her parents tightly. Harry never asked her what had happened to them, it was obviously to painful for her to say.
She left her parents and grabbed Harry by the hand and led him to her parents. "Harry, here are my parents, this is Craig and Joni Granger." Hermione said. The two greeted Harry with a smile. "Its good to meet you, Hermione said so much about you in her letters." Craig said. He gripped Harry's hand and gave a firm handshake. The moment though was soured by a growling voice. "Are you coming with us boy or are you wasting our time?" Vernon's voice came from behind Harry.
Harry turned around and faced his uncle, and a glare came over him. In the future, he and Vernon never got along, and the time for Dudley being a good person was very short lived as he became a far worse bully. Harry had heard he was killed in a traffic accident that may have been a result of one of his gang members cutting his brakes.
"Hello to you as well Uncle Vernon." Harry said dryly, earning a glare from the large walrus. Harry could see his aunt with Dudley with her nose up as if she smelled something foul. "Sorry, was just meeting my girlfriend's parents." He said. Vernon looked over at Hermione and scoffed. Craig and Joni both looked annoyed at the walrus man. "Well hurry up then, say good bye to the little girl so we can get a move on." Vernon growled and stormed off.
"That man seems awful. Are you sure you should be going with him?" Joni asked concerned. Harry shrugged. "Oh, I have people who will be watching him." Harry said. Craig nodded and they gave Hermione a moment alone with Harry. "I'll see you soon. Hopefully we will see what Dumbledore has cooked up." Hermione said as she hugged Harry. Harry grinned and returned the hug. "I love you. And this will only be a month." Harry said as the pair kissed. Harry could tell his relatives were slightly grossed out but he didn't care. The pair kissed for a moment before breaking the kiss and heading home.
Ron though, was practically snogging Lavender against a wall while saying goodbye, with Arthur looking on amused. Mrs. Brown had yet to cross the barrier but that barely mattered to the pair. Once they broke apart, Lavender grinned at her boyfriend as they separated. "I'll write you. Hopefully we can see each other." Lavender said. Ron nodded as she turned and left for the barrier to meet her mother. Ron waved as she left and as he turned to his family, Ron saw something that was strange, a tall blonde woman facing away from him.
Ron felt she looked familiar, but as he walked towards her, a crowd of people rushed by and she vanished. Ginny grabbed his arm. "You okay?" She asked. Ron nodded while still looking for the strange woman.
The family made their way to the Burrow, and Ron felt a sense of longing seeing it. It felt like ages since he saw his home, in his old lifetime, it was destroyed by the Knights of Purity, Umbridge's fanatical mob that was going around killing blood traitors and muggle borns.
The dinner they had that night was full of laughter as they all told the stories from the year. Even Percy got in on it, helping Fred and George recreate several pranks for the amusement of all. "I can't believe you actually enjoy that." Ginny said to Percy. "Yes well, sometimes you need to let your hair down." He said. He remembered he had a previous appointment and left for a local pub. While standing outside, Ron saw the woman again. She was still facing away from him but a sense of dread came over him as he looked at the woman.
Ginny sat next to him on nudged him. "You okay? You seem distracted." Ginny asked. Ron looked and saw the woman was gone. "I think I'm going nuts." Ron said. Ginny grinned at him. "Must be all the studying you did all year." Ginny nudged him. Ron laughed and soon enough he went up to his room to sleep.
Ron felt uneasy as he woke up. He felt that sense of dread as he turned over. He saw his window was open and Ron didn't remember opening it. He felt an arm around him and felt a presence in his bed, the smells reminding him of Lavender. "Hey hun, I had to see you. Turn around." Lavender said.
Ron rolled over to face her and as he did, he was left in shock. It was an older Lavender, her blonde hair was dirty from years of not taking care of it. Her skin pale and lifeless, the worst part was her eyes were gone, black holes with blood oozing out. "DO YOU SEE?!" The voice came out demonic and her arms grabbed Ron. "DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU MADE?" She said again and Ron screamed.
Ginny rushed into her brother's room to find him in a full blown terror. Ginny rushed to Ron and shook him awake. "Ron! Wake up, you're having a nightmare!" Ginny said as she shook him. Ron's eyes opened and he bolted up and Ginny pulled him into a hug as sobs began wracking his body. "Ron, jesus, you scared me." Ginny said. Ron though was in near hysterics. "It's my fault, I killed her." Ron said through sobs. "Who did you kill?" Ginny asked. Ron looked at her. "Lavender. I killed her."
AN: So, bit of an update. I am not blind. Had surgery to clear the fluid and gunk out of my eyes. I will be managing this condition until I either die or they find a cure for diabetes.
Now, for the reason it has taken me forever to even write more. I didn't want to just retread the book plots and so I decided to do something in the vein of horror. It was always my intention to make the year 5 stuff be different but as I began writing, I got a bit of writers block. I then started getting into other fandoms to try and get over my block. Dead Like Me, Persona, Stranger Things, Batman, stuff like that. But so far nothing has come to me. I will keep working on it and hopefully I'll get act 2 done before the end of next year
Finally, and this is kind of important. At the beginning of next year I am moving. Rent here in my home town has gotten stupid so I am moving to another state. For reference the rent on my apartment is going up $250 and yea that's fucking expensive. Hopefully I'll be situated by mid Febuary.