Chapter 4 - Trick Shocks
"Hurry up, you lot!" Ron complained as he, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley hurried along between platforms nine and ten, trying to avoid hitting the waiting muggles with their trolleys.
"There's no time to mess about, run straight through the barrier. We're late as it is!" Mrs Weasley shouted above their heads.
One by one, they quickly ran through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4. Hoping that no muggles had noticed a bunch of people disappear through a wall.
With little time to spare, they began to say their goodbyes to Mrs Weasley.
"Do take care, Ron, Ginny," said Mrs Weasley, kissing them both on the cheek.
"Mum, don't do that!" whined Ron, screwing up his face. Mrs Weasley ignored Ron's moaning and turned her attention to Harry and Hermione. "You two take care of yourselves as well."
"We will," Hermione replied, Harry nodding in agreement.
"C'mon, let's find an empty compartment," Ron suggested, walking past them towards the last carriage. He headed inside and found the first compartment he came to was empty.
From a short distance, the warning whistle echoed throughout the platform. Alerting Hermione, Ginny and Harry, who rushed over to the carriage door, with heavy trunks in tow and struggled on board the train until they were in the safety of their own compartment.
The train slowly began to pull out of the station, causing the four of them to rush over to the window, stumbling over their trunks on the way to wave goodbye to Mrs Weasley until the train went round a bend and she, and the station, disappeared from sight.
"Do you think mum'll be able to cope with Fred and George now that we've gone?" Ron asked, smiling to himself as he lifted his trunk onto the overhead luggage rack, Harry and Hermione helping him.
"I seriously doubt it," Harry answered, shaking his head as he sat down.
"They'll drive her crazy. You know that they're like, they'll leave their new inventions around the house just to annoy mum," Ron laughed.
"How's the joke shop going?" Hermione enquired, suddenly remembering about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
"Booming, apparently. They keep boasting about it. Fred and George may annoy the Hell out of mum, but did you notice that she never complained once about the joke shop?" Ron said with pride, Ginny grinning with happiness. "They even give mum and dad some of the profits so they can finally treat me to some new stuff!"
Hermione smiled, knowing that Ron hated the fact that his family was poor and most of his belongings were second-hand, Now that he could afford to buy things, Hermione had never seen Ron look happier. She was happy for him (and Ginny too) and very pleased to see he was far less grumpier than before.
"That's great. At least Malfoy can't make any more snide remarks about your stuff."
"Somebody say my name?" said the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy, suddenly appearing in the door, flanked by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Get lost, Malfoy!" Harry demanded.
"Well, well, well, Weasley..." Malfoy continued, ignoring Harry completely. "You've finally got some money in your pocket that's more than a sickle. It doesn't make much of a difference though; you've still got to put up with the same inbred family."
"Take that back, Malfoy!" yelled Hermione, as she and Harry held back Ron and Ginny who were trying to pull free from their grasp to attack. Crabbe and Goyle laughed as they began to flex the muscles.
"As if I'm going to take orders from a filthy mudblood like you! Get back to the zoo where you came from!"
They had all heard enough and pulled out their wands before Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had time to move.
"Get lost before I permanently damage your face!" shouted Ron, his eyes focused on his enemy.
Malfoy scowled, knowing that he couldn't defend himself. "Let's go," he told Crabbe and Goyle, then skulked down the corridor.
"You should have let us hex him!" Ginny grumbled angrily, sitting down in a huff and crossing her arms.
Ron's face was twisted with anger. "I wish I could stick his wand right up his-"
"I know, Ron!" Harry interrupted.
"He's already started to annoy me, insulting Hermione and me like that!" Ron fumed, and turned his head towards Hermione who had her hands over her face, sniffing quietly.
"Hermione? Are you ok?" enquired Ron, suddenly sounding concerned.
She didn't answer straight away. Moments after Malfoy had insulted her, she had a brainwave. It was, yet again, another ultimate opportunity to see the boys' reaction in a situation like this - crying friend, needs comfort, seeks other friends help - you know, that kind of thing. It wasn't intentional, she never planned this.
