CHAPTER SIX
The Ride Back Home
A week after the full moon, Mrs. Weasley woke them all up at five in the morning. "What is it?" Ron grumbled, as they all piled into the kitchen.
"We're going on a trip!" she sang as she magically began packing. A shirt whacked Harry in the back of the head as it flew from upstairs to Mrs. Weasley's suitcase. Harry jumped out of the way as a mass of clothing pummeled after the shirt. He decided to lean on the counter since clothing can't travel through walls and the counter was attached to one.
"Well, where are we going?" Hermione asked as she ran a brush through her tangled hair. Harry saw that Ginny was doing the same whereas Selene just leaned on a chair next to Harry and yawned, not caring about her messy hair. A tingly feeling came to his stomach then; it swarmed throughout his body and made him feel happy that he was in the same room as her. She looks cute, Harry thought. He nervously ran a hand through his hair as Selene smiled at him.
"We're going to stay in London for the rest of the summer. It's just too quiet in this house," Mrs. Weasley said to Hermione. Harry continued watching Selene out of the corner of his eye. She was looking at her hands; they had healed completely from the cuts, no scars. She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out.
"What if we opened the curtains to Mrs. Black's portrait?" Ron suggested as he suppressed a yawn. Harry remembered when those curtains were accidentally opened last year, Mrs. Black had screamed at the top of her lungs; she ranted about how upset she about the Order being there and about how ashamed she was of Sirius.
Mrs. Weasley glared at Ron who then sank between Fred and George as to have them protect him from whatever was to come his way from his mum. "Go and pack. Meet back down here in half an hour."
Fred proposed that he and George Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, he was immediately shut down. "Who put a bug in her porridge?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry shrugged and shuffled upstairs. He slowly folded up his clothes and stuffed them in his trunk. He put the ebon's cage inside of Hedwig's but she protested furiously, she clawed at the cage and ripped Harry's sleeve in her struggle.
"What's the matter with you?" Harry asked as he slammed the cage door shut. Hedwig clicked her beak angrily at him and he lifted the cage over his shoulder. He snatched the handle of his trunk and grumpily pulled it down the stairs. Harry didn't appreciate the ebon tugging at his hair very much, and it was way too early in the morning for him.
Harry threw his things in the giant pile of stuff at the bottom of the stair case. The pile was instantly levitated and floated out the door. "Remus is going to flag down the Knight Bus," Mrs. Weasley said over her shoulder as she lowered the clump of items onto a cart outside the door.
Harry stepped out onto the warm dry grass into the blazing sun. He felt the rays heat his back to the burning point in the seconds that he was out there. The others joined him and Mrs. Weasley outside. Harry saw Ron glance at Hermione nervously, and watched him run a hand through his fiery red hair. He grinned at Ron's sheepishness this morning; Ron had let slip to Harry yesterday that he thought he might like Hermione.
Harry sat himself down on the prickly grass and stared at the torn up street. Graffiti decorated the peeling houses and broken gates, music blared from Number 11's house. He thought about Sirius in his dog form running through the streets, chasing birds and scaring cats, as he did last year when they were leaving for King's Cross. Harry started to rip grass out of the ground absentmindedly for what seemed like forever; he felt some one grab his shoulder. Harry looked up to see Selene smiling down at him, her red baseball cap casting a shadow over her eyes; they twinkled from the sun reflecting off of Harry's glasses.
"Are you alright?" she laughed as she held out her hand to help Harry up.
"Yeah, why?" Harry snapped defensively.
"No need to bite my head off. The bus is here, thought you might want to know." Harry took her hand and apologized for being rude.
"It's all good. It's early." Harry and Selene walked to the purple bus, Harry heard Lupin mutter something about Selene to Mrs. Weasley and thought he heard "Voldemort" in his sentence. They climbed up the stairs to the third level of the bus. They walked past Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, They must be part of the Guard today. Selene plopped herself onto a couch in the mess of oddly assorted chairs, and Harry slid in next to her. He wanted to be as close to her as he could, and, well, he wasn't certain why. Ron and Hermione pulled up chairs and set them facing Harry and Selene. Harry saw Bill Weasley sitting by the stairway, more security.
