CHAPTER TWO:



"Come, come, we're going to be late!" called Mrs. Weasley.

"Mum! We're going as fast as possible!" yelled Ron.

"Arthur dear, do you think he's going through that 'rebellious teenager stage' that Susan down at Gobbs was talking about?"

"No, idea, Molly. No idea. Hard to tell, you know, seeing he does have a lot to live up to."

Harry was first downstairs, dragging his trunk and Hedwig's cage behind him. Mr. Weasley rushed to take the trunk to the waiting car, and Harry followed. Hedwig squawked and ruffled her wings impatiently. Just then Ron came walking out of the house. He threw his trunk in the car and put Pidweigon in his cage. Ginny slowly walked out, followed by the others. She carefully placed her things in, and gave a frightened look at Harry before running to the door.

"Why is your sister scared of me?" he asked Ron, who was fiddling with a bag of Owl Treats.

"Dunno," he answered. "Famous Harry Potter and all that."

"She never did it this much before."

Ron shrugged.

'Thanks, Ron, you're a big help." He said sarcastically, clapping Ron on the shoulder and smiling.

They piled in the car and made their way to King's Cross. At Platforms nine and ten, they got in a unobvious single file line and swished through the barrier.

After boarding the train, Harry pulled a letter out of his pocket, wondering what it was.

"Oh.." he said to himself. "This is the letter from Hermoine, telling of the teacher camp." He showed it to Ron.

"Why is she going there, anyway?"

"Because she got a letter."

"She could have come to Hogwarts and refused." He said gruffly.

"Ron, don't be stupid. You know Hermoine would never pass up an opportunity like this! Especially if it has something to do with school."

Ron just looked out the window.

"Miss her, do you?" he said under his breath.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Before they knew it the train was pulling in to Hogsmeade station. They clambered out and headed for the horseless carriages .

"Harry! Ron!" called a voice. Both boys turned. It was Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, forgetful boy and Seamus Finnigan, who was quite prone to making things explode.

"Wait up!"

All four of them piled into a carriage and it abruptly started to move down the trail. The ride seemed to last longer than usual, and when they finally stopped, the sky was growing dark. The filed into the Great Hall and sat down. The terrified first years walked in, nervously glancing at the high ceiling and the floating candles, the golden plates and goblets gleaming like always. They sat there, while the sorting was taking place, almost bored because they knew nobody.

"C'mon… c'mon….c'mon…" Ron muttered, staring at his plate. The last student hopped off the stool and sat down, and the golden plates and goblets blossomed with food.

"Wonder who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be?" wondered Harry, piling mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Dunno, someone said Lupin would be back, but I doubt it." Added Ron, gulping some pumpkin juice.

"Don't see anyone new," Neville said, searching the High Table.

The feast ended too soon, and the Gryffindors headed up long flights of stairs. Harry and Ron's weren't even listening when a prefect spoke the password. All they had energy to do was slump upstairs to the fifth year boy's dorms, change, and fall into bed. It was going to be a long year.