A/N: Hey everyone! I'm so way beyond total and utter despair!!! I had made the letters so cute on Microsoft Word and then to my immense disappointment, when I uploaded it on to fanfiction.net it didn't show up! Oh well, these things happen. Zee, thanks for your suggestions! I realized that I had asked for ideas on what the group should be doing and stuff, but that I never said who was going to be at the school with them! I'm a dork! Well, Malfoy will be there for absolute sure; you can't have Harry Potter without his arch nemesis! As for the Weasley twins, you can rest assured that they'll still be causing mayhem in the halls of Hogwarts! Thank you for your suggestions! Review if you have time!
~Chapter 2~
Harry woke early the next morning so he could dress and be down at the Dinning Hall in time for the final breakfast banquet with his friends. They all sat and swapped stories of four years worth of memories and pranks. Harry had told them that he was going to go back and teach at his old school.
"Wow Harry, that's quite an opportunity," said his friend Jennifer, "I would love to go back to my old school and have the power to do things I could never do before! I'd actually get to go into all those places that had been restricted to students!"
Harry didn't want to tell her that he had probably already been to all the places that were off limits. While his current friends knew that he was "Harry Potter, the boy who lived," and that he was responsible for the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named twice, Harry didn't go into too much detail about his years at Hogwarts. He just wanted the opportunity to go to school like everyone else and not have to worry about being in mortal danger everywhere he went, and his four years here had been as quiet as he had anticipated. If he were to be honest with himself, he'd admit that he did kind of miss that added excitement of trying to stay out of trouble with Ron and Hermione, but that was long ago and he had grown up since then.
Harry finished his breakfast and after a few farewell hugs and goodbyes, Harry climbed the stairs to his room for the last time. As he entered he heard a scratching on the window. Looking up he saw two owls sitting on his ledge.
"Pig!" he exclaimed recognizing Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, immediately. He opened the window and let the two owls in. He took the packages and was about to open Hedwig's cage so they could eat when Pig shepherded the other owl to it himself. "Please make yourself at home," Harry said grinning at Pig. He tore open the first scroll from Ron.
Harry, Happy 21st, Mate! I'm sorry that this didn't get to you yesterday. I don't know where the days have gone lately! Don't have time to write much, have been extremely busy! Will write you again in a couple of days and fill you in on what's going on, but for now, enjoy the gift and stuff from Mom.
Yours,
Ron
Harry put down the card and opened the package containing a miniature action figure of Ron in his Ireland National Team uniform, which marched around carrying his Firebolt, and the usual assortment of homemade fudge that Mrs. Weasley always sent him. Popping a piece of fudge into his mouth, Harry put down the package from Ron and picked up the one he knew had to be from Hermione. Her letter was much like Ron's.
Harry,
Happy Birthday!!! I'm so sorry that I didn't get this out to you yesterday! It has been terribly busy and hectic around here. In a couple of days I'll write you and tell you everything. I have some exciting news to tell you! Until then!
Love from,
Hermione
Harry opened her package and inside found "Becoming An Auror For Dummies: A complete guide on becoming part of the exciting world of Aurors." Harry laughed at the gift. Hermione always remembered what everyone liked or found interesting and somehow always managed to find a book on the subject.
Harry wasn't upset that his friends sent birthday wishes a day late; he understood that they were probably just as busy as he was and he didn't take it personally. "All right you two, you're going to have to get out of there; Hedwig and I have got to get going now." Pig and the other owl reluctantly got out of the cage and headed for the window. "Say hi to Ron for me, Pig." With a small hoot, the owls flew out the window.
Harry put Hedwig back into her cage and put all his belongings on to his trolley getting ready to Apparate. With one final look around Harry closed his eyes and said, 'King's Cross Station,' to himself. Next thing he knew he opened his eyes and found himself standing just outside of King's Cross Station. He hurriedly started walking with the other people walking around the station so as not to attract the attention of anyone who had been staring at the spot where he had been.
His excitement kept building as he neared the wall between Platforms 9 and 10 where the Hogwarts Express would be waiting. Harry looked at the clock on a near by wall, 'Only 12:15, still got plenty of time.' Harry found himself standing in front of the wall between Platforms 9 and 10 grinning stupidly at it. He got a hold of himself and looked around to make sure that now one was looking. 'Looks like the coast is clear,' he thought. He turned back to the wall and was about to take a step when a voice stopped him.