The bus lurched into motion; their chairs slid backwards a couple of feet as it took a huge jump forward. Before Harry new it, they had reached the Leaky Cauldron. Harry climbed down the stairs and out of the bus. Stanley Shunpike, a very pimply young man that worked on the bus, gave Harry a wink as he walked past him. They all filed into the Leaky Cauldron, an old rundown pub, Bill, Tonks, Lupin, and Shacklebolt came in after them.
Mrs. Weasley went to talk to Tom, the no-toothed innkeeper, and Ron threw himself into a chair at a round table. Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Selene walked through the smoky room and found chairs by Ron. Selene sort of crouched on her chair, and Ron rested his legs on the table. Fred, George, and Bill took a table close by them and saved a seat for Mrs. Weasley. Lupin, Tonks and Shacklebolt found a table not too far away.
Tom shuffled up to their table and asked them what they wanted. Moments later their drinks popped out of their table and the food came shortly after. Tom scurried away, leaving them alone in the smoke and jibber of the wizards and witches in the other tables. They all were very silent, being so tired from waking up so early. The only noise coming from their table was the muffled giggles of Ginny, who was stuffing her fist in her mouth. Selene sat herself normally in her chair and elbowed Ginny; Ginny slowly removed her hand from her mouth. She burst out laughing and managed to choke out, "Fred...George...Laughing...Liquor..." She shoved her fist back into her mouth muffling her snorts and hoots of laughter.
"Do you have any more?" Selene asked thoughtfully. Ginny nodded as she began to cry. She shoved her other hand in her pocket and produced four wax bottles filled with a pink liquid. Selene took one, Harry and Ron did too, but Hermione turned down the offer.
"C'mon, Hermione," Ron said. He took the one left in Ginny's shaking hand and presented it to Hermione.
"I'd rather not. I mean, how do you suppose you stop laughing?" Ginny shoved her hand in her other pocket and pulled out five bottles of blue liquid. They each took one, and Hermione received the pink one Ron was holding. Selene downed hers and slipped into a giggling fit, Harry followed. A feeling spread throughout his body as the drink hit his stomach, it tickled his arms and belly and Harry instantly began to laugh.
They were shooed up to their rooms by Mrs. Weasley. The next few days passed swiftly, during which Harry and his friends spent most of their time at Fortescue's ice cream parlor, Ginny received an owl with a letter announcing her as a Gryffindor Prefect, Mrs. Weasley stuffed them with cake and bought Ginny new dress robes.
They bought their books while Selene was being fitted for robes the day after the letter came, Harry waited for Selene when she was buying her books since she needed to buy the most, while the others went back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Selene carried her small pile of books and her shopping bag with one arm and held out the other to Harry. Harry looped his arm through her elbow and they walked arm in arm. Selene laughed at this; she found it funny that Harry was "escorting" her back to the pub. "I've never had an escort," she smiled at Harry. Harry grinned back.
"This is the first time I've ever escorted some one." They both laughed. The sun was setting and the road was tinted with a golden red light, and Selene continued to tell jokes. The grin never left Harry's face, he was very happy to have Selene this close to him, nothing could dampen his spirits. Then he saw it, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Selene had noticed too and dragged him into the store that was squashed between Quality Quidditch Supplies and a store selling moving plants.
The bell on the door clanged loudly as they entered. George looked up from cleaning the desk and Fred looked around at them from up on a ladder he was using to allow him to make a seven foot tall stack of Portable Swamps. "Oy, Harry, Selene," George beamed as he came from behind the counter.
"We were wondering when you two were coming around," Fred said as he leapt down from the ladder.
"What will you be having today?" George said wiping his hands on his cloak.
"I dunno, have any more Laughing Liquors?" Selene asked, smiling broadly.
"And for you, Harry?" Fred asked hopefully.
"Erm...How about some Skiving Snackboxes?" Harry replied looking around the room. The shelves were stocked with boxes of tricks and fireworks, posters advertising the shop were plastered over the walls sporting the faces of the Weasley twins grinning as colorful sparks went off behind them.
