Chapter Three "Hermione's House."
Harry was so happy; happier than he was when he got
the news that he was invited to Hermione's house. Harry decided that he
might as well change the subject.
"Hermione, did you see that Mr. Weasley is the Minister
of Magic?"
"Really! Wow! I haven't read the Daily Prophet this
week, I've been busy getting ready for you two to arrive."
"They really deserve it, don't you think?"
"They sure do."
"When I found out I was so shocked, because Ron
hasn't said anything about any running for new office."
"That's interesting, but it could have had happened
yesterday."
"That's what I was thinking, hey do you want to
read it? I have my copy in my trunk."
"Sure," so before they closed the trunk to the car,
after they had put Harry's trunk inside, they grabbed Harry's Daily Prophet
clipping. They both got in the back seat, as Mr. and Mrs. Granger got in
the front two.
"I'm glad to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Granger."
"As to you Harry," replied Hermione's parents.
As Harry watched Hermione read the article, he wanted
to say something, he wanted to help her, do something, but all he did was
watch. Finally he said, "Hermione, how far do you live from here?"
"Actually," she said and handing it back to Harry,
"not to far from here, it'll take about ten more minutes."
"That's good. How's Ron getting to your house?"
said Harry as he stuffed the paper in he jeans pocket.
"I think he said that they were going to use Floo
powder, but now that his dad is the Minister of Magic, they'll have ministry
cars, but who knows."
"Oh, the book that you got me was great,
well the part I read, like you said I only needed to read the first rise
part. I skimmed the other two parts, and they have most of the facts right,
besides the whole Sirius thing, and seeing Cedric's name, made me all quivery."
"It's okay Harry there's nothing that you could
have done."
"I was the one who made him take the cup with me.
If I hadn't, he wouldn't be dead, he'd be alive and doing something with
his life, but because of me he's dead now."
"Harry you could have never known that Moody- er-
Crouch, had turned the cup into a portkey. Just like I could have never
known that Viktor's father is a Death Eater."
"'Mione," Harry breathed taking her into his arms
supportively.
All Hermione could do was sob into Harry's chest,
and somehow that calmed her down. She didn't know how, but it felt right.
Was she falling for Harry just two weeks after breaking up with Viktor?
Neither of them noticed that they had arrived at
the Granger household until Mr. Granger cleared his throat loudly, "Ahem,
we are here."
Strange thoughts were running thorough Harry's mind.
Was Viktor a Death Eater too? Was he going to kill her? "Come on 'Mione
let's go inside."
Even though Hermione was pink eyed and puffy, Harry
still found her attractive. He didn't know why but she was. There was something
about her, he had no idea what it was, but there was something about her.
Harry got his trunk out of the trunk {that sound
weird}, and carried it towards the house. Hermione's house was about the
same size and shape as the Dursley's, but looked much friendlier.
"Where'll Ron and I be sleeping?"
"Oh, I'll show you where, follow me upstairs." Hermione
lead Harry and his trunk to the fourth bedroom on the upstairs landing.
"Great," said Harry as he set down his stuff next
to the closest bed. Harry then proceeded to open the window and then Hedwig's
cage. "Fancy going out, Hedwig?"
Hedwig seemed thrilled by the idea and flew right
out of the window.
"Do you know when Ron'll be here?" Harry asked.
"He should be here any minute."
"Great, can't wait to see him!" And as if Harry
and Hermione had suddenly become Professor Trelweany best students, at
that instant they heard Ron's voice coming from downstairs.
"Ron's here!"
"Harry! Hermione!" Ron's voice called from downstairs.
Harry and Hermione went down the stairs as fast as they could. Harry behind
Hermione, being the kind gentleman that he is, suddenly tripped and fell,
falling right on top of Hermione as she reached the floor. Luckily none
of them were hurt, but as Ron turned the corner he found them in a suspicious
fashion.
"Hey what's going on here?"
"Nothing, I –uh- just kind of tripped and fell on
top of her," Harry responded.
"Sure likely story," said Ron in a sarcastic tone
of voice.
