Disclaimer: I don't own Harry
A/N: A few reviewers have bought up the point that they think the group is too mature but I beg to differ. If you look at it at face value you could probably make a point that 15 and 16 year olds wouldn't behave in such a way. However they have been at boarding school for 5 years and I know from personal experience that you grow up more quickly when you're living away from home. You also have to remember that their experiences have not been that of a normal adolescence and hence they behave accordingly. Finally Harry didn't really have a childhood to begin with and Hermione is a girl who is incredibly smart and mature anyway. If anyone is out of character it would be Ron but over the coming chapters he will do some things that will make you question just how mature he is. Hope that helps. By the way I'm an Aussie who is currently really stressed as I'm having house mate probs
Home to Hogwart's
Harry, Hermione and Ron made their way through the train looking for Tonk's. She had gotten on earlier and secured them a compartment near the back of the train. When they entered they were surprised to see Neville, Luna, Dean and Ginny waiting with her. "Hi guys." Ginny called out and then she introduced Tonk's as Harry's cousin Tina to Hermione. They all talked companionably and it wasn't until Neville bought up the topic of Ron and Hermione's prefect status did things become tense. Neville was in the middle of a sentence about how he had gotten a new wand when he suddenly turned to Ron "Didn't you miss the prefect meeting?" The Trio shared a look and Hermione answered "Ron and I are no longer prefects. We gave it up?" Neville looked shocked, everyone knew that Hermione was perfect prefect material and wouldn't give it up unless for a very good reason. Neville suddenly had an idea "Dumbledore made you give it up because of last year." He glanced quickly at Tonk's as if to say 'I can't say any more with her here.' Ron spoke up "Oh Tina knows all about what happened there. No Dumbledore didn't make us quit. You know that I wasn't prefect material to start with."
Neville satisfied by Ron's answer turned to Hermione "What about you Hermione, you were perfect prefect material." Hermione tried not to show that she was still disappointed that she wasn't a prefect when Ron started sweating and breathing fast. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Tonk's recognised it as a sign that he was going to have a vision as he had had many over the past two months. Suddenly his eyes glazed over and he was suddenly removed from his situation. He saw Harry, Hermione and himself sitting down on the Hogwart's express and suddenly he could feel the claustrophobic feeling which he felt when the Dementors were near. He felt them coming closer and he was awake. He was feeling incredibly clammy and he was desperately missing Ares soothing words when he emerged from the vision. He took a deep breath and looked meaningfully at Tonk's. Harry, Hermione and Ginny didn't fail to see the look that he gave Tonk's and immediately Ginny stood up, grabbing Luna's hand. "Come on Luna, why don't we go and see Erica. Come on Neville I will introduce you to her, just you're type and then we're going to find Dean."
The Trio and Tonk's shot Ginny appreciative looks which she pointedly ignored. When they had gone they all turned to Ron expectantly "I don't know what happened, I don't know whether it was the future or the past but Dementors stopped the train again and they were boarding when I awoke." The three of them all looked at Ron worryingly and then Tonk's asked him if she could look at the memory. Ron quickly placed the memory into the pensive. When Tonk's returned she looked pale "It's the future. Here is what we are going to do. Hermione I want you to go down and get Ginny, wait at the front of the train for us. Ron you up to helping?" Ron still looked incredibly pale but he nodded anyway "Go with her, Harry and I will be with you soon. If you see the dementors don't wait just start making your patronus. Go."
Hermione and Ron left the compartment. Tonks then started rummaging in her trunk and suddenly she emerged with a mirror. Much like the one that Sirius had given Harry at Christmas. "Albus Dumbledore" she spoke into it and suddenly Harry could see Dumbledore's face in the mirror. Tonk's quickly explained the situation to him and Dumbledore promised to do his best to send help. Harry and Tonk's then left the compartment with Tonk's locking the door with auror level spells as they left. They tried to make their way quickly through the corridor to meet up with Ron, Hermione and Ginny but they were surprised to see that they found Ron, Hermione and Ginny blocking the corridor "What are you doing here?" Tonk's shouted at them. Ron turned around and suddenly both Tonk's and Harry could see what the hold ups were. Harry quickly stepped forward "Malfoy get out of the way." Draco Malfoy looked at Harry with the darkest loathing he could fathom "I am a prefect and I'm telling you that you are not allowed up there."
