centerChapter 2

Where's Ron?blockquote Harry awoke slowly. It was quite a surprise, because, when living with the Dursleys for fifteen years, one acquired better-than-cat-like reflexes. Especially since someone was knocking lightly on the door. He slowly turned over and looked at his watch. It was 8AM. He groaned, slipped out of bed and put his glasses on. He checked himself, making sure he looked decent, then staggered to the door. He opened the door and a bright, awake Hermione was standing there.

"Morning, Harry!" Hermione said, happily, as she hugged a stunned Potter. "How are you?"

"I... I'm fine, Hermione," Harry stammered, wondering why Hermione was still hugging him. He pulled her to arms length and eyed her suspiciously. "How 'bout you, Hermione, everything OK, nothing you want to talk about?"

"Yep, everything's fine, Harry!" she exclaimed, giving Harry /i hug. Harry returned the hug, but not without a bleary-eyed gaze of confusion. iWhy was Hermione so frickin' happy?/i Harry wondered.

"Well, Hermione, I'll just get dressed now, OK? So you can go do some studying before we go to Diagon Alley." Harry commented, barely noticing what he had just said.

"Well... I... I think I will, Mr. Potter," Hermione said with an indignant look, and she was out of the room before you could say Voldemort. Not that many would say Voldemort, so she must have been gone pretty slowly. Harry noticed this and wondered about Hermione's sanity. He soon forgot, as he was getting ready for going to Diagon Alley.

After getting dressed, Harry meandered to where the smell of breakfast was coming. He walked in the kitchen and saw Mrs. Granger.

"Hello, Mrs. Granger!" Harry said, sheepishly, and with a yawn. He was decidedly tired, and was feeling a little... not well. But it was only a little, and so he ignored it.

"Hello, Harry," she said, making pancakes. "How was your summer?"

"The same as usual," he replied, and sighed. "I wonder why my uncle even keeps me. He just makes me do stuff, and sometimes I go weeks on end without a meal..." His voice trailed off, and he stared off into space, ironically exactly where Hermione was sitting.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Mrs. Granger said, putting breakfast on the table. "Come, we'll eat breakfast together. Hermione, would you please get your father?"

"Sure, Mom," replied Hermione. "Dad! Breakfast is ready!"

Harry thought he heard a grunt as a response, and he yawned again. Hermione looked at Harry with sparkly eyes, and Harry went as far as to even jump in shock when she was looking at him like that.

"Hermione, you sure everything's OK?" Harry asked again, starting to wonder about his friend.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, mhm." She just looked at him. Harry gave her a sideways glance, and he sat down at the table as Mrs. Granger started serving breakfast. Hermione finally stopped looking at Harry, but only because breakfast was served and her parents were looking at her funny. They had noticed her looking at Harry in that way, and Mrs. Granger realized what that look meant. But, she tactfully acted normal, as if nothing was happening. Breakfast took until 9:30, when everyone walked to the car. Hermione's parents needed to get to Gringotts to exchange money, and Harry had to go to his vault to get enough Galleons to buy what he needed. /i Harry thought to himself, iI'll be able to get away from Hermione long enough to identify what is wrong with her./i

They made it to Gringotts at about 10:30, where they met the Weasleys.

"Harry!" screamed Harry's apparently new adopted mother, Mrs. Weasley. "How are you? Did the Dursley's treat you badly?" She asked, as if Harry was her mistreated, long-lost son.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine. They were just as usual. No worries, except Harry Potter." By that time, Mrs. Weasley had gotten to Harry, and carefully hugged, squeezing the life out of him, but not knocking him over. "Mrs. Weasley..." Harry gasped. "I can't... can't breathe!"

"Sorry there, Harry," she said, a little flustered. "Just haven't seen you in a long while, and, well, I was so very worried."

"Yeah, Mom, we noticed," George said as he approached Harry. "Hey, Harry, nice to see you." He shook Harry's hand as a formal greeting. "Mom decided to burn dinner for the past week. She was that worried about you."

"Worried? No, George," Fred interrupted. "She was worried /i over our little celebrity friend here. She had thought that the Dursleys had packed you in a bag and shipped you off to... America, is it?" He shook Harry's hand as well, still pondering the name of the continent.

Harry nodded his head, quite amused at Mrs. Weasley's reaction. "It's all right, Mrs. Weasley. I know that you care and they don't," Harry said with a wink to the twins.

"Oh! Woe is me! Harry thinkith that I do not careith!" George cried. "The end of the world is on us, dearest brother, Fred!"