"Right-o!" they said simultaneously as they went to different ends of the small store to get what Selene and Harry had requested.
"You all get a discount, since we like you," Fred grinned as he went to the cash register, "That will be a Galleon each." Harry pulled out two galleons from his pocket and placed them in George's outstretched hand.
"You don't need to pay for me, Harry, I have money," Selene protested. But Harry gave her a wink.
"It's alright, you had enough to pay for today, and it's only a Galleon," Harry grabbed their parcels and they exited the shop, walking back to the Cauldron.
The next days seemed to disappear, and the first of September met up with Harry earlier than he expected. He hastily finished packing his trunk; he threw his stuff down the stairs and met up with everyone at the foot of them. They were to walk to King's Cross. Lupin conjured up a couple of carts to carry the luggage on, and they set off behind him.
Selene staggered once and bumped into Harry. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh yeah I'm fine, just tripped that's all." Harry didn't exactly believe her, she rubbed her eyes tiredly. Harry then tripped and bumped into her. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I tripped." Harry laughed. Selene shoved him playfully. They reached the station in a short time, Harry looked at his watch, they were about twenty minutes early.
Selene stopped to talk to Lupin while the others ran through the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Harry stood next to Ron as they waited for the train, a sort of movie played in his head. He saw Sirius the dog jumping around a group of people, he saw the bear-like canine put his paws on the shoulders of a black-haired green-eyed boy with round glasses. A woman with red hair screeched at the dog.
A whistle sounded jerking Harry out of his trance. Harry was gathered into a tight hug by Mrs. Weasley, the men slapped him on the back as he grabbed his stuff to leave. He saw Selene hug Lupin. Harry thought about that hug. Lupin was the only one she had, as was Sirius the only one he had had.
Selene ran up to Harry and they boarded the train. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had to go meet with the Head Boy and Girl seeing as they were prefects. Harry and Selene found a compartment with no one in it. Harry stowed his stuff and Hedwig's cage on the rack and Selene left her things on the floor.
A few awkward moments passed, until a round-faced and very forgettable sixth year tripped into their compartment. "Hullo, do you mind if I sit here?" he said feebly as he pushed his trunk onto the rack.
"No not at all," Harry said.
"My name's Neville Longbottom," he stretched out his hand to Selene, as he sat across from her, next to Harry.
"It's an honor to meet you!" Selene replied as she took his hand. "My name's Selene Artemis." She cracked her knuckles when she pulled her hand away from his. She bit her lip, "So, er, how are your parents?" Neville looked out the window.
"They're fine, and yours?" Neville clenched his fist.
"Dead." A sad look passed Neville's eyes. Harry understood Neville's pain, Neville's parents were alive, but they don't recognize him, they don't recognize anything. They give him bubblegum wrappers every time he visits. It's Lestrange's fault, she had put them under the Cruciatus Curse until they went insane. Selene changed the subject quickly, "So what house are you in?"
"Gryffindor like Harry. What year are you in?" Neville asked, he was acting as if nothing had happened to faze him. The train lurched into motion.
"I'm joining your class." Harry stared out of the window, he wasn't involved the conversation, there's no reason to pay attention to it. "I would be in fifth year at my school, but I'm sixteen and we take our O.W.L. tests in fourth year. You see we start learning magic when we're twelve in America, and we end when we're eighteen, so I'll just be taking the N.E.W.T. tests earlier than..."
A soft rain began to fall as the train exited the station; Harry traced his fingers along the paths that the rain made as it rolled down the window, he sighed deeply as he heard the compartment door slide open. He turned his head to see Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas walk into the compartment. "Hi, Harry! Hello, Neville," Dean said cheerfully, his voice had become deeper over the summer, and he was considerably taller too. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, hi, I'm Selene Artemis," she said cheerfully as she took Dean's hand.
"I'm Seamus," Seamus said in his rich Irish accent. "It's nice to meet you, Selene," Selene let go of Dean's hand and took Seamus's, blushing slightly.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" Dean asked. Harry shook his head, with that, Dean and Seamus placed their things overhead.