Tonk's patience was wearing thin and the Trio could tell this. Harry spoke again "Malfoy move or I will stun you and your friends." He pointed to Crabbe and Goyle but they did not move. Suddenly calls of "Stupefy" had come out of Harry, Hermione and Ron's mouth. Tonk's helped them to move all of them into the nearest compartment which luckily for them was empty and Tonk's once again locked the door. Once that job was finished they quickly made their way to the front of the train where they held a quick conference. "Okay, here's the deal. We don't really know when they're coming or if any order members will be able to help. Harry I want you to announce to the train that dementors are coming and for everyone to stay in their compartments while someone comes and secures their doors, that's my job, Hermione, Ron I want you to go to the prefects and tell them to split up and guard the 1st and 2nd years. Ginny you stay here with Harry. Here is a portkey I have set it to go off in 5 minutes if I'm not back by then grab hold of it, all of you. It will take you straight to Dumbledore's office." She didn't wait for a reply but quickly ran down to the very end of the train with Ron and Hermione trailing her.
Harry grabbed his wand and cast the sonorous charm on his voice. "Students of Hogwart's. Please return to your compartments immediately. We have it on good intelligence that Dementor's are going to try and stop the train. Please do not panic. There are people on board that are here to help. Listen to your prefects. Someone will lock your doors in a minute, don't bother trying to open them, they will be opened when the danger has passed." Harry turned towards Ginny after having taken the spell off his throat "How'd I do?" Ginny smiled at him. He already could install so much hope just by being there. "If I didn't know you so well I would have thought that you were Dumbledore 100 years ago. That was perfect." Harry smiled back at her and turned towards the door waiting for when Hermione, Ron and Tonk's would appear.
Tonk's had a hard time locking all of the compartment doors. Even with Harry's reassuring voice a lot of people were still panicking. 4 and a half minutes later she was down to the very last compartment when she spotted Ron and Hermione making their way back. Suddenly she heard 3 pops and their stood before her Minerva McGonagall, Viktor Krum and Severus Snape who was well disguised "We're the only people that could come." McGonagall said. Tonk's nodded knowing that she desperately needed to get back to the Trio before they portkeyed away. "Follow me" she said in an authoritative voice. She entered the front of the train in time to tell them to drop the portkey. Seven of the eight stood and talked companionably whilst Snape walked up and down the corridors for about an hour when suddenly the train began to slow and the hollow feeling could be felt in all of their stomachs. They all gripped their wands tighter and jumped off of the train in order to stop the dementors from boarding. Their eyes were constantly moving trying to find the first glimpse of them so that they could make their patronus forms.
Professor McGonagall was the one that spotted it first. All she had to do was point and all of them were focusing on their happiest thought and speaking the incantation. Harry's stag was the first patronus to erupt from his wand and it immediately made its way towards the dementors. It seemed Harry's patronus was a catalyst for the group as all of their patrounus' immediately appeared. Even though they were in the direst situation Harry couldn't help but wonder why exactly Snape's patronus was a werewolf but he quickly turned his attention back onto the dementors. As his first patronus disappeared he quickly cast the charm again. Two patronus later and Harry as well as the others were feeling the side effects of multiple castings and Ginny had stopped altogether but they were pleased to see that the dementors were finally disappearing. They all shouted "Expecto Patronum" and just as 7 patronus' emerged from their wands all of the dementors left obviously feeling like they couldn't win. Each of them lay on the grass for several minutes before McGonagall and Viktor started handing out chocolate. They all started to feel better and they slowly stood up. McGonagall and Viktor informed them that they had to leave and to contact them if they needed to again. They then handed them enough chocolate to feed a small country before disapparating away.