"Oh come off it, it's not like we were snogging
or anything," Hermione said. Even though she secretly wished that they
were, she didn't know how Harry was going to react to this.
"I come here expecting a normal welcome and I catch
my two best friends in action." As soon as Ron had said that, he wished
he hadn't because Hermione sent him a look so reminiscent of Professor
McGonagall. "Seesh, I was just kidding!"
Harry stood up and held out his hand for Hermione
to take, which she gladly did. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay it was nothing." The two of them were
sent into a laughing fit.
"I'll leave you two alone," Ron said. Ron knew since
third year that Harry had liked Hermione.
"Ron, congratulations, that's great that your dad
is the new Minister of Magic."
"It's pretty cool, besides the fact that now Dad's
gone from home all the time, seeing how You-Know-Who is on the rampage
again."
"Do you mind saying his name? Fear of the name creates
more fear of the thing, well in this case the person, I take that back,
the thing." Harry said.
"Okay, I'll try, here goes nothing, V, V, Vol, Vol,
Vold, Volde. I can't do it, sorry Harry."
"It's okay, but we are going to need to work on
that, both of you!"
"Okay Harry, Hermione where should I put my stuff?"
Ron asked changing the subject.
"I'll show you, Harry help him carry his stuff."
Harry, Ron and Hermione went into the living room, which Harry hadn't been
in yet, and picked up Ron's stuff. Hermione carried Pig and his cage, while
Ron and Harry lifted Ron's trunk.
"Ron, you should try out of Keeper this year, seeing
how Wood has graduated."
"You think so?"
"Yes, I think so, that was my purpose of saying
it."
"Great! I think I will."
Hermione muttered something that sounded a
lot like Boys! As the three of them and went upstairs to the fourth room,
they found that each of them had themselves a letter from Hogwarts telling
them what they needed for their fifth year there.
Dear Mr. Potter,
These are the following
additional books that you will need for your fifth year at Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Standard
Book of Spells Grade Five
By Miranda Goshawk
An Advanced
Guide to Transfiguration
By Emeric Switch
A reminder that
the Hogwarts express leaves on September the 1st, from platform 9 3/4.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
"We can get all of that when we go to Diagon Alley
on the 12th," said Hermione.
"Great!"
"Well let's have the tour of the house," Ron said
blandly.
So Hermione showed them around her house, Ron staring
at pictures of the family and trying to make them move.
Hermione's house was like a normal Muggle house;
this is probably due to the fact that her mother and father were Muggles.
Her house had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
"Hermione!" Mrs. Granger called from the floor below.
"Coming Mum! You guys stay here I'll be back up
in a few minutes."
"Sure." As Harry and Ron said this Hermione went
downstairs to her mother, leaving Harry and Ron alone.
"So what is going on between you two?" Ron asked
Harry the moment he knew that Hermione was out of hearing range.
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"Sure, what happened to Vicky?"
"I don't think I'm the one to tell you, Hermione
will tell you when she's ready."
"What? You know?!"
"Well I know the reason that she broke up with him.
But I don't know the whole story, give her some time."
"If he did anything to hurt her, I'm going to hunt
him down and strangle him with my hands!"
"Ron, I'll join you in that feat. If it's necessary."
"Harry, of course you would, you're madly in love
with the girl." At that moment Hermione walked in.
"What girl?" She asked looking from Ron to Harry.
"Y-" but Ron was cut off by Harry "No one, no one
in particular." Hermione didn't know what to say or what to think she personally
hoped that Harry was madly in love with the girl, namely being her.
"Mum says dinner is almost ready, we are to go downstairs
to set the table." So Harry, Ron and Hermione went downstairs to set the
table. Ron didn't help much; he had never seen Muggles cook before. He
was pretty much in awe that anyone could live like that. Ron was also pleasantly
surprised that Muggle cooking could be so good. Of course it was nothing
like Hogwarts cooking but it was still great.
All through dinner Hermione and Harry kept looking
at each other, but as soon as one realized that the other one was looking
at him/her, they would suddenly turned away. Ron of course noticed and
rolled his eyes. He told himself that he would do something about it but
he didn't know what.
