This chapter is LAME! Well, it's kind of a fill-in chapter, because after this one a new plot idea begins, and hopefully we'll both come over our writer's block during that time...However, we know that this chapter took a long, long time, but there were summer holidays and well...being lazy and...I guess you can understand^^

Latrisha: "They can't understand! They probably think that we are dead!"
Kaeera: "Uh....maybe...*looks at the readers* "But we aren't dead! See?" *raises her hand*
Latrisha: "Ya always wearing bones?"
Kaeera: *looks down on her hands* *sees only bones* "WAAAAH! I'm a skeleton!"
Latrisha: *snickers* "Serves you right!"
Kaeera: *glares* "You did this!"
Latrisha: *whistles innocently and tries to hide a magical wand behind her back*
Kaeera: *takes the famous big hammer*
Latrisha: *gulps*
Kaeera: *an evil smile on her face* "Guys, you better read the fic...because this won't be pretty!"

Confusing Experiences and Hidden Feelings

by Kaeera & Latrisha

Chapter 9: Traintalk


"Where are my books??"

"Oh no, I can't find my shoe! Has anyone seen my left shoe? The black one with red stripes?"

"Have you seen my books?"

"No...where is my shoe?"

"Hedwig, don't bite m...argh!"

"Where is my stupid SHOE?"

"I need my books! I can't leave without my books!"

Hermione was starting to panic. It was the day of her journey back to Hogwarts, the train would leave in two hours and she couldn't find her books! The three teens were running around the Grangers' whole house, searching for forgotten and misplaced items. It was, to be honest, absolute chaos.

"Harry, have you seen my shoe?"

"Shoe? What shoe?"

"Oh forget it!"

Ron was jumping through the whole house with only the right shoe on his foot. Mr. and Mrs. Granger magically appeared and were sitting in the kitchen, after their daughter had searched for the third time for her books - under the table in the dining room.

"Hey, why is my shoe under your bed, Harry?", Ron waved with the black thing (now more dusty than black) and glared at his friend.

"I have no idea.", answered Harry gloomily and stuck his hurting finger in the mouth. Hedwig hasn't been very agreeable this morning.

Ron shrugged and put the shoe on his foot. "Well, it's always the same.", he said and followed Hermione with his eyes as she was frantically searching through the cupboard. "Uhm, Herm, I think I saw your books...didn't you study yesterday in the kitchen?"

She slapped her forehead. "Oh...", within a second she disappeared. "Here they are! Thanks, Ron!" The boy shook his head. "And people say I'm disorganized..."

Harry just grinned. He, after all, knew who the organized one was of the trio. "It's great to go back to school!", he then said, switching to another topic.

"Hmmm....", grumbled Ron. "If there weren't the lessons, I would like it."

Harry laughed. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad - well, okay, Snape doesn't count here - and we can see all our friends. And I can play Quidditch!" His smile widened at the thought of his favorite sport. Soccer, maybe, if you were a muggle, but Quidditch was definitely the best and he was looking forward to riding on his broomstick again.

"I will absolutely love to be back in the wizard world!", Ron answered. "Television, okay, McDonald's, okay, Game Center, cool, but the rest? Forget it!"

"Are you ready?", they were interrupted by Hermione who walked into the room. "My parents want to leave in ten minutes. It might take us a while to get to the station!"

Ron looked at his half-packed bag and grinned at her. "I'll be ready."
The girl just rolled her eyes and left again.


HARRY'S POV

It was the ultimate Chaos. Really. Everybody was stumbling around, searching for stuff in the last ten minutes we had and screaming like mad. I was no exception. For example I couldn't find my wand...until I looked into the fridge. What the hell was it doing there? I couldn't remember putting my wand into the fridge...it was really cold when I finally freed it and put it into my pocket. But...I have to admit...I enjoyed it. I really did! It was a nice chaos, and it was totally different from departure days with the Dursleys. I was with my friends, I would go back to Hogwarts and I wouldn't have to see ugly Dudley for the next year. What a relief! It was no wonder that I walked around smiling like a kid who had gotten a lollypop.