Ron and Hermione walked in after an hours worth of chatter between the five.
"Hey, wassup, prefects?" Selene slid to the floor and decided to stay down there; she fiddled with the hem of her T-shirt.
"Oh nothing," Hermione said in a bittersweet tone. Ron shoved Neville over and Hermione took a seat next to Ron. "Luna Lovegood was made a prefect." Harry snorted; Luna Lovegood was a fifth year Ravenclaw with an airy mood about her whose father ran a nonsense magazine called The Quibbler.
"What'd we miss?" Ron asked rubbing his hands together.
"The food cart," Selene laughed as she held out a fist full of chocolate frogs. Harry hadn't bought anything when the food cart rolled by and his stomach grumbled; Ron snatched the chocolate from Selene. Harry opened his mouth to ask for something, but Selene shoved a load of pastries onto his lap before any words had formed themselves in his mouth.
Harry wolfed down a couple of pastries before the door slid open once again. There stood a silver blonde sixth year with a green and silver badge on his chest, next to him stood two enormous troll-like boys with fists like hams and square set jaws. He was Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival at Hogwarts. "Well, well, Potty's playing with first years." Crabbe and Goyle, his two crones, snickered and cracked their knuckles menacingly.
Selene stood up and stretched her hand out kindly to Malfoy, "I'm Selene Artemis."
Malfoy refused her hand and she allowed it to fall limply to her side, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm Draco Malfoy, and this is Crabbe and Goyle. Let me be the one to let you know, Potter there is an attention seeker, Weasley, he's the poorest wizard there is, if you could call him a wizard, Longbottom is a clumsy oaf, Finnegan and Thomas are, well, I'm not sure what they are, and Granger," he smirked, "is a mudblood." Harry saw Ron form a fist, Harry ground his teeth. Malfoy did this every year; he'd always try to get them worked up when he called Hermione that vulgarity.
Selene smiled slightly, "Draco, you know what a prefix is right?" He nodded unsurely. "Well, 'mud' means dirty, bad, and 'pure' means clean and good. In reality, when you think about it, Hermione, is the pureblood and you," Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her; "you are the mudblood." Selene poked him in the chest on that last word. Crabbe and Goyle looked uneasily at Malfoy, as if trying to ask if it was alright to hit a girl. Malfoy's lip quivered for a moment and he strode out of the room muttering something under his breath, Crabbe and Goyle turned to leave, but Selene stopped them.
"Why are you two going with him?" she asked. They turned around with confused looks plastered on their faces. "Well, he insulted you by assuming you couldn't introduce yourselves." Selene grinned and Harry and Ron exchanged glances, as did Seamus and Dean. Hermione slumped in her chair, and Neville seemed to be sitting on the edge of his seat. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, Goyle turned to leave, and Crabbe followed, hissing something in Goyle's ear.
The group played a game of Exploding Snap and then got changed into their school robes. Ron and Hermione had to leave their group for more Prefect duties, Selene wrapped her arms around her legs and stroked the chest of her owl which was perched on her knees, and Harry continued to watch her, until the train slowed to a stop.
They got their things and went to exit the train, Selene's owl had perched itself on her shoulder. He heard Selene gasp as she stepped off the train, "Wow threstrals are neat looking, I've never actually seen one before!" Harry saw the giant shape of Hagrid looming in the rain. Harry put his hat on to prevent his head from getting wet, whereas Selene embraced the rain.
"Selene, go to that big man over there, his name is Hagrid," Harry heard Hermione shout as the rain began to fall harder and louder. Selene sauntered to Hagrid by the edge of the lake.
Harry sprinted with Ron and Hermione to a carriage, Ron and Hermione stared at the threstrals as they scrambled in. They all shook their heads to dry out their hair, but they were too wet for that to work. The carriage began to move, Harry looked out of the window at the lake, where about a hundred lights were gliding across the water. Harry leaned back in his seat, this carriage was taking him where he belonged, it was taking him home.
