A/N: Ok, for this, the fifth chapter, you really have to have read my fic "Entering a new world" to get the character of Lynn. Took a while to translate this chapter too...only two days shy of four weeks... Keep the faith, only one slow chapter left!



5. The journey back to Hogwarts



Harry woke up early in the morning. Ron was still asleep, talking in his sleep.

"Don't worry...I...save...Hungarian horntail..." he mumbled. Harry smiled, he very well could imagine what theme Ron's dream had.

"Might as well check the trunk again..." Harry thought. He got up out of bed, put his clothes on, and then started going through his trunk. He really didn't need to do it, he knew everything was there. But I felt...comfortable to check it again. "Must be some kind of stress syndrome..."

"Ha ha, that got him..." mumbled Ron. Then he started waving his arms around. "Expecto Patronum! Yeah...worked...told ya...no dementors..."

"First dragons, now dementors..." said Harry to himself. "Why do he dream about that?"

"Hermione..." said Ron, smiling, answering Harry's question, though still asleep.

"Ah, well, that explains it..." said Harry. There was a knock on the door. "Com in." Hermione entered the room. Obviously she also had woken early, since she was fully dressed (A/N: What did you think?).

"Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," said Harry. Now Hermione noticed the sleeping Ron, mumbling something in his sleep. She smiled and looked at Harry.

"Must be a Weasley family trait, Ginny does the same thing," said Hermione. "Heard anything interesting?" Harry chuckled.

"Of what I've heard, you two's been on quite an adventure," said Harry. "Dragons, dementors and such. What about you? Anything interesting?" Hermione's statement had woken Harry's curiosity.

"Wouldn't mind if it was something about me..." he thought.

"Nothing that I could reveal without Ginny killing me," said Hermione. "Especially to you." Hermione's eyes now went wide. Apparently she had revealed a little bit more than planned. Harry smiled.

"Oops, tongue slipped, eh?" he said, teasingly. Hermione looked with a slightly angry look at him. "I won't tell if you won't, okay?"

"Okay," said Hermione, letting of the angry look. Now she looked at Ron. "Maybe we should wake him up."

"I'll do it," said Harry, a mischievous smile on his face. He leaned down towards Ron. "Hey, Ron! I saw Malfoy kissing Hermione in the library, thought you'd' wanna know..." Ron's eyes immediately opened and he sat straight up in his bed.

"I'LL KILL HIM, THE SLIMY LITTLE FERRET!" he roared. Harry and Hermione broke down into fits of laughter. Ron just blinked, surprised, for a few seconds, then realising that it was all a joke. "Ha ha, very funny Harry..."

"Sorry, but I just had too!" Harry managed to get out. After a few seconds he calmed down a bit. "See you at breakfast, and don't take too long, you two." Harry left the room before Ron or Hermione could say that they didn't know what he was talking about.



Harry went down the stairs to the kitchen. Mrs Wesley was up also, making breakfast. She saw Harry and smiled.

"Good morning, Harry!" she said. "Couldn't sleep any longer, huh?"

"No," said Harry. "Guess I'm a bit tense about the trip I guess." Harry yawned.

"Sit down and eat, that will wake you up a bit," said Mrs Weasley. Harry sat down at the table, on which lots of food stood. There was sandwiches, porridge (A/N: or is it called oatmeal?), fried eggs and much more. After a few moments Ginny also came down, then Fred and George, Mr Weasley and Percy. Although, it took a while for Ron and Hermione to come down, holding hands, and sitting down at the table. Nobody said anything.

"What?" said Ron.

"So, dad, how are to get to the station this year?" George asked his father, deciding not to tease Ron.

"I managed to get a hold of some cars from the Ministry this year. But you," said Mr Weasley, eyeing Fred and George. "You will have to take it easy this year, or God knows where we might get dropped of." Fred and George again had the guiltily innocent expression upon their faces.

"Don't know what you're talking about, dear father..." they both said at once.

"You don't, huh?" said Mr Weasley, looking slightly amused. "Well, I guess it will go fine. Right, Molly?" Mrs Weasley didn't answer, obviously not having the same confidence in Fred and George.