But, as always, we finally managed the chaos with great effort and stumbled out of the house, too late, out of breath and with the burning thought that we had forgotten something really important. Hermione's parents drove us to the station, we quickly said goodbye and marched towards the platform. Hogwarts...here we come!

Hermione had a big smile on her face. "Finally we can go back to school! I was beginning to miss it!"

Ron just looked at her and made an impolite gesture towards me. I just grinned, because I felt the same excitement that Hermione did, and I knew that even Ron was looking forward, at least a little, to this school year.

"Helloooo, Harry!", someone shouted from behind me and I turned around. There was Neville, with a beaming face, running towards me and the others.

"Hi Neville!", I greeted him. "How have you been?"

"Ah well," he smiled a bit, "I've spent the holidays with my grandmother, like usual. It was very interesting at times, but nothing special. And you?"

"Oh, Ron and I spent the last week at Hermione's," I told him. "It was a very funny experience, we walked through the muggle world, watched a football game, went to a McDonald's. visited a museum....", I had to grin when I remembered our chaotic visit. Hey, Ron hadn't told the story yet...I made a mental note to ask him later in the train.

"Muggle's are crazy, Neville," Ron continued in a serious tone and lowered his voice. "I tell ya, they are dangerous. When they watch football, they mutate into a crazy bunch of scarf-wearing and beer-drinking idiots. And they have dangerous kitchens, I burned my hand.", he showed his hand, as if the burn mark would be the sign of a dangerous adventure. Neville's eyes grew wide. "Wow!" was all he could say and I had to suppress a snicker.

My own memories trailed back to the events in the muggle world. I had been raised as a muggle, so it had never come into my mind that something like instruments might be strange for magic people. Well...then I remembered the incident when Uncle Vernon had met Mr.Weasley...

"Hey, guys, we had better get onto the train.", Hermione announced impatiently. We all looked at each other and then hurried towards the next wagon. "Hey, Ginny!", Ron waved towards his sister, who waved back and blushed when she saw me. I flashed her a smile, wondering for the thousandth time why she was always so shy in my presence. Then I stepped into the cabin.

People were running around and screaming, some first years wandered like lost puppies through the train and we three tried to find a free place in the crowded cabin.

"Where's my frog? I've lost my frog!", wailed a small girl, reminding me of Neville all the years ago, when he had been searching for Trevor. I shook my head...how many years had passed? I had become older, we all had, and soon school would be finished...I shook my head at that thought. I really had no idea what I could do after school. Hmm. Maybe travel around with Sirius...

"Come on! Here's a free one!", Ron waved towards us and we all crawled into the small room, taking all our stuff with us. Neville followed us as well. I let myself fall into a seat and sighed relieved.

"Every year, it's the same!"

Ron nodded and searched through his bag. "Yep. Chaotic, loud and annoying. That makes me hungry!", he took one of the sandwiches we had made this morning.

"Ron," Hermione cast him a warning glance. "We haven't departed yet, and you are already eating? The journey is long and maybe you should..."
He waved it off. "I eat when I am hungry. Finito.", he grinned at her and bit into his sandwich.

"Is this food from the muggle world?", Neville asked curiously. Ron nodded and showed it to him.

"They have strange food, really, they have.", he started to tell. "These gherkins (A/N: Gherkins are pickles, and yes, this word is in our dictionary!) at the McDonald's, I couldn't believed that they were supposed to be vegetables...I mean, they were all wobbly and weak and....urgh.", he made a face.

"So, did you have any adventures?", Neville wanted to know. He was always interested in the events of our lives, maybe because his own was a little bit dull compared to ours. (Okay, he was living with his grandmother who was a bit crazy and we went to Hogwarts, so his life couldn't be called dull...)

"Shall I tell?", Ron lowered his voice a bit and whispered something to Neville. I could watch how the eyes of the boy became wide. "Hermione did WHAT?", he shouted unbelievingly and stared at Ron.

"You must be kidding!"

Ron just shook his head and grinned widely. I looked at Hermione and asked bewildered: "Do you know what they're talking about?"