The Ride Back Home
A week after the full moon, Mrs. Weasley woke them all up at five in the morning. "What is it?" Ron grumbled, as they all piled into the kitchen.
"We're going on a trip!" she sang as she magically began packing. A shirt whacked Harry in the back of the head as it flew from upstairs to Mrs. Weasley's suitcase. Harry jumped out of the way as a mass of clothing pummeled after the shirt. He decided to lean on the counter since clothing can't travel through walls and the counter was attached to one.
"Well, where are we going?" Hermione asked as she ran a brush through her tangled hair. Harry saw that Ginny was doing the same whereas Selene just leaned on a chair next to Harry and yawned, not caring about her messy hair. A tingly feeling came to his stomach then; it swarmed throughout his body and made him feel happy that he was in the same room as her. She looks cute, Harry thought. He nervously ran a hand through his hair as Selene smiled at him.
"We're going to stay in London for the rest of the summer. It's just too quiet in this house," Mrs. Weasley said to Hermione. Harry continued watching Selene out of the corner of his eye. She was looking at her hands; they had healed completely from the cuts, no scars. She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out.
"What if we opened the curtains to Mrs. Black's portrait?" Ron suggested as he suppressed a yawn. Harry remembered when those curtains were accidentally opened last year, Mrs. Black had screamed at the top of her lungs; she ranted about how upset she about the Order being there and about how ashamed she was of Sirius.
Mrs. Weasley glared at Ron who then sank between Fred and George as to have them protect him from whatever was to come his way from his mum. "Go and pack. Meet back down here in half an hour."
Fred proposed that he and George Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, he was immediately shut down. "Who put a bug in her porridge?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry shrugged and shuffled upstairs. He slowly folded up his clothes and stuffed them in his trunk. He put the ebon's cage inside of Hedwig's but she protested furiously, she clawed at the cage and ripped Harry's sleeve in her struggle.
"What's the matter with you?" Harry asked as he slammed the cage door shut. Hedwig clicked her beak angrily at him and he lifted the cage over his shoulder. He snatched the handle of his trunk and grumpily pulled it down the stairs. Harry didn't appreciate the ebon tugging at his hair very much, and it was way too early in the morning for him.
Harry threw his things in the giant pile of stuff at the bottom of the stair case. The pile was instantly levitated and floated out the door. "Remus is going to flag down the Knight Bus," Mrs. Weasley said over her shoulder as she lowered the clump of items onto a cart outside the door.
Harry stepped out onto the warm dry grass into the blazing sun. He felt the rays heat his back to the burning point in the seconds that he was out there. The others joined him and Mrs. Weasley outside. Harry saw Ron glance at Hermione nervously, and watched him run a hand through his fiery red hair. He grinned at Ron's sheepishness this morning; Ron had let slip to Harry yesterday that he thought he might like Hermione.
Harry sat himself down on the prickly grass and stared at the torn up street. Graffiti decorated the peeling houses and broken gates, music blared from Number 11's house. He thought about Sirius in his dog form running through the streets, chasing birds and scaring cats, as he did last year when they were leaving for King's Cross. Harry started to rip grass out of the ground absentmindedly for what seemed like forever; he felt some one grab his shoulder. Harry looked up to see Selene smiling down at him, her red baseball cap casting a shadow over her eyes; they twinkled from the sun reflecting off of Harry's glasses.
"Are you alright?" she laughed as she held out her hand to help Harry up.
"Yeah, why?" Harry snapped defensively.
"No need to bite my head off. The bus is here, thought you might want to know." Harry took her hand and apologized for being rude.
"It's all good. It's early." Harry and Selene walked to the purple bus, Harry heard Lupin mutter something about Selene to Mrs. Weasley and thought he heard "Voldemort" in his sentence. They climbed up the stairs to the third level of the bus. They walked past Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, They must be part of the Guard today. Selene plopped herself onto a couch in the mess of oddly assorted chairs, and Harry slid in next to her. He wanted to be as close to her as he could, and, well, he wasn't certain why. Ron and Hermione pulled up chairs and set them facing Harry and Selene. Harry saw Bill Weasley sitting by the stairway, more security.
