Chapter 2
The Letter

Harry was running down the third floor corridor again. Sweating, panicking. And again he quickly ducked inside the nearest door. He found himself in the same room as before, which looked just the same. Still dusty, still empty. It was much darker this time thought and there was a musty smell about. But something else was different. Harry just couldn't put his finger on it. It was the mirror...the mirror of Erised was gone. Harry was beginning to feel really tense. Someone was calling his name in the distance. He could hear their footsteps approaching, slowly growing louder. The door swung open, a tall dark figure stood in the doorway. The room had grown very dark and Harry could not make out the face of his enemy. The figure slowly advanced to the middle of the room where Harry was standing. As Harry's eyes adjusted to the light he saw the face was none other than...Malfoy.
"I knew it!" Harry shouted. He slowly drew his wand out from the inside of his robes. Malfoy only stood there smiling. Yes, smiling. Malfoy was not wearing his usual smirk, or grin: but smiled as if greeting an old friend. Harry slowly backed away, expecting the worst. He waited for Malfoy to stun him, smack him, even insult him. But he did not. Draco stepped closer to Harry and...hugged him. Surprisingly Harry slightly enjoyed it. Maybe it was because Draco wasn't acting like his usual scheming self. It was like meeting a whole mew person. Harry suddenly realized whom he was actually hugging. He tried to pull away but Draco would not let go.
"Let go of me!" Harry cried. He tried and tried to get free, but Draco's embrace was as strong as a metal clamp around him body.
"Let go! Let go, let-."
"Harry, its alright!" said a familiar voice.
Harry realized he was awake, with Hermione standing over him. He must have tossed and turned a great deal throughout the night, because he was completely tangled within the bed sheets. He expected to still be aboard the night bus, but he was in Ron's bedroom.
"You were screaming in your sleep, so Ron came and got me," Hermione said. "Don't tell me you were having one of those visions again!"
"Yeah, the last thing we need is to-."
"Ronald, do you always have to interrupt?!" Hermione asked, throwing Ron a dirty look.
"No," Ron said sarcastically.
"Well then don't," Hermione said crossly. "So, Harry, you didn't Have a vision...did you?"
"No. D-don't worry about me. I-it was just a dream that's all."
"Then why were you yelling, let go, let go!" Ron asked.
"Well you see, I-I was just-."
"Ron!" Hermione shouted. "He obviously doesn't want to tell us, so stop trying to force things out of him will you!"
"I'm sorry but-," Ron started.
"Excuse me Harry, but I need to speak with Ronald outside for a moment." She said calmly. She pushed Ron out the door, slamming it behind her.
"What is wrong with you Ron?! Harry is obviously going through rough times; the least you could do is be there for him! I mean, the only family he had, that was still alive, has just died! He must feel horrible! And I am sure he doesn't need all your, blah blah blah..."
Ron was tuning her out. He just stood there, gazing at Hermione transfixed.
"You're really cute when you're angry, you know." He said, interrupting Hermione's rambling.
"Cute? You think I look cute when I'm angry?! What's that supposed to mean?!" she asked three different questions at once.
"Well...yeah."
"Oh. Wait...what?" She asked in an utter look of confusion. She had stopped shouting and rambling and was looking at Ron, dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?"
"This," He said. Ron leaned in and kissed Hermione. He drew back quickly. He gazed into her deep brown eyes, savoring the sweet taste of her lips.
"Well then...that explains a lot," she said as they both blushed.

