Chapter Five

The Empty Express

By Kyizi

Yahoo! Group: KyiziFic

E-mail: kyizifanfic@hotmail.com

Harry groaned and sat back on his trunk. Rubbing his eyes, he forced himself to stay awake. As far as he was concerned, this time of the morning was not meant to be seen, why else would nature make it so dark? The only exception was for Quidditch practice and even then, Harry had issues. Hearing thumping on the stairs, Harry turned to see Ginny and Hermione sleepily pulling their trunks down the stairs, the back ends banging on each step in succession.

"Girls, do you have to make so much noise?" Molly Weasley asked, hurriedly pulling out her wand and levitating her daughter and Hermione's trunks down the stairs and placing them next to Harry's. "Ron! Fred! George! Will you please get a move on, or you'll miss the train!" Shaking her head, she turned on her heel and moved quickly to the kitchen to clear away the remainder of their breakfast plates. They had eaten early, seeing Bill and Charlie off before getting themselves ready.

"I can't believe the train's leaving at six!" Hermione said, flopping down on Harry's trunk next to him. She reached down to pick up Crookshanks, who had followed her down the stairs, and began to stroke him. She looked like she had something on her mind, which Harry supposed wasn't all that unusual, she was Hermione, after all, but he had to wonder if there was something bothering his friend, something besides their early rise.

"It's just evil!" Ginny groaned, slumping to her knees, before just giving in and lying face down on the floor at their feet. "Wake me up at a reasonable hour," she mumbled, turning her face to the side, and Harry smiled at her as she scrunched up her nose, trying to itch it without having to move her hands from cushioning her head.

"Virginia Weasley! Get up off the floor this instant!" Ginny jumped up off the ground quicker that Harry could blink as they all gazed as Mrs. Weasley, suddenly wide awake. "Ron, Fred, George, you get down here NOW!"

"Now, now, Molly, calm down. We'll get them all to the station on time," Mr Weasley said, muffling a yawn, and leaned to kiss his wife on the cheek.

A few moments later, Ron and the twins came hurtling down the stairs, their trunks smacking off the stairs, sending Mrs. Weasley into another frenzy. Harry wasn't so sure what to make of it. It wasn't that he had never seen Mrs. Weasley get a little worked up before, but there seemed to be something that was making her fret more than usual.

"Now, are we all ready to go?" Mr. Weasley asked and when there was a consensus of nods, he smiled and opened the door.

*

The trip to the station had been a complete blur as Harry and the Weasleys had, as always, ended up running late. However, much to everyone's joy, both Harry and Ron had made it safely onto the train without any mishaps, an almost broken broom not withstanding.

Harry's theory that there was something bothering Mrs. Weasley was further proven when she had had trouble letting any of them go when wishing them all goodbye. She seemed very teary but keeping on a brave front and none of them seemed to know why.

"Now all of you, keep safe," Mrs. Weasley said, seeming to aim her request at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "And no getting into trouble." There were no surprises when she aimed that remark at the twins.

"We'll be fine, mum," Ginny said with a smile, and Mrs. Weasley nodded.

"Well, there will be someone keeping you safe this term, so I want you to promise to be good."

They all frowned as Ron asked, "What do you mean, someone keeping us safe?"

"The train is about to leave. Everyone on."

"But,"

"George! On the train!"

Without further argument, they all boarded the train and waved to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley before the twins separated from them and went to find their friends. Harry followed Hermione through the train and they quickly found a carriage, no one really commenting on the fact that the train was all but empty. No one really wanted to comment on it. No one wanted to think about what was happening to the wizarding world and why it would stop people from coming to school. Usually the train would have been mostly full by the time they had arrived and it would have been a struggle to find anywhere to sit.

Without talking, they had settled into their empty carriage and Ginny had quickly snuggled up in the seat next to Harry, falling almost instantly asleep. Harry and Ron, who were sitting opposite each other in order to play on Harry's chessboard, had quickly given up on the idea of thinking and Ron had followed his sisters example. Hermione, however, had immediately pulled out The Standard Book of Spells and started reading it, despite the fact that she'd read it the day she bought it, deciding that, if she was awake, she might as well study.

The hum of the Hogwarts Express was making its way up through Harry's feet and he smiled, gazing out the window at the passing scenery. It was hard to believe that he was actually in his fifth year and about to start preparing for his OWL's, Ordinary Wizarding Levels, although that wasn't something he really wanted to think about, no, the thought at the forefront of his mind was Quidditch. He was finally going to be able to play a real Quidditch match again. Quidditch was the Wizarding worlds most popular sport and Harry had been on his house team since his first year, something he was extremely proud of, a love of the sport was something he had in common with his father.

There was a creak as the door was suddenly pulled open and Harry turned to see a shocked brunette staring at him from the doorway. He frowned and shifted a little under her scrutiny, and turned to look at Ron who had woken up when the door opened. Ron was looking at the girl and rolling his eyes.

"Hey Martha," Hermione said with a grin, indicating that the girl should enter. She didn't move. "Do you want to join us?"

"I-I just came looking for Ginny," the girl said, still staring at Harry.

"Well, you found me." Ginny smiled, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"We-we have a carriage. We thought you might want to join us but if you'd rather stay here then that's okay. I mean-"

Ginny giggled a little. "No, that's okay. You guys don't mind?"

Hermione shook her head and answered for them all. "No, you go ahead, Ginny, we'll see you when we get to school."

"Yeah, we'll see you later," Harry said, smiling.

"Okay."

Harry watched as Ginny practically dragged her friend away from the door, rolling her eyes as she shut it over behind them. Ron mumbled something about his sister's stupid friends and began searching his pockets for what Harry assumed was a sweet of some kind. Turning back to the window, Harry let his thoughts wander to his Godfather.

