A/N: Hey all!

Sorry I'm not able to post that much anymore. Please tell me if you're already tired of the story; I can terminate it, because my last chapter (which I worked hard on) got very few reviews.

I've decided to finally put the crew in Hogwarts to help with my writers' block. Also, Harry finally notices something about Ron and Hermione, but that is of course, thanks to Ginny and Sophie.

PLEASE review, I hope you guys haven't grown tired of the story yet. I even intended it to be as long as perhaps the fourth or fifth books, but if no one reviews, I really will terminate it.

For those who reviewed, thanks very much.

Kristie

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Chapter 11 – On the Train

Harry did meet Sophie for dinner that night, and when he did, the awkwardness that filled him when they left for their respective bedrooms was gone. It was as if nothing had happened, as if he still felt the same old friendliness before she and Alexander fought.

It is quite hard not to mention Alexander while talking about Sophie. He and Sophie spoke not, and both were quite hostile towards one another. The young boy was showing signs of powerful magic. It was actually quite scary, to tell you the truth. The cold aura around Alexander, however, seemed duller, not as intense. When he wasn't practicing magic, he usually kept to himself; not leaving his room unless he needed to use the loo, at times, not even leaving his room for meals.

During the weeks that passed, Harry was busy learning Occlumency. He was slowly learning to close his mind. Though it was difficult to block his mind during the times when he was conscious, he could do it perfectly while he was subconscious. Sophie confessed sneaking into Harry and Ron's room and trying to interfere with Harry's dreams, not really for Occlumency, but more for fun (Portrait-Sirius suggested it). It turned out that what she did was a very feeble prank, but proved that he was doing well in his Occlumency lessons. Dumbledore himself said that Harry was doing well when he visited headquarters three nights before they were due to leave for Hogwarts.

On the morning everyone was leaving for Hogwarts, our story begins. It was already ten in the morning, and Sophie was nowhere to be seen. She did not show up for breakfast, and the train was leaving in one hour. Ron and Hermione searched the attic, while Harry looked in her room.

He knocked. When no one answered, he opened the door.

The room looked very bare; there was nothing in it except two trunks on the floor next to the bed (one devoted to clothes, the other, art materials), what looked like a Muggle television, and Sophie herself, who looked very engrossed in a portrait she was doing.

"Er – Sophie?"

"Yep?" she said, not taking her eyes off of what she was doing.

"The train's leaving in an hour."

"Yeah. I'll be done in a minute – literally a minute, okay? Come in, sit down."

Harry sat on the bed. Sophie tossed him the remote control.

"Watch."

"Er…"

"Don't tell me you haven't watched anything, you growing up with Muggles and all."

"Ah…. The Dursleys did a very good job of depriving me of the amount of happiness a normal child – Muggle or Magical – should receive at a very tender age."

"Oh Merlin! Never mind. I'm already done. Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"They were last seen in the attic, looking for you."

"Oh no."

"Why?"

Sophie looked at him pityingly. "Don't tell me you don't know."

"Sorry."

"Harry! How can you not know?"

"Know what?"

"Maybe this portrait of mine will help you understand."

Harry looked at portrait, and gasped.

It was the portrait that he saw when he entered Sophie's room for the first time. It was the portrait of the two people snogging. The girl had bushy brown hair and the boy was a freckly redhead.

Ron and Hermione!

It looked almost exactly like them. Okay, so Hermione's hair was bushier in real life, and Ron was frecklier (although this is perhaps because they spent the entire summer playing Quidditch); nevertheless, the other features were exactly the same.

"You can't be serious! Ron and Hermione!"

"Don't you notice that every time they row, it's like seeing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, or maybe some other old, married couple?"

"Well, yeah, but this is Ron and Hermione we're talking about!"

"Boys are so clueless."

"Maybe we are."

They both laughed. It was then that Harry noticed something different about Sophie's appearance.

Her hair wasn't wavy and lustrous. It was messy, and full of volume. Harry was sure that if his hair were as long as hers, it would look just like that.

"Er, Sophie?"

"Yeah?"

"Your hair."

"What about it?"

"Er…"

"I know, it's horrible. This is my natural hair. Since I'm a Metamorphagus, however – "

"You're a Metamorphagus?"

"Yep. But I only change my hair. I'm fine with my other features, thanks very much."

Harry was shocked. There was so much more to Sophie.

