Hermione gasped at the sight of the scarlet train before her; even though she saw it every year it still made her spine tingle with anticipation of the year that was to come. She pushed her trolley forward and heaved with the weight of it when a hand stopped her on the handles. She looked up indignantly.
"Excuse me, but I think I'm more than capable –"
"Oh shut up Hermione, you're suffering!" Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile.
"Ron!!!" Ron grinned and accepted the huge hug Hermione was now giving him, although he looked a little frightened at the show of affection.
"Who were you expecting, Malfoy?" This was said in a joking matter but Hermione's eyes narrowed as she pulled away from the hug.
"Come on Ron; don't spoil this by bringing that git into the conversation!" Ron shrugged.
"Right, sorry! So how have you been?" he asked, pushing her cart towards the train. She grinned.
"Actually, very well. Dad closed down his dentistry (and I know that shouldn't be a happy thing) but now I get to see him all the time…it's fab really." Ron smiled.
"Good! Did you hear that my dad got promoted?" She gasped.
"No! Tell me all about it!" she replied excitedly. Hermione had always felt that Mr. Weasley deserved much more than what he got, and was truly very happy for him.
"Well, Fudge's been pressured by Dumbledore ever since…" he stopped uncomfortably and Hermione nodded at him to go on. "Yes well, Dumbledore advised Dad to try and get a promotion so that he'd have a bigger influence on decisions and all that, and Dad agreed, so after showing Fudge some" his face darkened slightly, "'proper wizarding pride' he got his promotion."
"That's great Ron!" Hermione said ecstatically. He nodded looking a little happier.
"Yeah…and he even got me a Nimbus!" Now his freckled face was lit up with ecstasy and Hermione laughed.
"Just like you, to think about flying! Come on, let's go then."
The chatter of excited students reached their ears. They grinned from ear to ear when they saw their other best friend Harry Potter standing next to Ron's little sister Ginny and his twin brothers Fred and George.
"Trust Ginny to find you first, eh mate?" Ron asked laughing, pushing Hermione's trolley towards the small cluster. Harry grinned as Ginny blushed. Hermione smiled at him, then at Ginny who she had come to know a little more during the World Cup. Ginny grinned back and then watched as Ron and Harry talked more.
"So there you are! Went straight to find Hermione then?" Harry ducked the swipe Ron aimed at him still grinning at the sight of his best friends. "Let's get on the train then, we don't want to get a bad compartment." Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement, and they all waved goodbye to Ginny, Fred and George. Hermione noticed that Ginny looked incredibly crestfallen.
"Gin, you want to come with us?" Ginny smiled and nodded gratefully. Ron groaned, but shut up after Hermione sent him her very best 'don't push it' look. Those were always very effective. The train whistle was shrill and ear piercing as they boarded the train laughing happily at each other's summer stories. Every single year, without fail, the train ride was perfect. Nothing ever spoiled it; even visits from their more unwelcome classmates were laughed off later.
They walked a little further down, occasionally being stopped to have some admiring first year talk to Harry, who would awkwardly pat down his fringe as Hermione, Ron and Ginny sniggered behind him. Soon enough however, they came to an empty compartment.
"Here we go!" Ron said happily, flinging himself onto a seat heavily and causing the whole compartment to shake precariously.
"Ron! For heaven's sakes!" Hermione reprimanded disapprovingly, sitting herself down carefully next to him. Ron and Ginny laughed.
"Oh Ron's just been flinging himself everywhere lately, it's become some sort of a hobby with him," Ginny explained.
"Doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Harry remarked casually, sitting down next to Ginny and across from the other two. She went faintly pink, but not the deep crimson everyone had known her to turn before. After a minute's awkward pause, Ginny rummaged through her bag and produced a small green leather bound book, in which she started to write in rapidly. Everyone jumped and Ron paled considerably.
"Ginny…" Ginny looked up, saw their faces and laughed.
"Goodness, I'm not that thick! Percy gave this to me on my birthday this summer." They all breathed out, relieved.
"Hey Hermione," Harry said suddenly, "what did you do all summer?"
"Hung out with my dad mostly," Hermione said, smiling once more.
"Sounds nice," Harry replied, taking out his moneybag and extracting a few coins. "Wonder when the trolley's going to come around?" Ron shrugged.
"She'll be around once we start off I reckon…someone's hungry." Harry grinned sheepishly.
"Well, the Dursleys haven't been so…generous with the food lately." Hermione narrowed her eyes. She never liked that family, from the time she saw his overly large uncle at the platform in first year.
"They haven't been mistreating you again have they Harry?" she asked worriedly. "If they have, we'll tell Dumbledore and he can fix it-"
Harry cut in. "No more than usual, don't worry about it." Hermione let it drop, but made a mental note of the conversation for later.
Suddenly, the train started to move. Ginny squealed as she was thrown off of her seat and Harry caught her quickly. Now she turned the scarlet they all knew so well, muttering a small thanks. Hermione gripped the sides hard; she didn't want to get thrown off of her seat, thank you very much. With one final lurch, the train was chugging steadily along its merry way.
