The next day Harry woke up to the smells of breakfast wafting up to his and Ron's bedroom.  He had slept so good that all he wanted to do was lay there, but when Ron yelled for him to wake up, he had no choice but to go downstairs.

            Everyone except for Hermione and Ginny seemed to be finished with their breakfast, so, he and Ron sat down across from them and helped themselves to porridge, occasionally speaking to each other.

            Harry looked outside through one of the open windows and saw a beautiful sunny day.  He and Ron could probably go out later and practice for quidditch in the back yard.

Finally, once most of the porridge was gone, Ginny blurted out, "so, what did Professor Dumbledore talk to you about last night, Harry?"

Harry smiled and told her and Hermione all about Lupin coming back to work and him teaching Harry Occlumency.  They didn't look too surprised about this either and when Hermione began to explain to him about the extendable-ears Harry cut her off and told her that he already knew.

"Oh," she said, "well anyway, everyone.  I just thought that I'd let you all know that my mum and dad have invited you all to stay with us for the rest of the summer.  I've already checked with your mum, Ron and Ginny, and she's said yes."

"Really?" Said Harry, "that'd be great!"

"Brilliant!" Said Ron.

"Oh, I've never been inside a muggle house before!" Said Ginny, happily.

"So that's why you didn't bring your school things with you!" Said Ron.

"My parents will be coming to pick us up tomorrow at five-o-clock," said Hermione.

"But…" said Harry, "they don't know where the headquarters is, do they?"

"No, but I've told them to meet us up at the bus stop on top of that hill in front of this house," she said.

"Oh," said Ron, "well, I guess we won't be cleaning the attic, after all."

"Harry," said Hermione, "d'you think that I could borrow Hedwig?  I told my mum that I would write to her if Ron's mum said yes."

"Yeah, sure," said Harry, and he led her up to his and Ron's bedroom so that she could write to her parents.  Once she had scribbled a small note on a bit of parchment, Harry tied it to Hedwig's leg and she flew out through the open window.

* * *

The next day at five-o-clock Harry, Ron, and Ginny's things were loaded into Hermione's parents' car and they were driving to Hermione's house.  It took them almost an hour to reach her house, from Grimmauld place and when Ron and Ginny stepped up to the front they had looks on their faces that resembled how Harry had felt the first time he had been inside The Burrow.

Hermione's house was very tall and very white.  It had to have been three stories high with black shutters and a black front-door, with a horse-shoe for a knocker.  There was a small garden arranged around the walkway in the front with brightly colored red, orange, pink, and yellow flowers flowing together in patterns.

The mail-box was attached to the house, next to the front door.  As Ron and Ginny passed it, Harry saw Ron lift the lid and peer inside. He also heard Ron distinctly say, "Wow! So this is what those muggle post-men put the letters they send in!  I always thought that the muggles had to go to the post office and actually pick up their letters there!"

As they stepped inside Ron and Ginny looked around as though they had never seen something quite like Hermione's house before.  Their eyes kept darting to the air-conditioner's, fans, stereo, computer, and television.  Ron even reached out and picked up the phone as they passed it, and Hermione had to pry him away from it before she could lead them upstairs.

She led Harry and Ron up to the spare bedroom where they deposited their things and waited outside while Ginny put her things in Hermione's bedroom, Ron looking around the deserted hallway with fascination at the tiny waterfall perched on a small table.  He was also looking at the electrical sockets with utter interest and kept attempting to stick his fingers in them, but Harry kept pulling him back just in time.  If the Dursleys could see Ron now, they would think that he had gone mad.  Harry could almost imagine his Uncle's voice, "sticking his fingers in sockets…I guess that his kind aren't up to date on all of our electrical appliances!"

Hermione's father hadn't been there to pick them up, so Harry assumed that he had been home cooking.  His assumption was confirmed when he stepped into the kitchen and saw that yet another wonderful dinner had been cooked.

They all sat down and began to eat.  Harry, who had never really spoken to Hermione's parents, said, "so…er…Mr. and Mrs. Granger.  Thank you for inviting us to stay."

"It was our pleasure.  You're Harry, is that correct?" Hermione's mother said.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Harry Potter," he was relieved that Hermione's parents were muggles, because otherwise they would be staring fixedly at the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"And you're Ron and Ginny Weasley?" She asked pointing at Ron and Ginny.