"I plan to be an Auror after Hogwarts. Tonks said that I'd make a good one because of my Metamorphagus abilities. I'm an Animagus as well. My Animagus form is a phoenix. If anyone tries to kill me, then I can just transform and I'll turn into a featherless chick. When I change back, however, I'll still be the sixteen-year-old girl that I am."

"So that's why Dumbledore got you as my guard!" said Harry, awestruck.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"You reckon that I can be an Animagus this year?"

"Yeah, but we have to start early. Perhaps when we've settled down in school, I can help you."

Sophie dragged one of her trunks. "Now, don't mention anything about Ron and Hermione when we get down."

"Is it true anyway?"

"Yeah, but neither would admit it."

"Now c'mon. They're waiting for us," said Harry. He helped her with one of her trunks, and together they went down the stairs.

Everyone else was downstairs. Mrs. Weasley was hugging everyone goodbye. They were to walk to King's Cross with Lupin (he was also going to ride the train going to school) and they didn't need any other guard, seeing that Sophie was already there to be Harry's guard. What was meant to be a very emotional farewell was disturbed by Sirius' portrait.

"I WANNA COME TOO!"

Everyone else laughed and Harry held the portrait. He supposed that it would be an improvement having Sirius with him all year round. That would mean more advice. But as they walked, he looked at the canvas that was chatting with Lupin, and he realized that the canvas was not Sirius.

It was just a piece of canvas, only an illusion of what Sirius was.

A lump filled Harry's throat, and he didn't know why. He didn't feel this way when the portrait was first given. He had spent weeks with it, talking to it, laughing at its jokes. Sophie looked at him, and he knew she knew how he felt. It was that kything thing that she was telling him about. She didn't teach him yet; he supposed that it was because he did not love her yet – even as a friend or sister. But he then realized that it's hard to love someone you don't know.

But he did know her. Everything was odd. He knew so little about her, but he then realized that in moments of intense emotion, he knew her more than anyone else could. Sophie was confusing. Everything about her was. In a matter of weeks, his way of thinking changed. He was somehow influenced by the way she thought.

He thought of all this as they were on their way, and it amazed him that it started with Sirius' portrait.

When they arrived at King's Cross, Hermione and Ron left for the Prefect's carriages along with Lupin (carrying Sirius) who was stationed there, which left Harry with Sophie, Ginny and Alexander. Alexander left the other three shortly after Ron and Hermione left, which left Harry, Ginny and Sophie to look for a spare compartment.

They found one, and there was only one person in it. They entered and saw that the person was crying, dressed in a black cloak with a black veil covering her face. Neither Ginny nor Harry recognized who she was. Sophie, however, had a look of utmost disgust.

Ginny felt sorry for this girl. "Why are you crying?"

"I've been hurt by the one I love," came the hoarse reply. Harry did not recognize the voice of the girl. He, however, felt compassion for her, even if he knew not who she was.

"Who's the one who hurt you?" asked he.

"You, Harry Potter."

"That's enough, Cho Chang!" roared Sophie. She muttered something which blew away the cloak and veil, revealing Cho's face. "That was a very dirty trick, Cho. That was low. Very, very low."

Cho looked at Sophie scathingly then stuck her nose in the air as she left the compartment. Sophie, however, seemed calm when she left, very pleased with her performance, obviously glad that she had managed to intimidate one of the most popular seventh years in Hogwarts.

Hours flew by. The trolley lady came with sweets, Harry and Ginny had a debate on what tasted better: Chocolate Frogs or Sugar Quills (Ginny won, of course), and Ron and Hermione came back, exhausted.

"So, who're the heads?"

"Alyssa Clearwater from Ravenclaw – "

"Perce's girlfriend's sister – "

"and Ryan Rodriguez, who's in our house."

"Don't they have a thing for each other?" asked Sophie.

"I dunno."

"Ron! How thick can you get! Couldn't you see the way they exchanged very meaningful glances?"

"Meaningful! How can glances be meaningful!"

Just then, the compartment door opened. Dean Thomas stood at the door. He glanced at Ginny, then Ginny followed him, blushing.

"See what I mean by meaningful glances."

Ron didn't reply. He looked totally infuriated.

"Look, Ron. Don't harp about it again. You were like that about Michael Corner, and that was somehow acceptable, because he's a git. But this is Dean we're talking about. Dean is our friend – "

"Who happens to be going out with my little sister!"

"She's not little anymore, Ron!"

"You wouldn't know! You're an only child! I'm sure Sophie understands, don't you?"