Sirius had been on his mind a lot recently, and with Charlie mentioning Ginny's speaking to him and with everything Mr. Marks had told him, he was suddenly more anxious to speak to his Godfather. He hadn't had the chance to speak to Ginny about Sirius yet, and he honestly didn't know what he would say to her if he had. More than anything, he just wanted to be reassured that Sirius was okay, but he also had so many questions he wanted to ask, about the war, about his parents, about Madelaine. There were so many things and, a lot of them. Harry had to wonder if he'd ever find out the answers to.

"What's the matter, Potter, your flying carpet not working?"

Harry resisted the urge to groan as he turned to the doorway. He'd been so lost in his thoughts he hadn't heard the door opening. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I see you decided to grace us with your presence. What's the matter? Did you run out of ways to show off?"

"Yeah, it ran out about the same time as your blond hair dye. What's the matter, Malfoy, going grey?" Ron snickered and Harry took the opportunity to look at what Ron was talking about. There was a definite greyness to Malfoy's hair and his eyes, normally grey seemed to be rather pink.

Hermione snickered. "You were trying the Hallowed Spell?" Malfoy instantly coloured, confirming whatever Hermione had implied.

"Shut up, mud blood," he said icily.

Ron jumped to his feet angrily and was about to lunge at Malfoy, but Harry was quicker. He grabbed Ron before his friend had the chance to move any further than a few steps.

"Beat it, Malfoy." Ron said, glaring at the (almost) blond haired boy.

Malfoy smirked and shook his head. "It's you who'll be getting the beating, Weasley. The Quidditch pitch is ours this year, and with the exchange from Durmstrang, we'll have plenty of new players to help us win the cup."

"You mean, you're staying?" Hermione asked. "Funny, I would have thought you'd jump at the chance to go to Durmstrang."

Malfoy sneered. "And miss seeing Potter's face when I beat him to the snitch this year? I don't think so." With that final remark, the Slytherins closed the carriage door, their laughter echoing through the almost empty train.

"Why can't he just blow up or something," Ron muttered as they took their seats again. "You did it to your Aunt one time, Harry, think you could do it to Malfoy?"

Harry smiled. "It was reversible."

Ron shrugged. "It'd be worth it just to see his perfectly snotty face exploding into a million pieces."

Harry smiled and turned to Hermione. "What was that about an exchange?" he asked.

"I'd only heard rumours, but I think they're doing an interschool exchange with Beauxbattons and Durmstrang with the older years."

Ron frowned. "Who would want to go to Durmstrang?" he exclaimed. "Except maybe the Slytherins." His face seemed to brighten. "Maybe we could send them all to Durmstrang. The school would be better without them."

Hermione smiled and shook her head. "Well, no one was even sure if anything was going to come of it. With the war going on, most parents aren't going to want to send their children off to another country."

Harry nodded and leaned back in his chair, staring out of the window again. A few moments later, the sweet trolley came by and Harry bought some sweets for them all, insisting it was his treat for thanking them for a great birthday, and although they all happily sat munching on their sweets, Harry was still convinced that there was something wrong with Hermione.

"Are you okay?" He wasn't really sure how to approach the subject. He remembered full well that Hermione was a girl, a fact that he and Ron tended to forget, but he knew she sometimes reacted to things too much like, well, a female, for his liking. And he never seemed to know when that would be. He was only hoping that he could be tactful enough not to set her off on one.

"What?" She glanced at him, a little shocked at the question, and Harry noticed that Ron was also looking at him strangely.

"I don't know, you just seem a little…upset?"

"Oh," Hermione blushed and looked down at her book. "It's nothing, just, well, nothing."

"Oh, come on, Hermione, just tell us," Ron said, and Harry almost kicked him for being so tactless. Surely his friend remembered the way Hermione had reacted after the Yule ball.

Hermione, however, seemed to want to be normal today, and not act like a girl. "Well, it's just, I mean."

"Well, spit it out."

She turned to glare at Ron, before shaking her head and turning to Harry. She looked rather upset, and Harry prayed that she wouldn't cry. "I'm just, well…I'm not a prefect, am I?"

"Oh, is that it." This time Harry did kick him. "Ouch! What?" Harry glared at him, but Ron turned to Hermione. "Look, dad said that Dumbledore was waiting to see who'd be coming back before granting prefect and head boy and girl status this year. I think he wants to see who's coming back first."

"Oh," Hermione sat back. "So that's why it wasn't on our letters?"

"Yeah. I think Dumbledore's a bit worried that loads of people won't come back. You know, because of You-Know-Who."

"Oh," she smiled a little and turned back to her book.

"Besides." Hermione looked up at Ron and he seemed, to Harry, to be turning red at the tips of his ears. "We all know you'll be a prefect. They'd be mad not to."

Hermione smiled and blushed, before quickly absorbing herself in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, once more. Harry smirked at Ron, but when his friend scowled at him, he simply turned to look out the window again.

"I think we're nearly there," he said, squinting to try and make out the light ahead. There was a click as the door opened again and Ginny smiled as she entered.

"I forgot my book," she said with a smile, leaning to pick up a small, battered, red notebook. "We're just about there, I think."

As she spoke, they felt the train slowing down and Harry looked once more at the lights that were even closer now. He was able to make out the writing at the station and he smiled as he spotted the outline of the castle in the distance.

He was home.

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End of Part Five


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Feedback is always appreciated, especially with this fic, in which I am attempting a different writing style, as I'm trying to keep it close to the style JKR uses.

Any comments, constructive criticism etc is appreciated.