Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters are property of J.K.
Rowling and the Wyvern Monarch belongs to the 3DO company.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 5: An Unexpected Trip
Over the course of the next few days, Hermione kept Harry busy since she made him study for his O.W.L.s, even though they weren't until the end of the term. However, Harry didn't really mind since he got to spend more time with Hermione and he was able to improve on his potion-making ability. Maybe this year Snape wouldn't be breathing down his neck and taking off points from Gryffindor because Harry didn't know how to make a certain potion perfectly or because he didn't know the answer to a question. The only drawback was that Harry had to wait until after Hermione went to bed before he could possibly practice his Elemental magic or his animagus transformation. By this time, he had mastered the Phoenix transformation, and was working on how to transform into a Basilisk King because he thought it might come in handy at some point.
On the fifth day of Harry's stay, Hermione was supposed to teach Harry how to make a veneficus potion, which was a highly toxic potion often used by dark wizards, which was capable of killing even a dragon very quickly. They were downstairs in front of a cauldron, which was set on the fireplace in the living room and were about to add the final ingredient to their potion, tail of a Wyvern Monarch grounded into a fine powder, when a small, highly excitable owl came into the room and started flying around in circles.
"Bloody hell, I must have left the balcony door open," Harry said as he made some attempt to catch the owl while Hermione looked on. He soon grew impatient and so he cast a slow spell on the owl and was able to catch the owl easily.
"It has a letter, let's see what it says," Hermione said, taking the letter from the owl's leg while Harry was holding it with both his hands.
She opened it and saw that it was from Ron. She read it out loud while Harry, still holding Pig, looked over her shoulder.
Dear Hermione and Harry,
My stay in Romania has become a drag. To make matters worse, Percy had decided to come along at the last minute. My parents were delighted since they rarely saw him since he was so busy with work. I don't know what he does for that lazy git who calls himself the head of the Ministry. Anyway, I won't be back for another 2 weeks and my parents said you two could come and join us in Romania for a vacation. Hermione, even you could use a vacation sometimes. There's a really cool castle nearby that I've been dying to check out, but the people around here seem to think it's cursed. These muggles, they don't know what they're talking about.
Owl me with your response if you'd like to come and when. This way we can have extra rooms prepared. You can travel by portkey, Percy is the one who set it up. It's included in the letter, I think you'll like it. It should take you to where we are staying in the town of Bistritz. Be careful not to be seen by the muggles. They are very superstitious and probably will want to burn you at the stake if you appear out of nowhere. Since neither of you can apparate yet, it wouldn't be good if you two were to be tried as a warlock and witch and then executed. So be sure to arrive in the evening.
Hope to see you,
Ron
Hermione was delighted that she could see Ron, but she decided to ask Harry first if he wanted to go to Romania for a vacation.
"Harry, what do you think? Would you like to see Ron in Romania? I think it would be great. Romania has a long history. Think of all the things we could learn over there about dragons and about the country," she said excitedly.
"Sure, why not, it might be fun and maybe we can see that castle that Ron was talking about," Harry said, though he was a bit nervous about taking the portkey since so many things could go wrong and the last time he took a portkey, it turned out to be one of Voldemort's traps.
"I'll ask my parents if it's ok with them," Hermione said and she went off to ask her parents in the kitchen if they could go to Romania.
In the meantime, Harry wrote his response to Ron.
Ron,
Hermione and I will be glad to come to Romania. We'll arrive 2 days from now. Then you won't be so bored over there. We can go visit that castle, but let's do it in the daytime or we'll freak out Hermione. See you in 2 days.
-Harry
Harry then attached the letter to Pig's leg and let him out one of the living room windows. When Hermione came back with her answer, she noticed the nervous look upon Harry's face that was still there and went to give him some comfort.
"My parents say it's ok and we can go, but I know you have your reservations about taking portkeys since you had some unpleasant experiences with them. I want you to know that I'll take the portkey at the same time as you and will be with you throughout the entire trip," she said encouragingly.
"Hermione, I'm glad that you care for me, but what if we happen to turn up in the middle of another death eater meeting? You'd be in danger and I don't know if I could live with myself if something happened to you."
"Harry stop worrying about me. When I became your friend, I knew what I was getting myself into and I still stood by you. Call me a masochistic psycho if you want, but I did make the choice to be your friend and I will still be your friend no matter what the outcome is."
Harry cheered up a bit and smiled at her, "Thanks Hermione, you mean a lot to me."
She gave Harry a hug before going upstairs to prepare her things for the trip to Romania in two days. In the mean time, Harry cleaned up the potion they were working on and thought to himself.
*Why did you just say 'you mean a lot to me' instead of 'it means a lot to me.' You want to mess up your friendship with Hermione? Besides, you promised yourself that you'd set aside your feelings for her and not allow them to get in the way. * he thought as he made the contents of the cauldron disappear.
He then drug the cauldron back upstairs to his room and made his own preparations for the trip to Romania.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two days later, Harry and Hermione were ready to make their trip to Romania. They were supposed to leave around 3:30 to make up for the 2 hour time difference between London and Romania. So at 3:30, they went downstairs with their trunks and said goodbye to the Grangers. They then gripped their trunks with one hand and made their way over to the portkey, which turned out to be one of Fred and George's ton-tongue toffees. Hermione looked over at Harry, who was still quite nervous about using the portkey.
"Ready Harry?" she asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's go. See you in Romania," he answered as he took Hermione's hand and they both grabbed the portkey.
Harry felt the usual jerk behind his navel, which was accompanied with a howling wind and swirling colour.