"Harry!"
Harry turned around and spotted the owner of the voice, "Ron!" he exclaimed reaching out to shake his hand
"It's good to see you! I haven't seen you since-"
"The Tournament of Champions in Germany six months back," Harry finished for him.
"That's right, but hang on, what brings you here."
"Well, you'll never believe it actually, I was meaning to write you and tell you about it tomorrow…I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts!" he told Ron.
"What?"
"I know, it sounds crazy, but I'm really going to be teaching there-"
"No, no Harry," Ron interrupted, "that's amazing!" he said smiling brightly, "you see, I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts this year too!"
"Really, that is amazing!" he said, "This is going to be great. I wonder who else is going to be coming."
"I don't know," answered Ron, "but I'm sure that they'll be here any minute."
They didn't see her, but she certainly saw them. They were pretty hard to miss. It had been four years since Hermione had seen them, but standing there looking at her two closet friends it didn't feel like even a day passed. 'Boy they haven't changed,' she thought to herself.
Both Harry and Ron had always been tall, breaking six feet, and it looked like Quidditch had done them both a lot of good. From where she was standing she could see that Harry and Ron had developed lean muscular bodies from their Quidditch training. She had seen pictures of their games in the Daily Prophet, but they were always from far away and with the bulky robes they wore she never really got a good look. Ron wore his hair much shorter these days and had it parted off to the side, giving him a very sophisticated look while Harry's hair was still an uncontrollable mess.
While she couldn't deny that they still looked the same, she doubted that they would be able to say the same about her. She had never really blossomed while at Hogwarts and it wasn't until she went to University that she learned to take pride in her appearance. She was tall and graceful, and had curves that left no question she was a woman, but she had never taken steps to accentuate her features. She had finally learned to tame her wild hair, which was stylishly pulled back off her face and secured with a clip. She was wearing a close-fitting blue button down shirt, a short black skirt, and knee length black boots. And shock of all shocks, she was actually wearing make-up, not that she ever needed it, and not that she had painted it on either, just enough to bring out her eyes.
She had been hoping against hope that the two of them would have also been asked to come to Hogwarts for the year. She hadn't written to them in a while and didn't know if they had finally decided on what to do with their lives after school. She was thrilled that she wasn't the only one who was at a loss for what to do now that school was over.
'Well, time to make my presence known,' she said stepping forward. "Harry? Ron?"
Ron stopped talking when he heard someone call their names, he and Harry looked over to where the voice had come from. A pretty brunette was walking towards them with a big smile on her face. Neither one had any idea how she knew their names.
Realization dawned on Harry first, "Hermione?" He said it slowly clearly in disbelief. "Look at you!" he said pulling her into a hug. "You look great!" he added letting her go.
Ron had also taken a closer look and his mouth fell open, "Hermione!!! Oh my God, you look absolutely beautiful, I didn't even recognize you!" Ron bent down and scooped Hermione up in his arms and hugged her.
"Ron!" Hermione squealed, "Ron, put me down!" she giggled. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he swung her around on the Platform.
Ron put her down, but kept an arm wrapped around her. "So the three of us are going to be roaming the halls of Hogwarts again, this is bloody fantastic!"
"Looks that way," Harry said. "Well, let's get on the train before we miss it." The three of them passed through the wall and were on Platform 9 ¾ where the Hogwarts Express was waiting to take them to the castle. Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed aboard and headed into one of the cabins.
"I wonder if Ginny is here yet," Ron asked as he sat in the seat next to Hermione.
"Ginny?" Harry and Hermione asked at the same time.
"She's coming too?" Hermione added.
"Yeah, she's just graduated from university herself, took accelerated courses to graduate early. I reckon she would have done you proud, Hermione," Ron explained stretching his long legs out in front of him. "She's probably already on board."
The three friends sat catching up and before they knew it, the train started moving. Ginny walked into their cabin a few minutes later. "Hi guys!" she said sitting next to Harry, "How are you doing? Isn't this exciting? What a wonderful opportunity."
"Hey Ginny," Hermione said reaching over and squeezing her hand. "Congratulations on the early graduation."