"Yes," they said together.

"Of course Hermione's told us all about you three," she said happily, "and I believe that we've met before.  That time that we were all in Diagon Alley and there was that famous…that Lockhart man at the book store who was getting his picture taken for the newspaper.  And then the photographer pulled you into the picture as well, Harry."

"Uh, yes…" said Harry, awkwardly.

"Mum!" Moaned Hermione, "Just leave him a lone! Please!"

"But, Dear.  You never told us why Harry here is so famous."

"Mum! I really don't think that Harry wants to talk about it."

"Yes dear, just let him eat in peace," it was the first time Harry had ever heard Hermione's father speak.

"It's okay," said Harry quietly and he began to explain about Voldemort, his parents being murdered, and his escapes from Voldemort in the past school years.

By the time he had finished, both of Hermione's parents were staring open mouthed at the scar on his forehead.  Along with them, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were staring blankly at him as though all of the information that he'd just told them was new to their ears.  It was amazing how much of a resemblance Hermione and her mother had when they both looked frightened.  Harry couldn't understand it though.  Why did Hermione, Ron, and Ginny look frightened?  Everything that Harry had explained they had known, hadn't they?

But Ron answered his thoughts for him, "prophecy?" He asked, "But…you didn't tell us anything about a prophecy written about – about you."

"Oh yeah," said Harry, he had completely forgotten that he hadn't told Ron, Hermione, or Ginny about the prophecy that Professor Trelawney had made about him.  "Dumbledore told me about it at the end of last year," he explained, "and I really didn't feel like talking much…you know with Sirius and everything."

"Wow, Harry," said Hermione softly.  She looked in awe of him.  "I've read theories of things that are in the Department of Mysteries but nothing has come close to that!"

Nobody really spoke much for the rest of dinner and Hermione's parents seemed to act especially nice to Harry since he told them all about his past.

It was a relief to get away from all of their curious faces and to finally get to sleep.

* * *

            Harry didn't really remember very much of his stay at Hermione's house, besides that after countless questions from the other residents of the Granger household, he was being treated normally again.  It was the thirty-first of August and they were due back on the Hogwarts express the next day.

He sat in the middle of the living room rug, flipping through his school books that he had gotten the day before while in Diagon Alley.  Ron and Ginny sat in two squishy chairs playing wizard chess (Ron was beating Ginny miraculously); while Hermione absentmindedly stroked Crookshanks by the fire.

Harry and Ron had both received twelve O.W.L.'s and Hermione had received fourteen.  Harry and Ron had amazingly passed every subject (with the exception of Divination).  Harry couldn't believe his eyes when he found out that he'd gotten an 'Outstanding' on his Potions exam.  He assumed that this must have been because Snape wasn't the one who was testing him, but Dumbledore could've also stepped in if Snape was grading his exam.  Ron and Harry would be in all of the same classes again this year, studying to become Aurors.  Hermione, on the other hand, still didn't know what her career choice was going to be.  She was just going to continue with all of her subjects and then when she graduated from Hogwarts she was going to make her choice.

The rain pounded on the windows and as Harry looked outside he could see the trees straining under the strength of the wind.  The sky was a dark grayish-blue and every once in a while a crack of thunder would sound that would make them all jump.

They packed their trunks and went to bed early that night so that they could wake up in time for the train the next day.  It would take them a good two hours to get to Kings Cross from Hermione's house.

They were woken up the next day by Hermione's father sticking his head in their room.  Harry and Ron stumbled out of bed, somehow managed to get their clothes on, and made their way downstairs where they were soon accompanied by a tired-looking Hermione and Ginny.

After eating their breakfast of toast they made their way back upstairs in attempts to haul their trunks outside, through the torrential rain, into Hermione's parents' car. 

By the time they had fitted themselves, their pets, and their trunks into the car they were both wet and squished.  Unlike the Weasley's former car (a ford Anglia that Harry and Ron had crashed in their second year into a very violent Whomping Willow on the Hogwarts grounds), Hermione's parents' car was not expanded inside by magic, so they had to fit four people into the three-person compatible back seat.  Luckily for Harry, he was so thin, so he could fit easily in-between Hermione and Ron.

They squelched their way out of the drive and were soon driving down the high-way on their way to Kings Cross.  Ron and Ginny enjoyed listening to all of the Muggle radio stations and were fascinated by the things that were being sold in the infomercials.