*
"Crabbe!" The idiot in question blundered forward and grunted. "Where is Goyle this year?" The figure shrugged. "Cripes…"
Draco Malfoy was back on the train he tried to avoid every year…the Hogwarts Express. He remembered vividly the arguments he had had with his mother about transferring to Durmstrang instead of coming back to this-to this monstrosity that the Mudblood lover himself presided over. But his mother was having nothing of it, even though his Father had agreed; to hell with them both!
"I think he transferred," came the abrupt reply, two minutes too late. Draco jumped and then scowled.
"His parents let him transfer? This is bloody unfair beyond belief!" he groaned, leaning back into the red velvet plush seats. Crabbe grunted. "And stop that incessant grunting, you're giving me a headache." Crabbe fell silent. "Moron."
Draco surveyed his surroundings in disbelief. The perhaps stupidest human being that ever walked the face of the earth was at the best school that a Slytherin could ever hope to go to. Well that was fine.
"Let's go make someone annoyed Crabbe, I'm bored," he drawled, and they both got up and started walking out of their car.
*
Both Ginny and Hermione shrieked as the small red circle exploded with a SNAP! Ron and Harry roared with laughter.
"Oh shut up, it took us by surprise!" Hermione mumbled, embarrassed.
"Well what were you expecting? We are playing Exploding Snap after all you know, "Ron chortled.
"I know that," Hermione snapped, eyeing the red circles on the bright and cheery yellow board darkly. Ginny giggled.
"Shall we put that away then?" she asked, trying to sound casual but coming out a little shaky. Harry smiled kindly at her.
"Sure." Ginny smiled back up at him and there was a silence in which they were just looking at each other, Ginny's face steadily reddening, before Ron cleared his throat very loudly.
"Get something caught in there?" Hermione asked. Ron scowled. Harry and Ginny jumped and then started laughing at Ron's dark expression.
"Lighten up Ron!" Harry said jovially, leaning back once again. All of a sudden, the door burst open and there stood the…two people they hated most?
*
The first thing Draco noticed was the confused looks he was getting at there only being two of them and not the usual three. The second thing he noticed was the littlest Weasley brat blushing hard and staring at Potter obliviously. The third thing he noticed was that Granger had decided to keep her hair like it was at the Yule Ball and that it was straight and shiny; it looked good. Draco raised an eyebrow before placing his trademark Malfoy smirk that he mastered on his face.
"Well, well, well, isn't this charming?" he said sarcastically. Crabbe guffawed automatically, but somehow the effect wasn't as good with only one guffawer. Draco scowled as Weasley and Potter started to laugh.
"Where's the third little pig Malfoy?" Ron asked chuckling. "Been blown away by the big bad wolf?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"Got a transfer. Damned lucky if he got out of being with you miscreants."
"Malfoy got a dictionary," Harry said mockingly. "Now I can insult him and he'll know what it means!"
"That's right. Bully for me," Draco replied sarcastically. "Did the summer make everyone feel jolly again?" Everyone looked puzzled.
"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked with the hint of a growl in his deep voice. Draco laughed softly, nastily. Hermione narrowed her eyes and Draco ignored it. He was far too used to that to care.
"I mean, did the summer make you forget what happened last year? Trying to block it out?" Now this was more like it; every Gryffindor in the compartment looked furious. Draco smirked, congratulating himself silently for getting a reaction of out them finally.
"Get. Out." Harry said through clenched teeth. Draco smirked more widely than ever and then said nonchalantly,
"Well I reckon you wouldn't be trying so hard if Potter here hadn't killed Diggory…shame, he wasn't so bad." Ron roared with fury and leapt at him; Draco sidestepped it and then slid out of the car gracefully, hearing Ron cursing below his breath on the other side.
"Well I think that went well, don't you?" he remarked to Crabbe. He grunted.
*
"How dare he!" Hermione said after the tense silence became too unbearable. Ginny looked terrified, Harry looked thoughtful and moody, Ron murderous.
"That little slimy bastard!" Ron burst out indignantly. "Like his dad hasn't killed a good many people! The nerve!" Hermione nodded in fervent agreement, red hot rage spreading throughout her. No one, NO ONE, insulted her friends and got away with it. Even if it meant detention. That's saying a lot; Hermione Granger never, EVER gets detention. She glanced over at Harry, concern etched into every fold of her face; he didn't deserve what that idiot threw at him.
As quickly as the train ride had started, it ended. It was the first one that wasn't perfect. "Damn him!!!" Hermione said suddenly, picking up her cloak and walking out of the carriage in a huff. Ron followed, and Harry and Ginny straggled behind.
*
"Ah Hogwarts," Draco said as he flung open the door and hit someone in the face, ignoring the shriek of pain that came from them. "How I missed you so!" This was said very sarcastically as he walked off of the train and onto the concrete floor where he waited impatiently for the carriages to come and pick the fifth years up. And then, soon enough even for Draco Malfoy's liking, the carriages had come, they had scrambled on, and he was off for Hogwarts with Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe and Blaise Zabini.