After breakfast everyone thanked Mrs Weasley for the good food and went up do get their things, and Percy went to get ready for work. When they were done and was to go down the stairs Ron thought he'd be a gentleman and carry Hermione's trunk down the stairs. After falling down three stairs whilst trying to carry the trunk, he had got several bruises, plus knock his head and blacked out. Hermione came running down after him, closely followed by Harry and Ginny.

"RON?! Ron, are you all right?!" Hermione exclaimed, getting down on her knees besides Ron.

"Swell, Mione," said Ron, who now came to and sat up. "If you disregard the fact that I'm hurting everywhere, including my head..." He touched the backside of his head. "Not bleeding anyway..." Now Mrs Weasley entered the room.

"What happened?" she said.

"Ron fell down the stairs, Mrs Weasley," said Harry.

"Down two-" Ron looked around. "Um...THREE stairs... What is in that trunk, anyway, Hermione? It weighs a ton..."

"Just things, books mostly..." said Hermione.

"Why ask..." thought everyone else.

"Hold on, I'll make you feel a bit better," said Mrs Weasley and took out her wand. She muttered something and Ron immediately went better. "There we go. Better?"

"Yeah, much better. Thanks, mum," said Ron.



After a few minutes Fred and George came down. Harry and Ginny had gone up to get their trunks, and came down behind the twins. Hermione also came down, taking Ron's trunk to make up to him for the rough ride down the stairs. Mr Weasley was ready now also. There was a sound of a car horn outside.

"That's the cars," said Mr Weasley. "Everyone have their things?" Everyone nodded. "Good, let's go." They went out and loaded the things into the cars. Mrs Weasley warned Fred and George one last time to calm ("We? Making trouble? Wouldn't dream of it, dear mother..."). Harry, Ron, Fred and George got in one of the cars, and Mr and Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Ginny in the other. During the trip Fred and George actually managed to stay calm (stranger things have happened...), and they arrived at Kings Cross Station twenty minutes before the train was leaving. They unloaded their things onto trolleys, and went into the station as the cars left.



A few minutes later they had reached they wall between platforms 9 and 10, the entrance to platform 9 ¾.

"Fred, you go first," said Mrs Weasley. Fred went towards the wall, pretending to walk towards platform 9, but sneaked into the wall when no one watched.

"Now you, George." George started walking, looking at a few girls who were about to get on a train at platform 10, but then sneaked through the wall also.

"Harry, you go now." Harry took firm grip of the car and started walking. He made sure no one looked, and walked through the wall. Once through he saw the Hogwarts Express, steam engine and all. A bit away he saw Fred and George talking to Lee Jordan. Behind Harry Ginny now entered, only to discoverer that Harry hadn't moved enough, and Ginny lost control of her trolley, trying to avoid hitting Harry. She managed to swing the trolley so that it wouldn't fall down upon the railroad tracks, but didn't manage to do the same thing with herself.

"Oh, this is gonna hurt..." she thought as she was about to fall down upon the tracks. But she didn't hit the tracks. Harry had thrown himself at her to avoid her falling down upon the tracks. They both fell down upon the platform floor, Harry with his arms around Ginny.

"Thanks, Harry..." said Ginny, a slight blush upon her face.

"Any time..." said Harry. Now Ron came through the wall, seeing the two on the floor.

"Jeez Harry, you could've at least waited until we were on the train!" he said. Harry and Ginny got up, and Ginny nudged Ron in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Don't get any ideas, dear brother," said Ginny. "I was about to fell down upon the tracks, when Harry saved at the last moment. That's why we were on the floor." Hermione entered just in time to hear the last part.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "You were on the floor?! What were you doing there?!" Half the people at the platform turned to see what the commotion was about.

"Okay, recap," said Harry. "Ginny was about to fall down on the tracks, and I saved her. Hence the floor thing."

"Okay..." said Hermione. Now Mr Weasley entered, closely followed by Mrs Weasley. The teenagers begun getting on the train. They found an empty cabin were Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione got settled in. Fred and George went on to find Kevin Walsh, and to find a cabin for themselves. When the train was about to leave everyone said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Weasley through the open window. As soon as the train started moving they said goodbye one last time and closed the window. Soon the train had left the station. Harry leaned back into his seat.

"On the way again..." he said.