"Breakfast is ready!" Ms. Weasley called from the kitchen downstairs.
"Oh no!" Hermione gasped. "She still doesn't know Harry is here!"
"What are we going to do?!" Harry said, he was trying hard not to panic. "Wait a minute, how did you two get me into the house without her knowing?"
"You were dead asleep, so we had Fred carry you upstairs. And we all know Fred and George are the sneakiest of the bunch." Ron said.
"I could hide in the closet, and you could just sneak me some food while nobody's looking," Harry suggested.
"Harry, be realistic. Someone will find you eventually, and besides, its awfully cramped in Ron's closet." Hermione said.
"Its alright," said Ron. "She will probably be glad to see Harry anyhow. And I'm sure she's not going to deny you your breakfast. If she does have a problem, I'll take all the blame."
"Thanks Ron," Harry said.
"No Problem."
Hermione smiled at Ron, as if to say, I knew our little chat would straiten you up a bit. They all headed down stairs, Harry in the back. They did not want to look too obvious.
"Good morning Ron. Hermione. Harry," said Mr. Weasley. He had looked up from the table as they entered the room. Everyone else was sitting down already. Fred and George were smiling at Harry, seeing as they already knew he had been there.
"Why hello Harry, what brings you here?" Ms. Weasley asked.
"I-I came to visit," said Harry nervously, though no one seemed to mind that he was there.
"Have a seat dear you must be starving." Harry sat down next to George. Hermione and Ron sat together on the other side of the table. Harry was still suspicious of them. He was beginning to think they were doing a bit more that just hugging. Ms. Weasley slapped a plate of hot pancakes in front of him. He dug in, taking large bites. He really was starving, he hadn't eaten much lately, he just wasn't in the mood. But all the excitement had worked up his appetite.
Just then Pigwidgion swooped in through the kitchen window and dropped and envelope on top of Mr. Weasley's bacon.
"Well, what have we got here, a letter from the ministry. I hope they aren't going to put me on the night shift again. With all this business with you-know-who...shy there have been more raids these past few weeks then I've seen in a whole year!"
"Why don't you just open it Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said reassuringly. Mr. Weasley seemed rather nervous as he tarred the envelope open with shaky hands. There was an awkward silence as he scanned the letter. The silence was soon broken when Mr. Weasley dropped his fork onto the floor.
Harry, who was preoccupied with his pancakes sat up to see what was the matter. To his surprise, Mr. Weasley was sitting there in shock, open mouthed and white faced.
"Arthur dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Mr. Weasley didn't respond, but continued to sit there with his mouth hanging open. There was a long pause as everyone sat there starring at poor Mr. Weasley. The were all wondering what horror's a letter could contain to make him act so strangely.
"I-I...th-they can't," he managed to squeeze out.
"Children, if you wouldn't mind...if you could all go upstairs...I-."
"But mum?!"
"Please Fred this is not the time."

Harry, Ron and Hermione where all chatting nervously when they herd two large cracks. Fred and George appeared.
"Wonder what's wrong?" sand George helping himself to some bertie-bots that had been sitting on Ron's dresser.
"Yeah, dad is never speechless, especially at breakfast," Fred continued.
"He's always go loads to say, about work," George finished.
"I don't know," said Ron. "But whatever it is it must be serious. Mum never makes us leave the table in the middle of breakfast. She's always afraid we'll go hungry. Paranoid I tell yah."
"There is only one way to find out," Fred stated.
"How?" Ron asked. "We can't possibly eve's drop if that's what you're thinking. The on way we can get close enough to hear is to stand in the hallway. And they would see us."
"Extendable ears," the twins said together, as if it was so obvious.
"And then there's that," Ron said defeated. "But wait, even it we drape them over he stairs... I mean, how funny is it going to look to mum and dad when they see five chords dangling in the hallway. "Gosh Ron, it sounds like you don't want to know what's going on," George teased.
"I think he just doesn't like being outsmarted by his older brothers," Hermione whispered.
"Hermione!" Ron whined through his teeth.
"Relax Ronald. I was only joking," Hermione said as she patted Ron's leg sympathetically. Fred and George chuckled.
"Sorry Ron, but we've figured that out too," said Fred. "All we need to do is use a simple invisibility spell."
"Cool" said Harry.
"Wait," Hermione said. "Maybe it's not such a good idea to eve's drop. And what if we loose the extendable ears, we'll never find them again."
"Oh, stop being such a worry wart," Ron teased.
"Fine."
"Great. Now every body take one, and hold out your hand." Fred and George passed around the extendable ears. Then they all held there hands out as Fred performed the invisibility spell.
"Now, don't let go of them," George said. "We're running rather low."

"Now, what were going to do is drape our ears over the stair and into the hallway, understand?" Fred asked the group. The all nodded in agreement. "Oh, and watch the third step down, it likes to creak.
What a funny site to see. Five children sitting on the stairs, leaning over with their hands holding invisible strings to their ears.
They all listened intently as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley continued to whisper.
"I don't understand why they would of this to you Arthur. You haven't done anything to upset the ministry, have you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I-I don't think...I'm always on time and... it could have been the car."
"But they forgave you for that ages ago dear, not to mention it was entirely Ron's fault.
Ron scowled at this comment.
"There must be something wrong. Maybe we should call Dumbledore," she suggested.
"Now...we'll manage...I could get another job."
"But Arthur, what about the kids? School is going to start soon and they'll be needing books and parchment, and-well we can't pull money out of the sky."
Out of all the tragety and misfortune, nobody had suspected this. Mr. Weasley had lost his job.

