Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All I own is my CD collection, my copies of the five HP books, and my imagination. Do not sue.

Terrible Lie

By Saerry Snape

Chapter 2 – Darkness Creeping In

September 1st crept around and Harry found himself standing alone at the entrance of King's Cross. His trunk sat on the concrete beside him and he held Hedwig's cage loosely in one hand. To him, nothing had changed. But to everyone else…there was a stranger standing there.

That was just what Ron and Hermione saw when they arrived at the station. A tall figure in baggy black jeans that sported several buckles and zippers, a fishnet shirt thrown over a blood red muscle shirt, short gloves with the fingers cut out of them, and a pair of scuffed combat boots. Chin-length black hair that shone dark blue in places and spiked wildly out of control whilst hiding a slightly lean face.

"Who's that?" asked Ron, peering at the dark clad figure.

Hermione just shrugged then jumped back as Hedwig leapt from where she had been perched inside the car and took flight.

"Hedwig!"

The dark figure turned and the two caught a flash of green eyes half hidden by dark hair before the snowy owl landed on the person's uplifted arm.

"Hey, girl," whispered Harry to the owl. "Miss me?"

"T-who," answered Hedwig, rustling her feathers.

"Yeah, me too." He then looked towards Ron and Hermione and waved. "Ron! Mione!"

Ron's jaw dropped and Hermione squeaked, "HARRY?!"

Harry grinned sheepishly as they came towards him, their eyes as wide as saucers. He reached up to brush back his mop of wild hair, revealing the jagged scar on his forehead.

"Hi, guys."

"What'd you do?" gasped Ron, staring at his friend.

"You mean the outfit?" At his friends nods, Harry shrugged and added, "Dudley went through a Goth stage over last term. I got everything when he finally figured out Goth's not for him."

"I thought your cousin was big," said Ginny as she walked up, eying him up and down with what Harry could only guess was approval.

"Weeeell…Tonks popped in to check on me once and she shrunk everything for me. C'mon, I've been standing here waiting for you guys for half-an-hour. Let's go get on the train."

Hedwig hooted her agreement and Harry grinned at her.

"You too, girl? Come on, guys!"

Ginny gave her brother and Hermione a glance before she walked over to where Harry was hefting his trunk up onto a trolley, Hedwig now sitting in her cage watching him. He looked up at her as soon as he got it up and said, "Hey."

"Hi," murmured Ginny. She could already feel her cheeks burning as she continued, "I like your outfit."

Harry just laughed and said, "So, somebody else did get Bill's taste in clothing!"

Ginny's entire face burned red and Harry smiled at her.

"Hey, I think that's great. And…is that an earring?"

The redhead blushed to the roots of her hair and hurriedly hid the gold stud in her left ear behind her hair. "Don't tell Mum," she hissed, "she'll kill me."

Harry just grinned and said, "Secret's safe with me. Say…where's your trunk?"

"At the car. Why?"

"Well, you can stack your trunk on top of mine and then we won't need so many trolley's."

"I couldn't…"

"Sure you can," said Harry, grabbing her hand. "C'mon."

Ginny flushed darkly as Harry began to pull her and the trolley towards the car. She wondered for a moment why she had to walk faster to keep up with him and then she realized why. The year before, Harry had been barely taller than Hermione. Now he was a good two heads taller than Ginny, who was about the same height as the older girl. And the tight muscle shirt revealed the smooth lines of his chest…

Stop that! screamed Ginny at herself furiously. You are not going to get a crush on Harry again!

So she thought. But Harry had, instead of being the boy you could look over at a glance, was becoming a little bit more. He was taller and leaner and Ginny had to admit he looked good.

"Which one?" said Harry's voice suddenly, breaking into her train of thought.

"What?"

"Which trunk's yours?" asked Harry. He then frowned at her and added, "You okay?"

"Fine!" squeaked Ginny, her cheeks flushing scarlet. She pointed at the trunk by his feet and said, "That's it."

"Okay. Want to give me a hand? I barely got mine on the trolley and I don't think I can manage yours."

"O-okay," said Ginny, moving to one side of the trunk. Harry grabbed the other and smiled at her over the top.

"On three," he said. "One – two – three – heave!"

"Ooo!" squealed Ginny as they slung her trunk up onto the trolley. She lost her balance and began to topple over…until a pair of fishnet clad arms caught her. The redhead blushed furiously again as Harry smiled amusedly down at her.

"Okay there?"