The train had just left London when the door to the cabin opened. In the door Lynn Walsh stood. She had neck-length bronze hair, was just above normal height, and had a happy expression upon her face (A/N: I describe in case you haven't read anything with Lynn in before).

"So, here's were you're hiding!" she said.

"Hi, Lynn," said Hermione.

"Hi, Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Ron. How you doing?" said Lynn, and entered the cabin and sat down next to Ginny and Harry.

"Fine," said Ginny. "And you?"

"Same here, fine," said Lynn. "Sorry I didn't get here until now, my brother kept me behind..." She looked a bit angry at the last part.

"Fred, George and Lee was looking for him," said Harry.

"Oh joy... They're probably sitting around, planning tricks for the entire year..." said Lynn, looking tired. But then she lightened up. "So...done anything special this summer?" She hadn't noticed that Ron and Hermione held hands. Hermione was just about to speak, when Lynn interrupted her. "Don't say it: you've been sitting inside every day, studying for the OWL:s? I'm right, of course."

"No, actually I've..." Hermione begun, but interrupted herself, looking pale. Everyone looked at her with questioning looks. "I just remembered something... I haven't studied for them since Ron came over to my house..." Ron looked confused.

"So what? I came over to you just last week, so it's not that bad," said Ron.

"No, Ron, since the first time you came over to my house..." said Hermione. Now Harry and Ginny looked accusingly at Ron.

"What did you do to Hermione?!" they exclaimed, the accusing looks still present. Ron began feeling uncomfortable, but Harry and Ginny couldn't hold it any more and began laughing. Ron saw the fun in it after a few seconds and laughed too, if a little nervously.

"Um...excuse me?" said Lynn. "Could someone please explain why you're accusing Ron for doing something to Hermione?"

"Didn't I write about it to you?" said Hermione, surprised. Lynn shook her head.

"Nope. Wrote what?" she said. Ron and Hermione held up their holding hands. Lynn's eyes went wide. "No, get out of here... You two an item?" Ron and Hermione nodded, grinning broadly. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised. Especially when you think about how jealous Ron was when spent al that time with Krum last year..."

"Was it really that obvious?" said Ron, looking a bit bothered. Harry, Ginny and Lynn nodded.

"Yup!" the three of them said.

"Well, good for you two, anyway," said Lynn. "But how did it happen?" I mean, last thing I heard you were going to Bulgaria with Krum, Hermione."

"Well...this is what happened..." Hermione began, thought being interrupted by Ron.

"Hermione sent a letter to me saying that she'd invited to stay with Krum," said Ron. "So I-"

"He panicked, got over to Hermione's house, and proclaimed his love for her," Harry interrupted. Ron looked at him with a rather angry look.

"You make it sound so simple..." said Ron. "I'd like to see you do something similar." Harry froze, blushing almost unnoticeably.

"Damn you Ron if Ginny noticed that just now..." Harry thought, looking a Ron angrily. Ron on the other hand, decided against teasing Harry further. He was about to say something, when the door opened. It was Neville.

"Hi," he said. "Can I PLEASE sit in here? The only other seats are with Lavender and Parvati, and I can't stand them!"

"Sure, sure, come in," said Harry.

"We understand you..." said Ron.

"Thanks," said Neville and sat down next to Ron. "So, how's summer been?"



After Neville too had found out about Ron and Hermione the conversation went on to other things. Apparently, Neville had trained flying a bit during the summer.

"Really?" said Ron, a disbelieving tone in his voice. Neville gave Ron a slightly angry look.

"Yes, really," said Neville. "I can fly pretty good. Absolutely better than the first flight lesson at school... All I needed was practice."

"That and a lot of pillows on the ground..." said Ginny. Neville gave her the slightly angry look. "I'm kidding! Speaking about flying...who do you think will be the new Quidditch-captain now that Wood's gone?" Everyone looked at Harry.

"What? Me? No no no, I'm not fit for being Captain," said Harry.

"I dunno, Harry," said Ron. "I think you'd do fine," said Ginny.

"Thanks for the trust," said Harry. "But I really don't think that I'm all that good a choice... Being a seeker is enough for me." Though, he did think about a bit. Him? Captain? Maybe...