"Hey Hermione, could I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked. While everyone else was sulking around and trying to calm down Ginny, he took advantage of the opportunity to talk to Hermione alone.
"Sure," Hermione replied standing up. She had been sitting next to Ron, who was helping Ginny. Ron threw Harry a suspicious look as he and Hermione stepped into Ron's bedroom.
"There is something I want to tell you. But it's hard to explain," Harry said.
"Well, you can tell me, it's ok."
Harry didn't know how to go about it, but he couldn't keep it in any longer. He had to tell someone about these dreams he was having. He knew he couldn't tell Ron, it would freak him out too much.
"Well here goes," he thought. "Hermione, I've been having some rather odd dreams lately," Harry started to say.
"Not visions!" she said in a shaky voice.
"No no, not visions. I've been having dreams that I'm running down the third floor corridor, and someone is chasing me."
"Who?" she asked.
"The thing is, while I'm dreaming, I can never remember who is chasing me, or why."
"That's odd," she commented.
"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I would be running and then duck into the nearest room. Always the same room. It's the room where I saw Voldemort for the first time at Hogwarts.
"Harry! Are you sure you're not having visions? Do you think...Voldemort is hiding out at Hogwarts?" she whimpered.
"Positive. Honestly Hermione, do you think Voldemort would hide out in Hogwarts while Dumbledore is there?"
"No, I guess not," she said.
"Just listen. You remember how I told you the mirror of Erised was there?"
"Yeah," she said.
"And how I had seen my parents in the mirror at the beginning of the year?"
"Yeah," she said getting anxious.
"Well it was still there in my dream, and I was really glad, hoping to see my parents again. But when I looked into the mirror I saw...Malfoy.
"Malfoy!" Hermione shouted.
"Shh! They'll hear you out there."
"Sorry," she apologized.
"Anyhow, he was smiling, and winked at me."
"Strange. Doesn't the mirror of Erised show the desires of our hearts?" she asked.
"Yes, that's why its odd that I saw Malfoy in the mirror."
"But Harry, you hate Malfoy. Don't you?"
"Yes I do, but...listen. I had another dream. I ended up in the same room again. Only this time the room was much darker, and the mirror had disappeared. You see, the first time I had the dream, I heard someone calling my name. Ten I woke up realizing it was only Dudley. But the second time I heard someone calling my name, I heard his or her footsteps approaching. Then they came through the door and it was Malfoy.
"Malfoy again!" she shouted.
"Shh! And then...he hugged me, and I tried to get away."
"That explains all the yelling," she said.
"Yes, and-." Just at that moment the door burst open and Ton came in.
"What's with all the yelling! What are you two doing in here?" Ron yelled.
"Nothing that concerns you!" Harry yelled back.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, really. And might I ask what you were doing with Hermione this morning?" Harry asked smirking at Ron.
"That's none of your business!" Ron began to shout.
"It bloody is! She is my friend you know!"
"She's my friend as well, and I have just as much right to talk to her as you have!" he shouted getting red in the face.
"Oh, is that all you were doing, just talking. Are you sure there isn't something else I should know about?"
"W-what! NO!"
"Would you two please, stop, shouting!" Hermione begged. "You're giving me a headache. Besides, if Ron and I did do something, what is it to you?"
"So I was right! There is something going on between you two!" he said pointing at them.
"That's right!" said Ron. "So. What are you going to do about it!"
"Oh, I'll do something about it!" Harry yelled. He stood up and walked over to Ron, grabbing him by the shirt collar. "What did you do to her!"
"Harry please! I-it was nothing!" Hermione said.
"I kissed her, that's what!" Ton yelled jabbing his finger into Harry's chest.
"Stop it...both of you!" Hermione shouted standing between them. "You are not going to fight because of me! You're supposed to be best friends, look at what you're doing to yourselves! Get a grip!"
"That's it I'm leaving!" Harry shouted. "And I'm never coming back!" Harry grabbed his suitcase and Hedwig's cage as he stormed out of the room.
"What's wrong Harry?" Fred and George asked, they were still sitting with Ginny out in the hall. Harry didn't answer, but continued to run down the stairs.
"Harry I didn't mean it...I shouldn't have..." Ron yelled after Harry. "Oh, bloody hell, what have I done!"
"I don't know Ronald, but you better fix it fast. Before we loose our best friend."
Ron didn't hesitate, but immediately ran down the stairs in pursuit of Harry. He ran out the door and down the street.
Harry had stopped to catch his breath. He set his things down for a moment and felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Harry...don't go...please," Ron said in between breaths.
"You want me to go. You'd love to have a little alone time with Hermione wouldn't you," Harry snickered.
"Harry...you're my best friend. I want you to stay.
"Really?"
"Really. And if anyone is going to be there for you it's me and Hermione. Sure, I've been jealous of you at times, but that's beside the point. You're a great wizard Harry, and an even better friend."
"Thanks Ron. I-I don't know what came over me."
"Don't worry about it. You'll be alright. Well, I think it's about tome for lunch, why don't you came back inside. I'll help you put up your things.

READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!!!