"Oh thank you! I was so happy that I was able to keep up with that hectic workload. Honestly, I don't know how you ever took all those classes year after year, Hermione!"
"Yeah, yeah, enough with the small talk," Ron cut in. "Who else is here?"
"Well, let's see, I'm in a cabin with Neville, Parvati, and Cho." Harry tensed up a little when Ginny said Cho's name. A whole year at Hogwarts with Cho. 'Wow, as if the first time around wasn't enough.' Cho had always believed that Harry had a thing for Hermione, which was never true. Harry spent his sixth year at Hogwarts trying to convince Cho that it wasn't true. After she graduated and left, still believing what she wanted to believe, Harry decided that maybe it wasn't worth the trouble after all. He just wished that Cho had believed him when he told her the truth.
"And there's one more person," Ginny said trailing off.
"Who," asked Harry suspiciously.
"I think that she's talking about me," came a voice from the door.
Heads snapped toward the door and Hermione gasped as she looked at Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway. He looked just as smug as ever standing there. His pale blonde hair longer than it had been when he went to school with them but it was still slicked back away from his face.
"Well, I'm going back to the other cabin, the others will probably be wondering after me." Ginny brushed past Draco who watched her walk down the hall into the other cabin.
He turned back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "So they've got you three coming back again too. Should have known they couldn't do anything without their little 'Dream Team,'" Draco said with contempt.
"So what are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry asked him. His fun trip back to his roots had just taken an unexpected detour.
"Yeah," added Ron, "this doesn't seem like your gig."
A dark look crossed over Draco's features. "Well, not that it's any of your business, Potter, but I needed a change in my life. Not everything worked out the way I wanted it to and this opportunity seemed like what I needed so I took it." Quickly wanting to take the attention off of himself Draco said, "I'm a bit surprised to see you here Weasley, now that you're playing for the Ireland National Quidditch Team you must be making some money, at least enough to buy that Firebolt. Did you come back to remember what poverty was like?"
Hermione knew what was coming and put a hand on Ron's chest to keep him from getting up and pummeling Malfoy, "Shut up, Malfoy! I would have thought that in four years you would have grown up a little! Or maybe it's just that following in your father's footsteps made you even more insufferable than you already were before!"
Color rose up in Draco's cheeks, "Stupid Mudblood, what do you know about me? Nothing!" he practically shouted. His chest was heaving as he turned around and left the room. 'She doesn't know how much I've had to grow up. None of them do. Besides, why should I care,' he thought as he headed down the hall looking for an empty cabin, 'it's not like I care what any of them think of me anyway.' Draco didn't notice that Ginny had stuck her head out into the corridor as he stalked down the hall. She had a look of concern on her face as Draco entered an empty cabin. She checked her feelings and turned back to the conversation in her cabin.
"Well, Malfoy sure hasn't changed one little bit," Ron said bitterly, "at least now I won't lose house points by beating the tar out of him!"
"Ron don't be silly," Hermione said, "you have to set an example."
Harry started laughing.
"Has he gone mad already?" Ron asked looking at Harry. "What's so funny, Mate?"
Harry needed a minute to catch his breath. "Sorry, but it's funny, this sort of reminds me of fifth year when you and Hermione had become prefects and Hermione was telling you that you had to set an example especially toward your brothers. I don't know, with that and Malfoy storming in here, I had the greatest sense of déjà vu. All we need is the snack lady rolling through here with her cart to make it complete."
At just that moment there was a clattering down the corridor and a familiar smiling, dimple faced woman appeared at their door. "Anything off the carts dears?"
The three started laughing and Harry bought everything on the cart to be divided between the occupied cabins. The three friends sat and ate chocolate as the discussed what classes they would be teaching.
"Well, I guess that we'll know soon enough," said Hermione, "we're here," she said as the train started slowing down. Excited the three of them started gathering their things so that they could jump off the train as soon as it stopped. They could hardly wait to get back on the school's grounds.
A/N: Ta da! Another chapter done! I hope that you all enjoyed it! Now you all know who's going to be at the school with them. I know I only chose people who were all in the same year as the "Dream Team" (with the exception of Ginny), but that's just how life goes! Anyway, review if you have time!