Time flew by when everyone played games and talked about things. When they witch with the trolley came by Harry bought everyone something ("Thanks, Harry!") They were having a discussion which Harry wasn't entirely certain what it was about, when they hear three pair of feet approaching in the hallway. Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately drew out their wands and pointed them towards the door. It opened. There stood...

"AH! Don't shoot!" Kevin Walsh, Fred and George exclaimed. Harry, Ron and Hermione lowered their wands.

"Thanks..." said Kevin. He had dark blond hair, was tall and was now slightly pale by the surprise. "Why did you do that?" "We thought you were Malfoy and his gorillas," said Ron.

"Though they'd have to pretty dumb to try and insult us again on this train after what happened last time, eh?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Fred, smiling a bit when remembering how Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had looked after they'd been hit with all those spells on they way back from Hogwarts last year.

"Come to think about it Malfoy didn't seem to have to have healed entirely when we bumped into him in Diagon Alley," said George, a smile on his face.

"Well, we do have official business here," said Kevin, doing his best Percy impersonation (which was rather good). "Hermione, you are to report to the last car to meet up with the other prefects." Ron looked sad upon hearing this.

"Okay, on my way," said Hermione. She got up and took her robe. Then she bent down towards the slightly sad Ron. "Easy, I'll see you later."

"Really?" said Ron, sounding like he wouldn't see her again. Hermione gave a giggle upon hearing how worried he sounded.

"Yes, you dolt! I'll see you in an hour or so at the feast," said Hermione.

"Oh, yeah...right..." said Ron, feeling stupid (and rightfully so, in this case). "Sorry If I'm a bit silly..." But Hermione just smiled.

"It's okay, you're cute when you're worried," she said, and then kissed Ron.

"Are they...?" said Kevin, when Ron and Hermione after a few seconds still hadn't stopped kissing.

"Oh, yes," said Harry.

"Wasn't she like...?"

"Yup."

"How..?"

"Ron managed to call it of when he heard about it."

"Aha." Now Ron and Hermione stopped kissing. Hermione went out of the cabin, and started walking back in the train. She met Lee in the corridor, on his way to meet Fred, George, and Kevin. "Then, ladies and gentlemen, we have business to attend to..." They walked away in the corridor, all laughing maniacally: "MOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

"They're up to something again..." said Ron, Ginny, and Lynn. All five in the cabin sighed heavily.



A while later it was time for them to get changed before arriving at the train station. Harry still had his old robe since he hadn't outgrown it yet. Ron had one of Percy's old ones.

"I wish I could get a new robe for once..." said Ginny, putting on a use robe Mrs Weasley had bought for her (A/N: Yes, they changed in front of each other, they do have their regular clothes under!). The train arrived at the station and they got onto the platform. The sky was clear, and the air was a nice temperature. They could see Hogwarts in the distance, lights shining through the windows.

"Wait a sec..." said Harry. "If Hagrid's away this year, then who's-"

"First years this way!" called a familiar voice from the other end of the platform. Harry and the others looked towards the voice, but they could see the person since the light from the lamp was to strong. They got into one of the carriages, and once they were all seated it began moving up to the castle. After a while they went through the gates and soon they were at the entrance. They got out and went into the hallway. Once in they noticed that most of the students in the school was in the hallway. Suddenly Harry froze. Ron noticed, and stopped too though Ginny, Lynn and Neville continued into the great hall.

"Harry?" said Ron.

"You gotta be kidding me..." said Harry, not so much to Ron as to himself. Harry saw Cho Chang. She had, like Ginny, changed some during the summer. Even though she wore her loose robe you could see that she'd got more defined curves during the summer, even more than Ginny, and she looked more grown up. A year ago this would've seemed great, but right now Harry just wanted it not to have happened. Now he had to weigh his re-discovered feeling towards Cho against this newly found feelings toward Ginny.

"I'm in for it now..." he thought, half expecting a punch from Ron. He looked at Ron. It seemed he too had noticed Cho's changed looks.

"Damn, Harry..." said Ron. Most of the students had now entered the great hall. "We better go inside. We'll discuss THIS later..." Harry swallowed, and followed Ron into the hall. The last Harry wanted to be was being beaten to a pulp by the Weasley brothers for breaking Ginny's heart.