The bus lurched into motion; their chairs slid backwards a couple of feet as it took a huge jump forward. Before Harry new it, they had reached the Leaky Cauldron. Harry climbed down the stairs and out of the bus. Stanley Shunpike, a very pimply young man that worked on the bus, gave Harry a wink as he walked past him. They all filed into the Leaky Cauldron, an old rundown pub, Bill, Tonks, Lupin, and Shacklebolt came in after them.
Mrs. Weasley went to talk to Tom, the no-toothed innkeeper, and Ron threw himself into a chair at a round table. Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Selene walked through the smoky room and found chairs by Ron. Selene sort of crouched on her chair, and Ron rested his legs on the table. Fred, George, and Bill took a table close by them and saved a seat for Mrs. Weasley. Lupin, Tonks and Shacklebolt found a table not too far away.
Tom shuffled up to their table and asked them what they wanted. Moments later their drinks popped out of their table and the food came shortly after. Tom scurried away, leaving them alone in the smoke and jibber of the wizards and witches in the other tables. They all were very silent, being so tired from waking up so early. The only noise coming from their table was the muffled giggles of Ginny, who was stuffing her fist in her mouth. Selene sat herself normally in her chair and elbowed Ginny; Ginny slowly removed her hand from her mouth. She burst out laughing and managed to choke out, "Fred...George...Laughing...Liquor..." She shoved her fist back into her mouth muffling her snorts and hoots of laughter.
"Do you have any more?" Selene asked thoughtfully. Ginny nodded as she began to cry. She shoved her other hand in her pocket and produced four wax bottles filled with a pink liquid. Selene took one, Harry and Ron did too, but Hermione turned down the offer.
"C'mon, Hermione," Ron said. He took the one left in Ginny's shaking hand and presented it to Hermione.
"I'd rather not. I mean, how do you suppose you stop laughing?" Ginny shoved her hand in her other pocket and pulled out five bottles of blue liquid. They each took one, and Hermione received the pink one Ron was holding. Selene downed hers and slipped into a giggling fit, Harry followed. A feeling spread throughout his body as the drink hit his stomach, it tickled his arms and belly and Harry instantly began to laugh.
They were shooed up to their rooms by Mrs. Weasley. The next few days passed swiftly, during which Harry and his friends spent most of their time at Fortescue's ice cream parlor, Ginny received an owl with a letter announcing her as a Gryffindor Prefect, Mrs. Weasley stuffed them with cake and bought Ginny new dress robes.
They bought their books while Selene was being fitted for robes the day after the letter came, Harry waited for Selene when she was buying her books since she needed to buy the most, while the others went back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Selene carried her small pile of books and her shopping bag with one arm and held out the other to Harry. Harry looped his arm through her elbow and they walked arm in arm. Selene laughed at this; she found it funny that Harry was "escorting" her back to the pub. "I've never had an escort," she smiled at Harry. Harry grinned back.
"This is the first time I've ever escorted some one." They both laughed. The sun was setting and the road was tinted with a golden red light, and Selene continued to tell jokes. The grin never left Harry's face, he was very happy to have Selene this close to him, nothing could dampen his spirits. Then he saw it, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Selene had noticed too and dragged him into the store that was squashed between Quality Quidditch Supplies and a store selling moving plants.
The bell on the door clanged loudly as they entered. George looked up from cleaning the desk and Fred looked around at them from up on a ladder he was using to allow him to make a seven foot tall stack of Portable Swamps. "Oy, Harry, Selene," George beamed as he came from behind the counter.
"We were wondering when you two were coming around," Fred said as he leapt down from the ladder.
"What will you be having today?" George said wiping his hands on his cloak.
"I dunno, have any more Laughing Liquors?" Selene asked, smiling broadly.
"And for you, Harry?" Fred asked hopefully.
"Erm...How about some Skiving Snackboxes?" Harry replied looking around the room. The shelves were stocked with boxes of tricks and fireworks, posters advertising the shop were plastered over the walls sporting the faces of the Weasley twins grinning as colorful sparks went off behind them.