Tonk's, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny all boarded the train and the train magically started to move again. Tonk's started to talk "We'll do it like this, Ginny you go and find your friends and give them some chocolate but don't let them leave the compartment, you remember the spell to open the locks don't you?" Ginny nodded and left with her chocolate. "Harry go back down to our compartment, there is no need for anyone to know it was us that did this and I want you to tell the train that the danger has passed. Hermione, Ron I want you to go and start opening the doors and handing out the remaining chocolate and when you have finished go back to our compartment. I am going to go and deal with our friends. Everybody understand?" they all nodded and went to do their job. Tonk's made her way to Malfoy's compartment all the time thinking that the kids had been impressive out there. She went in and revived Malfoy and his goons but not before modifying their memories slightly. It was a much milder form of the Obliviate spell yet it was still illegal for everyone to use except for aurors. Tonk's made her way back to the Trios compartment. She walked in and smiled at what she saw. Harry was leaning on the back of the wall legs spread with Hermione in them and in Hermione's legs was Ron. They were sitting there in companionable silence and they all smiled at her when they entered. She returned their smile whilst thinking that it must be incredible to have such a strong friendship. She took a seat on the opposite side to them and they spent the remainder of the trip in silence.
When they pulled up at the Hogsmeade station they all gathered their belongings and made their way out of the train. The sight that greeted them reassured them, Hagrid was calling out for the first years. Even with all of their order knowledge they still didn't know if Hagrid was safe. Hagrid had spent the summer looking for Giant's once again and the order hadn't heard from him at all. Hagrid spotted the four of them and waved and smiled at them politely but with curiosity in his eyes as he looked at Tonk's. "Doesn't look like Hagrid knows who you are Tina." Ron said looking at Tonk's, Tonk's laughed it felt incredibly weird to be going back to Hogwart's after so long. She led them all to a carriage and Harry and Tonk's shivered. Harry couldn't help but think of Sirius when he looked at the Threstals. Tonk's could also see the Threstals but didn't volunteer who she had seen die. They all put their stuff in their carriage and they started chatting quietly as they slowly made their way up to the castle.
Each of them had their own thoughts as they caught their first glimpse of the castle but none of them shared them and then Ron shouted out that you could see the dragons. They all turned their heads to where Ron was pointing. Ares stood in the middle of the pack and he didn't look very happy. "What's wrong?" Ron asked Ares in his head "These dragon keepers are horrible at their job. They have mistreated one of the dragon's already. How was your trip?" "It was pretty awful Dementor's attacked, I promise I'll see what I can do about the dragon keepers I'll see you tomorrow okay?" There was no answer from Ares so Ron assumed that it was okay, he then focused his attention back to his friends in the carriage. They were talking about the dragons still so Ron told them about what Ares had told him and they were disgusted to hear that they had been mistreated and then Tonk's suggested writing to Charlie if things got any worse. Before they knew it the carriage had stopped and they all hopped out.
They made their way down to the Great Hall with McGonagall intercepting Tonk's on the way. The Trio were surprised to find that there were at least 40 new people waiting with McGonagall who were obviously not first years. As they took their seats at the Gryffindor table Harry spoke up "It's good to be home." Hermione and Ron agreed and they all turned their attention to the staff table. Dumbledore sat in the middle with his eyes twinkling madly. He spotted the Trio watching him and he gave them a discreet wink. They spotted Viktor, he was sitting next to Snape and neither of them looked too happy about that seating arrangement. However the person that they were most interested in was Percy Weasley. He sat on Dumbeldore's left and not once did he look towards the Gryffindor table. Ron had turned to the colour of a tomato and was incapable of speaking so Hermione and Harry decided to take advantage of this by not talking either.