She just glared at Ron. "I think so...Ronald Weasley, you will not tell the story!", she advised firmly.

Right at that moment Dean and Seamus burst into the room, followed by Ginny. "Hey ya guys! We were lookin' you!", they shouted and we all greeted each other. It was nice to see old friends again!


NORMAL POV

It was a bit noisy in the small room, but after the first few minutes of agitated conversations, they all settled down. "Ron, you couldn't tell us earlier. What happened with Hermione?", Neville questioned. Hermione sent an evil look towards the poor boy. Ron grinned again and looked at his listeners. "I wanted to tell the story of Hermione, who actually managed it to knock down a skeleton in a museum!"

"What! Really?", Dean couldn't believe it.

"No way!", Seamus shook his head. "Tell us!"

"Ron...", Hermione growled at the redhead, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he took a deep breath and started to tell his story.

"When we visited the museum". Ron began in a low whisper, "I thought that it would be deadly boring. But I thought wrong. It was, to be honest, one of the most entertaining experiences in my whole life. First of all you could see such crazy skeletons, really big and fantastic. We watched them, astounded, and after a while Harry left us to go on the toilet. That was when it happened.", he paused and looked in the faces of the others. Hermione glared at him, and if looks could kill....Ron would have been more than dead by now. Unfortunately they didn't, and he continued his story.

"While Harry was away, Herm and I walked to the skeleton of a smaller dinosaur. He was maybe as big as a small room, small for a dinosaur. I was wondering if it had been a dangerous one or not, and she told me that it was a plant-eater; as a proof she said that he had teeth of plant-eaters. I couldn't see them, the teeth, I mean, and so I didn't believe her. So Ms.Granger, intelligent as she is, stepped up to the skeleton and took his head in order to show me the interior of the mouth. Unfortunately the skeleton didn't like it and crashed all over the floor! You should have seen it! Every bone cracked and fell down in a loud rumble, and Hermione was standing behind it, holding the bony head in her hands and such a shocked look on her face...it was...", Ron burst out in laughter. "This look! Stupid and surprised and shocked, everything at the same moment, I should have taken a picture!"

Seamus and Dean burst out in laughter while Ginny tried to suppress it. Neville wanted to calm Hermione down in saying things like: "Don't be angry, that happens to me nearly every day." or "You'll see, after a few times they'll stop laughing." Hermione, though, didn't seem to calm down, her head became red and her furious glares resembled laser guns.

The redhead didn't notice it. He just wiped tears of laughter away and chuckled with Dean and Seamus. Harry grinned wildly, but hoped that Hermione couldn't see him.

HERMIONE'S POV

I was fuming. Really, I was fuming! That stupid, impolite and cold-hearted idiot! How could he blame me like that? How could he? They were laughing at me and I....turned red and wanted to strangle Ron, immediately, right then, at that moment. RAAAAAH!
Okay, girl, breathe. Breathe. I filled my lungs and....yelled at Ron. "RONALD WEASLY!"

He looked at me with a teasing smile on his lips. "Hey, I am just telling the truth!", he raised his arms. I lowered my voice: "You will pay for this!"
He raised his eyebrows and leaned to Harry. "Wow, she's really angry, huh?" Harry nodded and whispered back: "You are in serious trouble, my friend.

"I can hear you both, so stop the acting.", I crossed my arms and looked away. "That was so not nice of you, Ron."

Once again he flashed me a childish grin. Neville patted my arm. "Hey, things like that can happen to anybody, Hermione....", he stopped mid-sentence when he saw my glare. Then I sighed and leaned my head against the window. Maybe I was overreacting...sulking because I had a little accident...okay, a very big little accident, but nonetheless, it had been an accident!

The train started to move out of the station. Parents were standing on the platform and waving goodbye to their children. I felt a flood of excitement. Finally we were travelling back to Hogwarts! Adventures were awaiting us, like every year. I immediately forgot my anger when I though of all the terrible and dangerous events through which we had had to survive these last few years. There had never been a year without any dangerous thread, or any injuries. It always seemed is if three of us were the target of every madman, every dark mage and possible danger. Some part of me was happy about that. This way I had learned many things...the value of friendship, how to be courageous in times of danger and...how important a friend can become.

