A/N – Jo Rowling owns the characters. The rest of this disclaimer is in the first chap.
When Harry's feet finally hit the ground, he was in a somewhat familiar setting. He noticed the dingy windows, which let so little light through that there were candles burning in the tarnish candlesticks, even though it was only six o'clock and still light outside. The floor seemed cleaner than the last time Harry had entered the pub, and he noticed that the glasses that the barkeep was serving firewhisky in clean glasses this time. "Two butterbeers, please," said Samantha to the long-haired, long-bearded bartender.
"Four sickles," replied the aging man. "Samantha!" he exclaimed, "I didn't realize you were back? How was New Zealand?"
"Is that where your brother has been saying I've been? Well, Aberforth, I suggest you ask him about that sometime soon. Could you tell me if Ms. Weasley or Minerva have arrived yet?" asked Samantha.
"Minerva's been, and she's seen her young charge to one of the rooms – dead tired, that one. Over-studying. In the summer, I ask you! Mrs. Weasley hasn't come yet, but Albus told me to expect her around now. Is she bringing one of her children? Such great kids they are, too. I can remember when Bill was just a third year. He came down to my bar just because he knew his mother wouldn't approve. Never told her that, though."
"Yes, Molly's bringing one of her sons. A friend of Harry's, as it happens. His name is Ronald. Do you remember him from last year?"
"Yes, the one who was organizing the defense group. That girl did look familiar, she was there too, wasn't she?"
"You mean Hermione?" Harry suddenly interjected, "and Ron? What are they here for?"
"The same thing as you, Harry," came the voice of Mrs. Weasley, who had just walked through the door. She was levitating Ron's old, battered trunk, and removing a light traveling cloak. "Has Minerva been, Aberforth?"
"That she has. The girl that she brought with her is upstairs. Now that you're all here, would you like me to go wake her?"
"No, I'll do it," replied Mrs. Weasley.
"Harry, thought I wouldn't get to see you until the trip to Diagon Alley. Happy birthday!" said Ron.
"Yeah, me either. Thanks. Do you know why we're here?" Harry asked quietly.
"No clue, mate. All mum would tell me is that we were going to go to Hogwarts a month early. Didn't tell me 'til this morning, either. You should have seen Ginny, she was jealous as you could imagine. I reckon that she doesn't want to be cooped up in the Burrow with just mum, dad, and Percy for company."
"Percy," Harry said remembering the letter the older Weasley had sent to Ron in the beginning of their fifth year, "does that mean the prat's apologized?"
"You should have seen it, it was pitiful, Harry. Turned up on our doorstep, almost in tears. Bloke had his robes torn, and looked like he'd been through the worst of it," said Ron, with a look of mixed sadness and jubilance on his face.
"We'll be off, then," said Mrs. Weasley, coming downstairs with Hermione in step behind her. Harry and Ron grabbed their trunks and followed behind her, and began trudging up to Hogwarts Castle.
"Hey, Hermione," said Harry, "have a nice nap?"
"Yeah, why were you asleep?" asked Ron.
"Honestly – I was training," she whispered in response.
"TRAINING!" yelled Ron. He received a stifling kick in the shin from Harry. "Sorry," he said, "training? For what?"
"Well, since V-Voldemort's back, I thought that Harry might need some help planning the DA meetings. So, I've been practicing the Patronus charm, and other charms from a book I borrowed directly from Madame Pince."
"How've you been keeping it under-wraps?" asked Harry. He'd been chided for having a house-elf levitate a pudding onto one of his uncle's customer's heads before his second year, and was wondering how Hermione was performing upper-level charms and jinxes without being hauled off to Azkaban.
"I was practicing for a life-or-death situation. That's clearly allowed in the Statute for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry. Madame Pince also helped me find that out. Most wizarding laws aren't shared with the general public for the same reason that the complete Quidditch rules aren't – they don't want people getting ideas. Unfortunately for the Ministry, Madame Pince has contacts inside the Ministry clerk's office, and she got me the complete text of the law."
"You're a genius, Hermione. Has anyone ever told you that?" said Harry, passing the winged-boar gargoyles standing watch outside the Hogwarts grounds.
The remainder of their journey was spent in silence. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and their escorts, walked through the enormous oak doors guarding the Entrance Hall of the school. They went up the grand staircase, and found their way to the phoenix-like gargoyle protecting the Headmaster's office. "Atkins!" said Samantha. The gargoyle rotated, and the group of friends ascended the staircase to the office of the most powerful wizard in the world.
AN: Yeah, it took a while, but summer's here, so I should be updating more often. Review, please. By the way, it looks like the story's going to be about 14 chapters long, and I hope to be done by the end of summer.
AN 2: In response to all the reviews I didn't know I had:
SmacksKiller: Didn't know there was a challenge. Should I enter?
Tynkerbell: I agree 100%. She's glad she's back.
Aagwyn: Samantha's hot, but she's also about thirty five years old. In some countries, that's illegal.