When Hagrid took his seat at the staff table and McGonagall had entered with the new students trailing behind her. Dumbledore stood up and immediately all chattering stopped. "Welcome all to a new year at Hogwart's. You all would have noticed that there is a large contingent of new old students." Around the room polite laughter could be heard at Dumbledore's joke, he waited until it had died down and then continued "They are here as part of an exchange program. Unfortunately not to many Hogwart students have decided to take part. Anyway I am sure it will work out. On with the sorting." The Sorting Hat sang its song, which was all about considering ones choices closely and then the sorting began. Not surprisingly for the Trio Tonks was placed in Gryffindor and she happily ran up and sat next to Harry, acting exactly like most 16 year olds do. When the sorting had been completed and Dumbledore's customary tuck in words had been said a feast immediately appeared on the table. They were halfway through tea when a snap was heard. The Trio and Tonk's had their wands out as soon as they had heard the noise. Colin Creevy looked wide eyed at the four of them "Sorry Harry, I just thought that I would get a photo of you and your new girlfriend." Harry turned red and they all lowered their wands. Ron doing his best big brother act stared menacingly at the poor younger boy and then with a voice that carried the length of the table said "She is not Harry's girlfriend, she is his cousin and I don't know if I like the idea of her dating so don't you go getting any ideas." Colin paled and then turned away and when the rest of the table had gone back to their conversations Tonk's leaned over to Ron "You don't like the idea of me dating huh?" Ron smiled back and the other two burst out laughing.
When everybody had finished eating Dumbledore stood once again. "I hope that you enjoyed your meal. Now onto the announcements and this year I have plenty. You will be able to see that we have two new staff members to welcome. Viktor Krum is taking over the new position of Assistant Potion's professor and will be taking 1st and 2nd year potions and will be present to assist in all other classes." The applause that accompanied the announcement was deafening and Viktor's scowl increased as Wolf whistles were heard. Dumbledore interrupted them "Remember he is a Professor and you will treat him as such. Percy Weasley an ex-Hogwart's head boy will be taking on the vacant role of Defence Against the Dark Arts" Polite applause followed but neither Ron or Ginny chose to participate. "Now we have begun something new this year at Hogwart's, I along with the school board and the ministry have appointed three students as Associate Professors for Defence Against the Dark Arts." Harry, Ron and Hermione then felt the schools eyes on them. They stared straight at Dumbledore waiting for him to continue. "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley were the founders of the Defence Association last year and they are going to continue with the club this year. For those of you that do not know the club is an all practical approach to Defence and it will be focusing on spells that could be used in the event that you ever get caught up in a death eater attack." Chattering erupted from the student population and the trio could hear questions like "What would they know? Are we going to be attacked? Why them?" McGonagall silenced them all with a loud "Excuse me."
When everyone was quiet she finished "I do believe that the headmaster is still talking." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at McGonagall's words "Thank you Minerva, now as I was saying. This club is for you to practise defensive magic, years 1 through 4 will be taught by Miss Granger and Mr Weasley, whilst 5 through 7 will be taught by Mr Potter. If there are any other questions then please ask your head of houses or seek out either Miss Granger or Mr Potter and Mr Weasley." Once again the chattering broke out though this time questions were being shouted at Ron, Hermione and Harry but they continued to ignore them and gave a small gesture to Dumbledore to tell him to move it along. Dumbledore started to speak and everything became silent again. "Now that Voldemort's return has been accepted by the ministry several new safety features have been put into place. As you may have seen Dragons have been bought in to help guard the school. Please do not approach them as they are trained specially in the art of protection. For the moment Hogsmeade visits and Quidditch matches will continue, though this may change if any threat is felt from Voldemort's presence. And I am pleased to announce that this year at the end of every month a school dance will be held and details will be provided closer to the time. Finally once again the forbidden forest is still forbidden and a list of banned items can be found on Mr Filch's door. That would be all. Have a pleasant evening."