"Right-o!" they said simultaneously as they went to different ends of the small store to get what Selene and Harry had requested.
"You all get a discount, since we like you," Fred grinned as he went to the cash register, "That will be a Galleon each." Harry pulled out two galleons from his pocket and placed them in George's outstretched hand.
"You don't need to pay for me, Harry, I have money," Selene protested. But Harry gave her a wink.
"It's alright, you had enough to pay for today, and it's only a Galleon," Harry grabbed their parcels and they exited the shop, walking back to the Cauldron.
The next days seemed to disappear, and the first of September met up with Harry earlier than he expected. He hastily finished packing his trunk; he threw his stuff down the stairs and met up with everyone at the foot of them. They were to walk to King's Cross. Lupin conjured up a couple of carts to carry the luggage on, and they set off behind him.
Selene staggered once and bumped into Harry. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh yeah I'm fine, just tripped that's all." Harry didn't exactly believe her, she rubbed her eyes tiredly. Harry then tripped and bumped into her. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I tripped." Harry laughed. Selene shoved him playfully. They reached the station in a short time, Harry looked at his watch, they were about twenty minutes early.
Selene stopped to talk to Lupin while the others ran through the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Harry stood next to Ron as they waited for the train, a sort of movie played in his head. He saw Sirius the dog jumping around a group of people, he saw the bear-like canine put his paws on the shoulders of a black-haired green-eyed boy with round glasses. A woman with red hair screeched at the dog.
A whistle sounded jerking Harry out of his trance. Harry was gathered into a tight hug by Mrs. Weasley, the men slapped him on the back as he grabbed his stuff to leave. He saw Selene hug Lupin. Harry thought about that hug. Lupin was the only one she had, as was Sirius the only one he had had.
Selene ran up to Harry and they boarded the train. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had to go meet with the Head Boy and Girl seeing as they were prefects. Harry and Selene found a compartment with no one in it. Harry stowed his stuff and Hedwig's cage on the rack and Selene left her things on the floor.
A few awkward moments passed, until a round-faced and very forgettable sixth year tripped into their compartment. "Hullo, do you mind if I sit here?" he said feebly as he pushed his trunk onto the rack.
"No not at all," Harry said.
"My name's Neville Longbottom," he stretched out his hand to Selene, as he sat across from her, next to Harry.
"It's an honor to meet you!" Selene replied as she took his hand. "My name's Selene Artemis." She cracked her knuckles when she pulled her hand away from his. She bit her lip, "So, er, how are your parents?" Neville looked out the window.
"They're fine, and yours?" Neville clenched his fist.
"Dead." A sad look passed Neville's eyes. Harry understood Neville's pain, Neville's parents were alive, but they don't recognize him, they don't recognize anything. They give him bubblegum wrappers every time he visits. It's Lestrange's fault, she had put them under the Cruciatus Curse until they went insane. Selene changed the subject quickly, "So what house are you in?"
"Gryffindor like Harry. What year are you in?" Neville asked, he was acting as if nothing had happened to faze him. The train lurched into motion.
"I'm joining your class." Harry stared out of the window, he wasn't involved the conversation, there's no reason to pay attention to it. "I would be in fifth year at my school, but I'm sixteen and we take our O.W.L. tests in fourth year. You see we start learning magic when we're twelve in America, and we end when we're eighteen, so I'll just be taking the N.E.W.T. tests earlier than..."
A soft rain began to fall as the train exited the station; Harry traced his fingers along the paths that the rain made as it rolled down the window, he sighed deeply as he heard the compartment door slide open. He turned his head to see Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas walk into the compartment. "Hi, Harry! Hello, Neville," Dean said cheerfully, his voice had become deeper over the summer, and he was considerably taller too. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, hi, I'm Selene Artemis," she said cheerfully as she took Dean's hand.
"I'm Seamus," Seamus said in his rich Irish accent. "It's nice to meet you, Selene," Selene let go of Dean's hand and took Seamus's, blushing slightly.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" Dean asked. Harry shook his head, with that, Dean and Seamus placed their things overhead.