"Fine," mumbled Ginny. She hurriedly pulled herself away from him and tried to regain what composure she had left. Harry gave her another amused smile then grabbed the trolley with their trunks and Hedwig's cage and began to walk towards the station entrance. She jogged to catch up with him and found herself easily falling into a stride that matched his.

Behind them, Ron scowled darkly. Hermione, noticing this, glanced at the disappearing Harry and Ginny then batted the tall boy's arm.

"Ron! Stop that!"

"What?" growled Ron.

"Stop glaring at Harry."

"I can't help it. Ginny's acting all weird around him and so's he."

Hermione sighed heavily and said, "Ron…don't worry about it. You know Harry would never do anything to hurt Ginny. And that's if something's going on between them."

"Something had better not be going on!" snarled Ron, earning a smarting blow from the bushy-haired girl on his shoulder.

"Ronald Weasley! I can't believe you!"

"What?" asked Ron, looking confused and rubbing his shoulder.

Hermione growled softly and spat, "I'm not going to explain it to you." She then grabbed the trolley her trunk had been loaded onto and began to walk off with hurried strides. Ron gaped after her for a moment before he grabbed his own trolley and began to jog after her.

"Mione, wait up!"

Hermione kept walking but she did slow down enough that Ron didn't have to run to catch up with her. As he settled into a walk beside her, he said softly, "I'm sorry."

"That was quick."

"Eh?"

"A quick apology. Generally it takes you a week or two."

Ron wrinkled his nose then looked up to see Harry and Ginny disappearing through the barrier. He sighed heavily at the sight, earning a frown from Hermione.

"Don't start," she growled.

"Start what?" asked Ron.

"I give up!" yelled Hermione and shoved her way past him. She vanished through the barrier, leaving Ron to hurry through after her.

"Mione! C'mon, Mione, I was joking!"

"Don't think she took it as one," remarked Ginny as the bushy-haired girl kept walking down the platform, the wheels of her trolley squealing.

Harry winced at the sounds and stuck one of his finger in his right ear, twisting it. "Someone needs to oil that one," he remarked.

Ron frowned at his best friend and said, "Its not that loud."

"Sounds like it. Let's get after Hermione."

"Aw," said a sneering voice from behind them, "has the Mudblood finally run off?"

Ron whirled around to snap, "Sod off, Malfoy!" The only sign that Harry had heard the blonde Slytherin was the tightening of his shoulders.

"What's wrong, Potter? Scared?"

Harry turned around slowly, his eyes lazily locking with Malfoy's. His upper lip drew back from his teeth in an elegant sneer and he spat, "The day I'm scared of your simple words, Malfoy, will be the day I turn myself willingly over to Voldemort. As we know that's not going to happen, neither is the first. So why don't you slither off like the snake you are?"

"Grew a backbone, did we?" remarked Malfoy. "If only you'd had it earlier. Might've saved your godfather…"

"Harry, no!" shrieked Ginny as Harry threw himself bodily onto Malfoy. The two of them fell to the concrete floor of the platform and there was a sickening thud as Harry's fist connected with the blonde's jaw.

He then grabbed the Slytherin's collar and began to beat his head against the platform floor.

"Never…mention…Sirius…again…you…trite…bastard!"

"Harry, let him go!" yelled Ginny, jerking on the dark-haired boy's arm. "You're going to hurt him! Ron, help me!"

Ron leapt forward and grabbed his friend's other arm. The two of them pulled Harry off of Malfoy bodily and dragged him off, leaving the blonde on the ground.

They dragged him onto the train and threw him into a cab that Hermione had settled in. The bushy-haired girl blinked as Harry was tossed onto the seat across from her and began to scowl darkly at Ginny and Ron.

"I'm glad we're early," remarked Ginny. "Harry, what were you thinking?"

Harry just scowled at her then looked away. Locks of wild hair fell over his face and seemed to block him off from them.

Ginny frowned while Ron shifted nervously before saying, "I'm going to go get the trunks." As he left, Hermione looked at Ginny.

"What happened?"

"Harry attacked Malfoy."

"He insulted Sirius," snarled the young man. He turned blazing green eyes on the two girls and spat, "Am I just supposed to let that slip by?"

"He was just goading you!" cried Ginny. "Like he always does."

Hermione nodded and said, "You shouldn't let him get to you, Harry."

Harry just fixed the two of them with a dark scowl then looked out the window. Ginny looked helplessly at Hermione, who shrugged and mouthed 'Let him cool down.' The redhead nodded and left the cab to go see how Ron was doing with their trunks.