Dumbledore rose from his chair after his long speech and the students soon started piling out of the hallway. The trio tried unsuccessfully to make a quick escape but they were quickly surrounded by people who wanted more information on the D.A. Hermione who had always been the most practical of the trio spoke out loudly so that all of the people surrounding them could hear. "I believe there is an information sheet on the noticeboards in your common rooms. Go and read them and if you still have questions right them down and deliver it to us at breakfast tomorrow." This seemed to please most of the crowd and they moved away. However they still found themselves surrounded. They looked around and realised that everyone who was left had been members the year before. "Are we still going to be having secret meetings?" Susan Bones called out. The trio looked at each other; they certainly didn't expect that they would be asked to give even more lessons. Harry shook his head and the other people in the group looked disappointed so Ron piped up "Not at the moment. But if things change we may be able to continue our old club, happy?" They all nodded and left leaving just the Trio and Tonk's left. Hermione rounded on Ron "What on earth made you say that? Have you seen our schedules there is no way that we will be able to fit another D.A. club into them." Ron looked sheepish but was saved when McGonagall told them Dumbledore would like to see them in his office. They all followed McGonagall to Dumbledore's office "Nosebleed Nougat" She said softly to the gargoyle and it moved aside. They made their way up into his office. They were surprised to see the whole of Hogwart's staff there. Dumbledore looked at them and seeing the surprise told them "Staff meeting, don't worry you don't have to come to them all just this one." Hermione looked excited at the prospect of attending a staff meeting but the boys looked damn right surly. Tonk's had discreetly slipped in behind them and no one had noticed her excluding Viktor and Snape.
Ron, Hermione and Harry managed to find a seat in the already crowded room. All of the professors gave them encouraging smiles as they found their seats. That is all of them bar Snape who evidently didn't believe they should be there. Dumbledore then started in on business. For the most part it was pretty boring and routine. Stuff like schedules, supplies and discipline were discussed. After that things took a turn for the worst for the Trio when they were asked to talk about the Dementor attack. They shared a look and Hermione and Ron pointed their fingers discreetly at Harry. Harry took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "Hermione, Ron, Tina James, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and myself were sitting down and talking in the Hogwart's express when" Harry looked towards Dumbledore who gave a tiny nod so Harry continued "Ron had a vision showing that the Dementors were going to attack." Suddenly Percy's voice interrupted Harry "That is a lie Ron is not a seer." Ron paled but Dumbledore turned to Percy "You are right Mr Weasley, your brother is not a seer, he is a diviner, and there are a few subtle differences. Please continue Harry"
Harry had spent the precious time Percy bought him trying to think up a plausible explanation on how they contacted Dumbledore thankfully he had found one so he picked up from where he left off. "So Ron had the vision and as you all probably know by now we're not the sort of people that would sit around doing nothing" courteous laughter was heard from most of the staff. "So we made our way down to the front of the train where we hoped there was a floo connection, luckily for us there was so we called Professor Dumbledore and explained everything and he organised a few things from his end but back on the train I magnified my voice and told everyone to stay in their compartments while Hermione and Ron went and locked all of the doors. We bought Ginny Weasley as well as Tina James up to the front with us as they promised that they could form a patronus and then we waited for the Dementor's to show up. Of course Professor McGonagall and Professor Krum turned up and I guess they can tell you what happened from there." Viktor, Hermione and Ron all smiled at the Professor in front of Viktor's name. Dumbledore smiled at Harry obviously pleased with the story that he had come up with. McGonagall took up the story with bits and pieces added by either the Trio or Viktor. When the story was finished Percy spoke up once again. "Surely you don't believe this story Professor. They are only children. They couldn't have done all of that." Ron spoke before Dumbledore could "And why the hell not Percy?" Percy looked taken aback "You can not speak to me like that Ron, I'm a Professor." Dumbledore spoke softly "Now Mr Weasley, Ron is here in the capacity of a staff member and thus he deserves the same amount of respect which you do in this meeting."