Ron and Hermione walked in after an hours worth of chatter between the five.
"Hey, wassup, prefects?" Selene slid to the floor and decided to stay down there; she fiddled with the hem of her T-shirt.
"Oh nothing," Hermione said in a bittersweet tone. Ron shoved Neville over and Hermione took a seat next to Ron. "Luna Lovegood was made a prefect." Harry snorted; Luna Lovegood was a fifth year Ravenclaw with an airy mood about her whose father ran a nonsense magazine called The Quibbler.
"What'd we miss?" Ron asked rubbing his hands together.
"The food cart," Selene laughed as she held out a fist full of chocolate frogs. Harry hadn't bought anything when the food cart rolled by and his stomach grumbled; Ron snatched the chocolate from Selene. Harry opened his mouth to ask for something, but Selene shoved a load of pastries onto his lap before any words had formed themselves in his mouth.
Harry wolfed down a couple of pastries before the door slid open once again. There stood a silver blonde sixth year with a green and silver badge on his chest, next to him stood two enormous troll-like boys with fists like hams and square set jaws. He was Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival at Hogwarts. "Well, well, Potty's playing with first years." Crabbe and Goyle, his two crones, snickered and cracked their knuckles menacingly.
Selene stood up and stretched her hand out kindly to Malfoy, "I'm Selene Artemis."
Malfoy refused her hand and she allowed it to fall limply to her side, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm Draco Malfoy, and this is Crabbe and Goyle. Let me be the one to let you know, Potter there is an attention seeker, Weasley, he's the poorest wizard there is, if you could call him a wizard, Longbottom is a clumsy oaf, Finnegan and Thomas are, well, I'm not sure what they are, and Granger," he smirked, "is a mudblood." Harry saw Ron form a fist, Harry ground his teeth. Malfoy did this every year; he'd always try to get them worked up when he called Hermione that vulgarity.
Selene smiled slightly, "Draco, you know what a prefix is right?" He nodded unsurely. "Well, 'mud' means dirty, bad, and 'pure' means clean and good. In reality, when you think about it, Hermione, is the pureblood and you," Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her; "you are the mudblood." Selene poked him in the chest on that last word. Crabbe and Goyle looked uneasily at Malfoy, as if trying to ask if it was alright to hit a girl. Malfoy's lip quivered for a moment and he strode out of the room muttering something under his breath, Crabbe and Goyle turned to leave, but Selene stopped them.
"Why are you two going with him?" she asked. They turned around with confused looks plastered on their faces. "Well, he insulted you by assuming you couldn't introduce yourselves." Selene grinned and Harry and Ron exchanged glances, as did Seamus and Dean. Hermione slumped in her chair, and Neville seemed to be sitting on the edge of his seat. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, Goyle turned to leave, and Crabbe followed, hissing something in Goyle's ear.
The group played a game of Exploding Snap and then got changed into their school robes. Ron and Hermione had to leave their group for more Prefect duties, Selene wrapped her arms around her legs and stroked the chest of her owl which was perched on her knees, and Harry continued to watch her, until the train slowed to a stop.
They got their things and went to exit the train, Selene's owl had perched itself on her shoulder. He heard Selene gasp as she stepped off the train, "Wow threstrals are neat looking, I've never actually seen one before!" Harry saw the giant shape of Hagrid looming in the rain. Harry put his hat on to prevent his head from getting wet, whereas Selene embraced the rain.
"Selene, go to that big man over there, his name is Hagrid," Harry heard Hermione shout as the rain began to fall harder and louder. Selene sauntered to Hagrid by the edge of the lake.
Harry sprinted with Ron and Hermione to a carriage, Ron and Hermione stared at the threstrals as they scrambled in. They all shook their heads to dry out their hair, but they were too wet for that to work. The carriage began to move, Harry looked out of the window at the lake, where about a hundred lights were gliding across the water. Harry leaned back in his seat, this carriage was taking him where he belonged, it was taking him home.