"But I don't want to break her heart..." Harry thought. "Potter, what have you gotten yourself into?" He sighed.



Inside the great hall almost all students had arrived. The clear sky was visible through the enchanted ceiling. Ginny waved to them from the Gryffindor table. Harry quickly glanced at Ginny, and then at Cho. Harry sighed once again, and sat down besides Ron who sat between Harry and Ginny. Now the first years walked into the hall and walked up to the sorting hat. But Harry didn't notice. He was too busy thinking about what to do about Cho and Ginny. But also a bit how many ways he could be killed by the Weasley brothers.

"Harry?" said Ginny, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Why aren't you eating?"

"Hm? What?" said Harry. He looked down at the table, where there now stood food. Apparently he'd been thinking so much that he'd missed the sorting, song and all. "Sorry. Just thinking. Missed the sorting it seems."

"It's okay," said Ginny. "The hats song was shorter than usual anyway."

"How many was sorted into Gryffindor?" said Harry.

"Five boys, five girls," said Ginny. "Slytherin got more than usual though..."

"Okay..." said Harry.

"Com on, eat," said Ginny, smiling. She returned her attention to her food.



When everyone in the hall had eaten as much they could, Professor Dumbledore stood up. Almost immediately the hall went silent, though the Slytherins took a few seconds longer to become quiet.

"First of all I welcome our new first year students to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "As for the rest of you, welcome back. Let me introduce the new teachers. The first some of you will recognise. May I present Professor Remus Lupin, you teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts." Lupin stood up. "So, that's why I recognised the voice at the station," Harry thought. Immediately a level of murmuring erupted in the hall, with the exception of Draco Malfoy who exclaimed: "But he's a werewolf!". This didn't exactly help in stopping the murmuring.

"Some of you may have heard about Professor Lupin's minor problem," continued Dumbledore. Some loud scoffs were heard from the Slytherin table. "But I assure that he has it under control. He is fully functional as teacher, and will be that for the entire year." And Lupin did seem a lot healthier than the last time Harry had seen him.

"We also have new teachers in Potions and Car of Magical Creatures. These positions are temporary, since your ordinary teachers hopefully will return to their jobs. May I introduce Tarrysus Fonvielle, our new teacher in Potions." A long man with well-combed, light brown hair stood up. He smiled lightly, but he didn't seem all that nice. In fact he reminded Harry a lot of Snape. Polity applause were heard throughout the room, and Fonvielle sat down again.

"Carl Zemeckare, your new teacher in Car of Magical Creatures." A man of normal height, with curly brown hair with dashes of dark grey, stood up. He was a bit round, and had a happy expression upon his face. Applause were heard from all tables except the Slytherin table. Zemeckare sat down again.

"And now I would like to make a slightly...unusual presentation." Harry could've sworn that Dumbledore had glanced quickly at him. "We have an addition among our more...permanent habitants. May I present..." A shape came through the wall behind Dumbledore and stood beside him. "...Cedric Diggory." The silence in the room was total. After a few seconds tow loud thuds were heard. The thuds were the sounds that were created when Harry Potter's and Cho Chang's unconscious bodies fell to the floor.





A/N: Ha! Didn't expect I'd bring Cedric back, huh?

The love triangle thing a started in this chapter in there simply because I llllllooooooooovvveee love triangles! Guess it's one of the effects of growing up watching Macross... Plus sometimes I just love tormenting the character emotionally!

Questions about Cedric's reappearance will be cleared in the next chapter (I'm mean, eh?).

About the stairs gag, I myself think that the stairs in the Burrow is made out of soft wood (hence Ron didn't die falling down the stairs).

Carl Zemeckare is inspired by my grandfather. Thanks grandpa for giving me inspiration for the character, and for making the worlds best honey (as in honey made by bees...)!

Tarrysus Fonvielle is just someone I cooked up, utilising my dark sides :)

Only one review for the last chapter? It wasn't that bad! Anyway...here's my coments for the review:

bookworm - I know it's a Firebolt! The thing is I live in Sweden, and here the name for the Firebolt is Thunderbolt (if you translate it back into English)! I think it's got something to do with our Air Force's planes (where a plane is called Thunderbolt)... Anyway, I mixed it up.

Now, review! And remember: only one slow chapter left!



Emher