After the success of the picnic, she just needed more information. Neither Harry or Ron had showed much interest since then, to Hermione's great dismay. Things were normal between them, causing Hermione to think that her friends were just being nice to her, and not attracted to her in any kind of way. Unfortunately, after much ranting and complaining, she received a slap across the face from Ginny after going slightly hysterical. Although shocked, annoyed and hurt (that slap was hard!), she finally came to her senses that it wasn't going to be the end of the world.
However, after much talking and analysing, Ginny figured that the boys just didn't want to show their feelings as it wasn't a 'manly' thing to do; a sign of weakness. Hermione realised then, that this was going to prove a lot trickier than she had first acknowledged.
So at this moment, she needed to know; it had to be done.
She turned her fury towards Malfoy into upset and had waited for them to notice her first. It was ingenious, even for her, yet incredibly devious. Yes, she knew she was playing with their feelings and it was completely wrong but sometimes you just had to grab the chance with both hands.
Ginny was sitting opposite, showing some concern. She was taken by surprise when Hermione gave her a quick smile and a wink, and was about to say something when Hermione shook her head ever so slightly.
Ron looked at Ginny, then Harry and saw the worry in his eyes. They silently came to an unanimous decision and moved across to sit beside their crying best friend, realising why she was upset.
Ron leaned forward to push her hair out of the way and spoke softly with a tinge of ferocity, "Hermione, don't listen to that creep. He's scum."
Hermione lifted her head but couldn't look them in the eyes because she felt so embarrassed. Tears were rolling down her face, her eyes red and bloodshot... 'I am such a good actor! Definitely deserves an Oscar nomination!' she thought.
"He said I belonged in a zoo! And he called me a mudblood... again!" she wailed, covering her face with her hands once more.
The boys looked at each other, feeling somewhat uncomfortable and at a loss for words in order to help her. Neither of them weren't very impressive at comforting the opposite sex. They struggled with their own feelings, for Christ sake!
Harry cleared his throat. "We don't think you belong in a zoo, you belong in a - a... museum."
Ron stared at Harry, who just shrugged, saying the first thing that popped into his head.
It was killing Hermione not to laugh. A museum?
"A museum?"
"Yeah..."said Harry, feeling incredibly stupid. "Well, they've - erm - got nice, precious things t-to look at."
"You think I'm pretty?" She asked, then faked a sob.
Harry turned a deep shade of crimson and shifted awkwardly in his seat. "Well... yes, you are. You, er, looked great when we went for t - the picnic. Erm... Ron?"
He quickly turned to Ron for a little help, who seemed panic-stricken and was struggling for something to say. "Yeah, yeah... I'll second that... you looked very - very hot."
Hermione snorted, rapidly grabbing a tissue from her pocket and turning it into as though she was blowing her nose. Now that was funny! At last, some sort of sign!
"Who's opinion would you rather hear - theirs or Malfoy's?" Ginny suddenly piped into the conversation. She gave Hermione a suspicious glance, but she didn't dare make eye contact with Ginny just in case she gave the game away somehow.
"Theirs, of course. Thank you boys," She looked at Ron, then Harry who smiled back at her. Now that she had removed her hands from her face, she reached out and took Harry and Ron's hands into her own. Ginny sat back and fought the urge not to laugh as they both stared down at their now occupied hands.
As typical boys would, they did the first thing that came into their head. Harry awkwardly rubbed the back of her hand and gave it a couple of taps. "No worries..."
Whereas, Ron, feeling a little embarrassed, held tight onto Hermione's hand for a few seconds and said, "Yeah, you've got us."
Feeling that she had tortured them enough, she let go of their hands. They both slowly pulled away, still weary of Hermione's mood and not knowing what she might say or do next.
"Are you all right now?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, I feel a whole lot better," Hermione replied. She wasn't going to forget this in a hurry.
The train began to slow down and eventually stopped. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny quickly scrambled around the compartment and grabbed hold of their belongings, trying not whack each other at the same time. One by one, they filed out into the now noisy corridor and out of the carriage into the cool night air.