Percy started turning red obviously from embarrassment but that did not stop him from continuing his line of questioning "Ron and Ginny can't perform the Patronus charm and I don't think Hermione could either. And there is no way that 3 fifteen year olds would act that way given the situation." Hermione looked livid this time and Ron looked like he was ready to explode. Hermione placed a calming hand on Ron's knee and spoke for the group 'Percy I can assure you that we are all capable of performing the patronus charm, my form is an Otter, Ron's a dragon and Ginny a book. Now about the way we acted, I can assure you that we have been in worse situations than that and it does nobody any good if you lose your head. Is there anything else?" she asked, inviting him to say something else. Percy opened his mouth and then thought better of it. Dumbledore sensed that the conversation was finished for the moment quickly wound down the meeting by providing them all with some fire whisky "To the New Year" he shouted and everyone followed suit, raising their glasses. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Tonk's and Viktor made their escape after the first drink. It looked like the rest of the staff were getting ready for a session and they didn't really want to go to charms the next day imagining a tipsy Flitwick. As they were leaving they spotted Percy questioning Dumbledore about giving the Trio alcohol. Dumbledore just laughed jovially and said something discreetly in his ear which made Percy turn red.
As they entered the corridor in front of the Gargoyle Viktor explained to them all how McGonagall had asked him to show them their wing tonight. As he led the way down the hall they chatted companionably until they reached the stairs. Viktor led them up 2 flights so that they were on the 5th level and he made their way down to the portrait that they had never seen. He looked around and seeing that nobody was there stroked the sword and then said quietly "Friendship" They stepped through the portrait and were shocked to see the exquisiteness of what could only be called the lounge room. The lounge room was furnished with 2 love chairs, a longer couch, a coffee table and 5 oversized comfy armchairs. Ron was the first to speak "Wow" was all he said. Viktor then decided that he should probably explain "This is for the 5 of us. It is fully self-contained and you are of course allowed up here whenever you want or need to. There is a room where you can study in, in addition to your offices that I will show you when we have finished here. Why don't you have a look around? Immediately Tonk's went and found a room which she claimed for herself and then she set about placing the Wards on the door just like she did at the resort. Ron spotted her and shouted out to her "What ya doing Tonk's?" Tonk's looked at him, thinking that he was a little dense sometimes and answered "I'm warding the door, dork. My wand vibrates if any of you three leave the room so it doesn't matter whether you are under an invisibility cloak or not." Harry and Ron looked a little embarrassed, they had already decided that they could easily skip out under Harry's cloak.
Tonk's finished not long after "Hey Viktor can you show us to the offices so that I can ward those doors as well?" Viktor nodded and led the way out of the room. They went down 2 flight of stairs and turned right. Harry spoke up "This was banned our first year, remember Fluffy guys?" The three of them all laughed warmly and then explained to Viktor and Tonk's what had happened. Neither of them found it quite as funny as the Trio did. In fact they were a little worried that 11 year olds had done such a thing but they smiled politely as the Trio obviously remembered the story fondly. Ron was happily quoting Hermione when they reached a small room at the end of the corridor, on the door read D.A. office and inside there were 4 huge desks with name plates for the 3 of them. The last desk was for Tonk's but they couldn't put her name on it as officially she had nothing to do with the D.A. The room also housed a large bookshelf that was half full of Defensive magic books. Tonk's promptly started warding the rooms as Ron, Hermione, Harry and Viktor sat down atop of the desks and started talking. "Harry" Viktor called, Harry turned towards Viktor "What the hell was that Professor Krum in there?" They all started to laugh, Harry looked sheepish "What else was I meant to say, you are going to be a teacher here." Viktor looked at him incredulously "So are you, I am pretty sure that you could have called me Viktor in there, not in class but in there you were part of the staff." Harry looked a bit embarrassed then but Ron spoke up "Did you see Percy's face when Dumbledore informed him that we were part of the staff and to show us respect." Harry and Hermione didn't know what to say to that so just smiled shyly hoping that the response would appease Ron. As soon as Tonk's had finished she basically pushed them out of the room, yelling to Viktor that they would meet at 5 and they all shouted their goodbyes. The Trio then led Tonk's to the Gryffindor tower.