"I refuse to take part in your argument. For the record, though, I do think Alexander is little, and I am perhaps a tad bit too overprotective of him, but I suppose that's due to his small stature, and the fact that he's only eleven."

"Anyway," said Harry, "I think everyone's got a point, and we should just change the topic."

"Or you two could snog each other senseless – "

"WHAT!" exclaimed Ron and Hermione.

"What do you mean snog each other senseless?"

"Yeah, and why Hermione and I?"

"Gee, Ron, I didn't think that I was such an awful snog!"

"No, that's not what I mean! I just thought that she'd suggest that you and Harry go snog each other senseless, seeing as it's always you guys who are always paired up." There was a hint of jealousy in Ron's voice; the only times Harry heard Ron use that tone of voice was during the Yule Ball, and whenever Viktor Krum was mentioned.

"Which, mind you, is completely untrue."

Harry smiled. He realized what Sophie meant. Ron and Hermione did have something going on. He knew not what exactly, but he did know that it was something nevertheless.

"Erm, I think I'd better go back to the Prefects' carriage; the Heads might need a bit of, erm, help," said Hermione, her face as red as Ron's hair. Harry had not seen her blush that much since the Yule Ball in their fourth year.

"Yeah. I'd better go with you so that… yeah…" Ron said, not finishing his sentence; his ears were as red as Hermione's face.

"I guess that leaves you and me, Sophie," said Harry once the other two left.

"You know, I think you might have Seer blood, 'cause I was about to say the exact same thing," said Sophie, her wry smile making the corners of her lips twitch.

"You don't have Trelawney as a teacher, but I swear, if someone calls you a seer after you're forced to listen to her senseless jab, you'd be very, very insulted," Harry said, grinning.

"I heard that she enjoys predicting your death."

"That's an understatement. I think she gets a high out of predicting stuff about me after she predicted a real prophecy about me." Harry, then realizing that he had said too much, clamped his mouth.

"The weapon? Yeah, I know all about it. Dumbledore made me listen to it the day before they brought you to Grimmauld Place. He seemed to think that I needed to know what I was working with."

"So, you already know?" Harry asked, feeling the weight of the prophecy for the first time after he left Privet Drive.

"Yeah. Though I do realize that you aren't really in the mood to talk about it. Hell, you haven't even told Ron or Hermione about it."

"How do you know all this?"

Sophie smiled a secretive smile in response to Harry's question, puzzling him. He knew not how she could know all this. It definitely went beyond normal intelligence, but it also went beyond intuition. He knew that Mrs. Weasley, who had a mother's intuition, would not know everything he felt. Again, it probably had something to do with the kything thing that Sophie and Alexander could do.

Just then, a very happy looking Ginny Weasley entered the compartment. She was lucky that Ron was not there; if he were, she'd be in trouble, seeing as her expression was of one who had just enjoyed a snog session.

"Hey guys. Where're Ron and Hermione?" asked Ginny.

"Prefects' carriage," said Sophie. She and Ginny exchanged an all-knowing look.

"Oh…"

"How come everyone knows about them except for me?" Harry asked.

"You know something, Harry? I have no idea… You spend all your time with them, it makes me wonder why I know more about them than you do," said Ginny.

"Perhaps it's the closeness with them that causes his inability to see such things," Sophie remarked.

"How can my closeness with them make me blind to their relationship?" questioned Harry.

"You're too close to see what's happening. Haven't you wondered why other people seem to know how you feel more than you do? Sometimes, there are feelings or situations that we either deny or forget exist, and we need others to remind us of the possibility of such situations or emotions. I guess it's the same when it comes to relationships with other people. When we get too close, we tend to forget that such situations and occurrences are possible. This thing of Ron and Hermione is a perfect example. You have always seen them as normal best friends who bicker all the time, nothing more, nothing less. You've forgotten that it's possible for them to actually fall in love," Sophie said.

"How do you know all these stuff?" asked Ginny, awed.

Sophie had her secretive smile on her face yet again. It was rather obvious that she wasn't going to be telling Ginny about the kything thing anytime soon. Harry, on the other hand seemed very eager to learn. He wanted to feel everything Sophie felt. He wanted to help her when she needed his help. He wanted to know when she needed his help.

"Don't ask how she knows, Gin. I suppose she just does," said Harry.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

Ron and Hermione entered the compartment.

"Change. We're going to arrive at Hogwarts in about ten minutes."

As Harry got dressed, he felt excited. He was going back to Hogwarts, the place where he had always felt like he belonged, the place he called home.