Another sigh escaped my lips when I remembered my love misery. He would never see me as more than a friend, more than the smart geek, the girl who studies all the time and doesn't know how to have fun. We so don't fit each other. He, as the impolite, lazy jerk he is. We are destined to fight, that's it. So why do I love this....idiot? Why?

I felt bad. Logically this shouldn't happen. But if love were logical, I would have searched for a smart guy who's nice, who adores me for what I am, and not Ronald Weasley. Yargh. Talk of girl problems!

My thoughts had trailed off and I hadn't listened to the ongoing conversation. When I looked back to the others, I noticed that Ginny had seated herself directly beside me, while the boys were engaged in a enthusiastic conversation about....football.

"What's up?", the girl wanted to know.

"Uhm...nothing.", I blushed. Why did I blush now? There was nothing to blush, no reason for it....stupid blush, go away!

Ginny smiled a knowing smile, like Harry always did when Ron said something stupid. "Ah...the old problem, huh?"

"I don't know what you are talking about!", I frowned. Or at least tried to frown.

She snickered. "Unfortunately we can't discuss it in here. But this evening I will come to your dorm! Then we'll talk!"

I wanted to say something, but didn't know what, so I closed my mouth. Ginny had become a self-confident girl and I always enjoyed talking with her. She knew interesting stories about her brothers...

"And I tell you, Quidditch is far more interesting than football!", Ron shouted. "After all I have seen a game! There's only one ball! The players can't fly! And when you cheer, they will nearly kill you!"

"Uhm, Ron," Harry pointed out, "They were angry because you cheered for the wrong team. Basically the same would happen at a Quidditch game."

"Oh...Right.", Ron scratched his chin. "But nonetheless: quidditch is better!"

I decided that talking with Ginny was far more interesting than listening to his...ehm...conversation.

"So, did you enjoy the holidays?", I wondered.

"Oh, they were great.", she grinned. "Fred and George were always inventing new things, Mum nearly went crazy. I brought some of their stuff...it should be quite interesting and," she lowered her voice, "when you need something evil to get a revenge on my brother, just come to me. There's really mean stuff in my bag!"

I looked at her, flabbergasted. Then I smiled. "Ginny, you look so shy, but you are a real Weasley."

"Ah, says the girl who managed to have a date with Victor Krum."

I had to chuckle. "True." Victor had been a very interesting...friend. I always looked back with joy when I remembered talking with him. He had been so polite, and he had liked me, and he had actually made compliments...a small sigh escaped my lips. Too bad that a certain person couldn't be that nice...

The train continued to race through the country and I stared out of the window. Hogwarts....and me, a witch. Hermione Granger. Wasn't it strange? I had been raised as a muggle, had attended a normal school, with both my parents dentists, and I had never expected that there was something else than a normal muggle life. Duh. I always believed that I would study something and become a professor or so. And then this letter came, my invitation to Hogwarts and my parents talked with Dumbledore...the first time I had seen this world. The first time I had met Ron and Harry, both noisy small eleven-year olds who I couldn't stand. Our first fight together, the turning point in 'our' history, when we finally became friends.
And now another school year with them. Another school year full of problems with Snape and Malfoy. Another school year full of excitement, of worry and joy. Yeah, I was looking forward to it.


To be continued...

Allison M Potter - ff.net is really down a lot, huh? Well, thanks that you reviewed anyways! The diary was just a...must^^ And we hope you liked the next chapter, too, although it was short and boring...duh...

meskup - Same here, thanks for reviewing! ff.net was being annoying, and we didn't get many reviews*sniff sniff*

Caylen Rider - Confess...Ron and Hermione? Well...later..sometime...we have an idea...we actually have an idea worked out, and we hope that you'll like it...*gg* And sorry for the delay of this one...we're not the fastest writer!

Mystical-Grace - You're dying of laughter? *kaeera takes a stick and pokes Mystical Grace* Hey, ya gotta live, otherwise we have lost a reader!! :P Thanks a lot for the kind review!