The Gryffindor Common Room was just as the trio remembered it. Their comfy armchairs had been taken over by 1st years who didn't know any better. Ron walked up to them "Hey pipsqueaks, isn't it time for bed?" All of the 1st years looked up at him nodding and then one of the braver ones asked "Are you the famous Ron Weasley?" Ron nearly choked, he had never heard of a famous Ron Weasley so he shook his head. Then another popped up "Yes you are. You look just like your photo." Ron had a very confused look on his face and then all of the 1st years spotted Hermione and Harry "look there's Harry Potter", "And Hermione Granger", "We've met all three. We're in the same house as them." Harry, Hermione and Ron all looked at the kids embarrassedly and then Ron shouted "Scram" and the kids quickly disappeared up the stairs into their dormitories. He turned back to the others and asked "What was that all about?" They shrugged their shoulders but Seamus Finnigan had been watching the whole show "Where did you spend your summer, your faces have been plastered all over the Daily Prophet for the last 3 months." They all turned to Tonk's who had been staring silently, watching how they handled the pressure. Harry asked the question that was on all of their lips. "Is this true?" Tonk's nodded her head so Harry continued "And you didn't think to tell us?" Tonk's hung her head and spoke quietly "You and Hermione did spend the summer with Muggles. I don't know about Ron though." This answer did nothing to dampen their anger and Tonk's knew that but the Trio knew better than to discuss it further there so they all nodded their heads. As it was quite late the common room was practically empty so the Trio took their seats in front of the fire while Tonk's sat down on the floor. When everybody had gone to bed except the four of them Tonk's asked them to guard the stairs while she warded the common room portrait. She then made her way up to the boys dormitory and warded that door and did the same for Hermione's door. She bid them goodnight knowing that they couldn't escape the common room but knowing that they needed to spend just a little time together before turning in. It would be the first time in 2 months since they had to sleep alone and she could tell that it was going to take a toll on them.
After Tonk's had left Hermione pulled the boys onto the ground and pulled them close to her. "Today didn't go too well did it?" She asked the boys. Both boys nodded but Ron answered "It could have gone worse though." They all silently agreed with the statement and Hermione spoke again "I miss my parents." The boys were surprised with Hermione's comment, she had never told them that she missed them, probably because Harry had no parents to miss and because he had just lost Sirius. They both moved closer to Hermione hoping that by being there helps her miss her parents less. They lay there making random comments for half an hour when Hermione announced that they had to go to bed as they had an early start. Both boys grumbled but helped Hermione up she turned to Harry and gave him a large hug "Night Harry" and she kissed him lightly on the cheek. She then turned to Ron "Night Sexy" and she kissed him lightly on the lips as Ron pulled her into hug and placed a kiss on her forehead "Night beautiful" he replied. Hermione then turned and made her way up the stairs and the boys did the same.