"Stop that this instant, George!" Mrs. Weasley fumed. Hermione stayed back, seeming quite amused at the outcome. Harry looked over at her and shrugged helplessly. She doubled over in laughter and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, well, seems like I'm just an acquaintance of Harry Potter now?" Ron said as he walked up. Harry laughed. "It seems that my own dear mother has taken my place as Harry's best friend!"

"Stop that Ron!" Ginny scolded her brother. Harry looked over at Ginny. She had grown over the summer, had filled out. She wasn't too lanky anymore, unlike Ron, who seemed to have grown extra tall so he would look clumsy. Harry smiled at Ginny, and she blushed and said her hellos.

"Well, I think its about time we started our shopping," Hermione interrupted the group. "I think you all need to get money, don't you?"

"Yeah, we do. Ron, Ginny, you can come with me, I can get your stuff for you, so your mother can watch over Fred and George."

Both Ginny and Ron blushed. Ginny, though for a different reason than Ron. "Harry," Ron mumbled. "I think we can, y'know, buy our own stuff for school."

Harry laughed. "I know Ron, but I'm afraid I've a little too much, and nothing to buy with it. I can't get much with it in the Muggle world, now can I?"

"Ron and Ginny, just go with Harry, I'm sure we can pay him back after our excursion." Mrs. Weasley said. "And Harry, you know you can call me Mom if you wanted."

"Dearist me!" Fred exclaimed. "Now our own mother ith giving herself awayith to the celebrity, George! What shallith we do now?!"

Everyone but Mrs. Weasley burst out in laughter. Harry and the two youngest Weasleys walked into Gringotts, while Hermione waited outside for them. Harry immediately walked up to a goblin and requested to get some money from his vault. The goblin looked at the key a second, and motioned for Harry to start following him. He walked to a train, and the two Weasleys got in with Harry.

They got to Harry's vault, and Harry took out enough money for the next school year, plus enough for two sets of new stuff for the Weasleys. They got back up, and walked out the door.

"Good!" Hermione exclaimed. "Now we can get shopping!"

Harry opened his letter. He examined what he needed. Two new Defense Against the Dark Arts books, the fifth level in Transfiguration, and iThe Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5/i. A few other things, but that was the main bulk of the stuff needed. He followed Hermione into Flourish and Botts and they all got new copies of the books needed. Ron made a fuss about Harry buying new copies for him and his sister, but Harry wouldn't hear of it, and they got new copies of the books.

Surprisingly, Harry somehow forced Ron, and with less forcing, Ginny into Ollivanders and bought Ron his own wand. Ron desperately needed one, his other one was so broken it was requested that he got a new one, and it was quite incompatible with him, and Ginny's was decent. Ron mumbled something about having to pay Harry back, but Harry and Ginny just laughed. Ron had gotten a twelve inch, dragon scale and unicorn horn powder wand, extremely flexible. Harry suspected that it was because Ron's last one had snapped.

"Don't be so silly, Ron," Ginny teased. "Harry's just being friendly. Plus, he probably doesn't want you making anymore slugs." Both Harry and Ginny got a laugh out of that, and Hermione was quite confused when Ron got out of Ollivanders, bright red and stumbling over a thank you to Harry.

They got lunch and went back to Gringotts to meet the Weasley's. Ron was unusually silent as he walked with them, carrying all his new stuff. They got to Gringotts, and the rest of the Weasley family walked up just as they were turning around.

"Oy!" George yelled to Harry. "Where's Ron?"

Harry turned around, and saw Hermione and Ginny standing behind him. Ginny ran to the back of Harry and started sobbing on his shirt, while Hermione just stood there in shock.

"Ginny? Do you know where Ron is?" Harry asked softly.

"No," she replied, equally softly."Harry... we have to find him."

"I know Ginny. I'll find him. I'll make sure of it." Harry turned to the Weasleys, who were in mixed emotional states. Mrs. Weasley was in the worst state, frantically rushing around, yelling Ron's name and they could see the tears rushing down her face. "I will stay here until I find Ron." Mrs. Weasley turned on Harry then, looking as if she was ready to kill him. "Mrs. Weasley, you can't stop me. I'm going to find him whether you like it or not. He's my best friend; I can't imagine a year at Hogwarts without him." Mrs. Weasley looked almost ready to grab Harry's neck, but then she broke down and started blubbering.

It was finally settled that Ginny, Hermione and Harry would look for Ron, while they got special devices so that they could find each other. Harry also insisted that he pay for their food and housing, if necessary. Harry looked at the departing Weasleys, silently swearing that he would find Ron, even if he missed a year at Hogwarts./blockquote