A/N: Let's see what happens next, R/R plz!
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 5: An Unexpected Trip
Over the course of the next few days, Hermione kept Harry busy since she made him study for his O.W.L.s, even though they weren't until the end of the term. However, Harry didn't really mind since he got to spend more time with Hermione and he was able to improve on his potion-making ability. Maybe this year Snape wouldn't be breathing down his neck and taking off points from Gryffindor because Harry didn't know how to make a certain potion perfectly or because he didn't know the answer to a question. The only drawback was that Harry had to wait until after Hermione went to bed before he could possibly practice his Elemental magic or his animagus transformation. By this time, he had mastered the Phoenix transformation, and was working on how to transform into a Basilisk King because he thought it might come in handy at some point.
On the fifth day of Harry's stay, Hermione was supposed to teach Harry how to make a veneficus potion, which was a highly toxic potion often used by dark wizards, which was capable of killing even a dragon very quickly. They were downstairs in front of a cauldron, which was set on the fireplace in the living room and were about to add the final ingredient to their potion, tail of a Wyvern Monarch grounded into a fine powder, when a small, highly excitable owl came into the room and started flying around in circles.
"Bloody hell, I must have left the balcony door open," Harry said as he made some attempt to catch the owl while Hermione looked on. He soon grew impatient and so he cast a slow spell on the owl and was able to catch the owl easily.
"It has a letter, let's see what it says," Hermione said, taking the letter from the owl's leg while Harry was holding it with both his hands.
She opened it and saw that it was from Ron. She read it out loud while Harry, still holding Pig, looked over her shoulder.
Dear Hermione and Harry,
My stay in Romania has become a drag. To make matters worse, Percy had decided to come along at the last minute. My parents were delighted since they rarely saw him since he was so busy with work. I don't know what he does for that lazy git who calls himself the head of the Ministry. Anyway, I won't be back for another 2 weeks and my parents said you two could come and join us in Romania for a vacation. Hermione, even you could use a vacation sometimes. There's a really cool castle nearby that I've been dying to check out, but the people around here seem to think it's cursed. These muggles, they don't know what they're talking about.
Owl me with your response if you'd like to come and when. This way we can have extra rooms prepared. You can travel by portkey, Percy is the one who set it up. It's included in the letter, I think you'll like it. It should take you to where we are staying in the town of Bistritz. Be careful not to be seen by the muggles. They are very superstitious and probably will want to burn you at the stake if you appear out of nowhere. Since neither of you can apparate yet, it wouldn't be good if you two were to be tried as a warlock and witch and then executed. So be sure to arrive in the evening.
Hope to see you,
Ron
Hermione was delighted that she could see Ron, but she decided to ask Harry first if he wanted to go to Romania for a vacation.
"Harry, what do you think? Would you like to see Ron in Romania? I think it would be great. Romania has a long history. Think of all the things we could learn over there about dragons and about the country," she said excitedly.
"Sure, why not, it might be fun and maybe we can see that castle that Ron was talking about," Harry said, though he was a bit nervous about taking the portkey since so many things could go wrong and the last time he took a portkey, it turned out to be one of Voldemort's traps.
"I'll ask my parents if it's ok with them," Hermione said and she went off to ask her parents in the kitchen if they could go to Romania.
In the meantime, Harry wrote his response to Ron.
Ron,
Hermione and I will be glad to come to Romania. We'll arrive 2 days from now. Then you won't be so bored over there. We can go visit that castle, but let's do it in the daytime or we'll freak out Hermione. See you in 2 days.
-Harry
Harry then attached the letter to Pig's leg and let him out one of the living room windows. When Hermione came back with her answer, she noticed the nervous look upon Harry's face that was still there and went to give him some comfort.
"My parents say it's ok and we can go, but I know you have your reservations about taking portkeys since you had some unpleasant experiences with them. I want you to know that I'll take the portkey at the same time as you and will be with you throughout the entire trip," she said encouragingly.
"Hermione, I'm glad that you care for me, but what if we happen to turn up in the middle of another death eater meeting? You'd be in danger and I don't know if I could live with myself if something happened to you."
"Harry stop worrying about me. When I became your friend, I knew what I was getting myself into and I still stood by you. Call me a masochistic psycho if you want, but I did make the choice to be your friend and I will still be your friend no matter what the outcome is."
Harry cheered up a bit and smiled at her, "Thanks Hermione, you mean a lot to me."
She gave Harry a hug before going upstairs to prepare her things for the trip to Romania in two days. In the mean time, Harry cleaned up the potion they were working on and thought to himself.
*Why did you just say 'you mean a lot to me' instead of 'it means a lot to me.' You want to mess up your friendship with Hermione? Besides, you promised yourself that you'd set aside your feelings for her and not allow them to get in the way. * he thought as he made the contents of the cauldron disappear.
He then drug the cauldron back upstairs to his room and made his own preparations for the trip to Romania.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two days later, Harry and Hermione were ready to make their trip to Romania. They were supposed to leave around 3:30 to make up for the 2 hour time difference between London and Romania. So at 3:30, they went downstairs with their trunks and said goodbye to the Grangers. They then gripped their trunks with one hand and made their way over to the portkey, which turned out to be one of Fred and George's ton-tongue toffees. Hermione looked over at Harry, who was still quite nervous about using the portkey.
"Ready Harry?" she asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's go. See you in Romania," he answered as he took Hermione's hand and they both grabbed the portkey.
Harry felt the usual jerk behind his navel, which was accompanied with a howling wind and swirling colour.
A/N: Let's see what happens next, R/R plz!