Tonk's feigned sleep when Hermione entered the dormitory so Hermione just hopped into bed and cried into her pillow before she turned over and saw Tonk's watching her. "I thought you were asleep? Hermione said between sniffles. Tonk's shrugged her shoulders and made her way to Hermione's bed and gathered her in her arms "I didn't want you to think that I was waiting for you, truthfully when you all entered your dormitories my wand vibrated so I would have awoken even if I was asleep but why are you crying Mione?" Hermione smiled at Tonk's and then spoke "I don't know how many times I have told you to call me Hermione. I don't really know why I am crying, I'm being silly anyway." Tonk's looked at Hermione thinking that she didn't know a less silly person. She was going to let it slide until she looked into Hermione's eyes and saw them full of raw pain. "I don't believe you Hermione, tell me." At this Hermione started to cry even harder but she managed to get out "Today was an absolutely terrible day. We have been so removed from everything that has been happening even though we have been to the meetings we haven't really seen how it had affected people. And then when we got to Hogwart's people looked at Harry like they were vultures. He is my best friend and the whole world wants a piece of him and they don't know the half of it." By this time Tonk's had started stroking her hair and making soothing noises. Hermione took a deep breath and continued to speak through her tears once again "I want to be normal, I want to be Lavender and Parvati worried about what way to do my hair but most of all I want Harry and Ron right now, I don't know how I am going to go to sleep." Tonk's told her to "Shh" and slowly Hermione drifted off into an uneasy slumber. Tonk's got out of Hermione's bed carefully to make sure she didn't wake her and made her way into her bed.
In the boys bedroom Harry and Ron entered to find the rest of the boys awake and talking about their summers. As they walked in Dean shouted to Ron "What exactly did you do in the summer and how come I wasn't allowed to come over?" Ron turned red, he still didn't really approve of Dean as a boyfriend for Ginny "You couldn't come over because you are a 16 year old boy who is dating my younger sister. That is why you couldn't come over." Dean looked embarrassed but continued to push his point "Harry and Hermione are always going over your house." Ron didn't bother waiting a second before answering. They had all been given plausible cover stories for their holidays "They didn't come over this summer. Now is that all?" Dean knew that he should shut up but he didn't bother to listen to his subconsciousness "I bet you three always have a good time." He said this in a voice that was laced with sarcasm and both Harry and Ron knew what he was implying and Harry had to place a calming hand on Ron to ensure that Ron didn't go over there and bash Dean. Neville who had changed a lot over the summer calmly changed the subject "So the D.A's an official club now. That's good I learnt heaps last year." Seamus nodded even though he hadn't been to many meetings. Harry was incredibly relieved that Neville had changed the subject and he shot Neville a grateful look. Harry replied as Ron was still having trouble controlling his anger "Yeah, Dumbledore owled us in the holidays to see if we were interested in making it an official club and we couldn't see any reason why not so we accepted." Neville and Seamus looked happy with the response but Dean who was obviously having a few problems with the boys looked at Harry and spoke in a dangerously quiet voice "So you're an associate professor and quidditch captain. What will you do next?" Without even realising that he had done it Harry started to radiate power like during their invisibility lessons. The other boys looked alarmed and hastily got into bed whilst Ron walked over to Harry "Calm down mate, you're glowing." Glowing was the word that the Trio had given to the phenomenon when they found themselves radiating power. Harry took a few deep breaths and tried to clear his mind and let go of the magic he had inadvertently started to manipulate and he slowly started to stop radiating power. When he had returned back to normal he called out goodnight to the rest of the boys and hopped into bed as did Ron. Neither Ron nor Harry closed their curtains that lay between them but they hurriedly pulled the curtains around so that the other boys in the room couldn't see them.
They didn't start to talk again until they could hear the rhythmic breathing of their room mates. "Hermione was upset wasn't she?" Ron asked Harry. Harry thought about it and decided not to reply knowing that Ron was probably worrying about her more than he was but Ron continued "Do you think the dementors got to her?" Harry could tell that he wasn't going to let up so he offered his opinion "It's probably everything Ron, her parents, the dementors and just being back in this place that used to feel so safe yet now I don't know, its different. She probably is going to miss sleeping with us; I know I feel a bit lonely." Ron nodded his agreement, Harry was probably right. "What was up with those 1st years?" Harry really hadn't noticed any thing wrong with the first years. Every year they had stared at him and at Hermione and Ron by default "They're always like that. Don't worry about it." But Ron was worrying. There was something distinctly different about the way that they had responded to them this year. Finally the need for sleep overwhelmed them and they drifted off. However, unbeknown to them a young man smiled to himself before he too rolled over and went to sleep.