"Quick, let's get to the stagecoaches," suggested Ron, leading the way out of Hogsmeade station. It just started to rain and the students began to hurry towards where around a hundred stagecoaches were waiting for them outside the station. The four of them ran over to the nearest and clambered aboard, shivering as it grew cold around them. Hermione pulled the collar of her robe closer to her chest. It was unbelievably freezing and she couldn't stop shivering in her seat. Ron, who was sitting beside her, had noticed this too.
Ron had an undecided expression upon on his face, then began to pull his cloak off. " Here, Hermione, warm yourself up." He wrapped the cloak around her shoulders.
"Are you sure, Ron?" asked Hermione, quite surprised at his thoughtfulness.
"Yeah, no problem," he answered, rubbing his hands together, wondering whether he'd made the right decision as he suddenly felt the cold temperature wrap around him like a blanket.
"Thanks, that's really-"
"Actually, can I have it back," Ron interrupted, talking a little too fast, "I didn't realise it was this cold."
Ginny suppressed what would have been a loud burst of laughter as she saw Hermione's face drop, looking very disappointed indeed. She reluctantly removed the cloak and shoved it back in Ron's hands, who quickly grabbed hold of it and wrapped it around himself.
"Sorry," said Ron.
"It's ok..." said Hermione, "We can share our body heat!"
Ron looked confused at first, then taken aback as she grabbed his arm and put it around her waist and shuffled sideways in order to get closer to him. Hermione smiled as she snuggled her head into his shoulder as the carriages began to trundle towards the castle. However, inside her own head, she realised that she had tricked her best friends over something as petty as that. She wanted to tell them the truth, tell them everything, but that would just dig her into an even bigger hole or hoping that she might get swallowed by one.
She just had to grin and bear it, and make up for it later. Somehow.
The whole of the Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as Dumbledore has just announced that there would be a new 'extra special subject' once a week, just for students in their 5th year and above. For some reason, Dumbledore had chosen not to say what the subject was exactly, leaving the older students to wonder if it was anything dangerous and fun, and the younger years to sulk with disappointment.
"Details about the subject will be posted on the notice board in each of the house common rooms. I'm sure your imaginations are running wild, so, off to bed!" Dumbledore finished, causing many of the students to jump up from their seats and rush out as quickly as their legs could take them.
"I hope it's a duelling lesson!" said Ron hopefully.
"Maybe it's something to do with time travel, the universe, something really interesting." Hermione suggested, causing Ron to roll his eyes.
"Hadn't you two better take the first-years up to the common room." Harry reminded Hermione and Ron about their prefect duties.
"Oh, yeah," moaned Ron. "See you later."
Hermione and Ron hurried away to gather the first-years together, and began to shout "Follow me, please!" over the loud chatter of the other students. Hermione led the way to the Entrance hall and towards the staircase while Ron stayed at the back to make sure no one got lost.
She couldn't help thinking about what she'd done earlier on the train. She stillfelt guilty about messing with their feelings and lying to them but what else could she have done in order to get past their stubborn exterior. She could have told them the truth about how she felt but the risk of losing their friendship was far greater.
They had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady who smiled at the first-years, causing some to jump back in surprise.
"Password?"
"Dragon hide," said Hermione. The portrait swung open, revealing a large hole which Hermione began to climb through. Most of the other Gryffindors had already arrived and huddled around the notice board. There was obviously mixed feelings about the new subject; some were grinning and two seventh-years gave one another a high-five, whilst others shook their head and stared blankly into space and the rest seemed to be dumbstruck.
As Hermione welcomed the new Gryffindors to their new home, she saw Harry emerge from the crowd of students, a bemused expression on his face.
"What's up? It's not dull and boring, is it?" asked Ron.
"Take a look for yourselves," Harry smiled, nodding his head in the direction of the notice board
Hermione and Ron rushed over, eager to see what information it held. Ron searched for the notice and his face fell immediately. "Oh no!" cried Ron slowly, now looking very worried.
Hermione followed his gaze and instantly saw two words that stood out like bright neon lights. She laughed nervously as she read the title: New Subject - Sex Education.