They arrived at Kings Cross with thirty minutes to spare, loaded their things onto trolleys and took turns running straight at the barrier in-between platforms nine and ten to get to platform nine-and-three-quarters.

Once they had gotten their things on the train and had loaded their pets onto the luggage racks, they went back outside of the barrier to say a quick 'good-bye' to Hermione's parents.

"Thanks for letting us stay Mr. and Mrs. Granger," said Harry.

"Yeah," said Ron, "we had loads of fun!"

"Thanks!" Piped in Ginny.

They each took turns shaking Hermione's parents' hands and only after Hermione had given her mother and father a hug did they return to platform nine-and-three-quarters.  They got on the train and were looking for a spare compartment but couldn't find any.  Then, to their great surprise, they saw Lupin sitting in one at the very end of the train, just as he had been in their third year; except that this time, he wasn't sleeping.

They walked in slowly and Lupin motioned for them to sit down.  They did so and were soon joined by Neville Longbottom, a round-faced forgetful boy who was holding his beloved cactus in his hand.

He was surprised to see Lupin there, but happy just the same.  "Professor!" He said when he first walked in, "are you coming back to teach this year?  Oh, please be our teacher!  You were so good!"

Lupin smiled and said, "Yes, I'll be teaching again this year."

"But…" Neville looked a little scared at saying what he was going to say next, "I heard…that you were a…a werewolf.  I mean…I don't have any problems with that, but what if other people do?"

"That," said Lupin, smiling, "is for the Headmaster and I to worry about, Neville."

            A whistle sounded somewhere and the doors along the train could be heard closing.  Then, without warning, the train began to pick-up speed.

Harry looked outside at the swirling clouds and the pouring rain as the train sped away from the station and towards Hogwarts.  Soon he and Ron got bored and began to play exploding snap. 

Their card castle had just exploded when their three least-favorite people showed up: Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.  They stepped in and Ron and Harry both looked up, their eyebrows singed.  Malfoy opened his mouth, no doubt to make some snide remark, but quickly spotted Lupin and closed it.  He muttered something to Crabbe and Goyle and they stalked away after him, flexing their muscles, menacingly.

"What was that about?" Asked Hermione, closing the compartment door after them.

"I expect that they didn't want to pick a fight with a teacher in the compartment," said Ginny, looking at Lupin.

At around noon, the witch with the lunch trolley came and Harry and Lupin bought some cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, and fizzing wisbees to share with everyone.  Ron and Hermione were up in the Prefects compartment and they were due back shortly, so Harry, Ginny, and Lupin began to eat.

A little bit later, Hermione and Ron returned and helped themselves to the stack of candy.  Then, they all busied themselves by listening to Lupin tell them stories of Himself, Harry's father, and (though very carefully not to say anything that might upset Harry) Sirius and Peter.

"You know, Harry," he said, "your father and Sirius used to have races to see who could eat the most candy in the shortest amount of time.  And Peter and I used to see who could unwrap the most candy bars in the least amount of time.  So, Peter and I would unwrap it and James and Sirius would eat it.  We had a nice little system going on there."

As they sped on it got later and later.  It didn't seem possible, but the sky began to darken even more than it already was.  It was getting very late and Harry was sure that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon, so he began to change back into his school robes.  Hermione, Ron, and Ginny followed suit.

Soon, the train began to slow down and Harry could see Hogwarts clearly throughout the window now.  The train stopped in Hogsmeade station and they all began to clamber off, out through the rain.

"Firs' years over here!  Firs' years!"  Came Hagrid's loud voice through the storm.

"Hey, Hagrid!" Yelled Harry above the wind.

"All righ' you four?" He yelled back.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny climbed into one of the carriages pulled by the Theastrals and were soon joined by Lupin.  Once Lupin had closed the door, the Theastral began to pull the carriage and they were off bumping up to the castle.  Past the statues of winged boars, through the gates, and finally, they arrived at the front doors to the castle.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Lupin all stepped off their carriage and made their way up to Hogwarts Castle, where they were soon met by Peeves the Poltergeist.

Thanx 2:

Aditij24: Do you know what happens now?

Sammy: I'm writing more! Hee Hee!!!

Jessica: Thanx for the review! And thanx for dancing for me!

Bea: Ur a good reviewer! Thanx for the suggestions, is this detailed enough?