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CHAPTER 2

"First years!" Professor McGonagall's voice echoed through the silent Great Hall. "To the front please!"

The almost fearful looking and incredibly small first year students were being ushered to the front. Many of their innocent faces were turned up to the enchanted ceiling, which tonight was clear and full of stars. Ron wasn't really paying attention, however, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about Harry's dream. Harry was right, though, there were tons of Muggle-Borns. However, just the fact that Hermione fell into that category made Ron nervous.

Ron glanced over at Hermione. She was sitting beside him, watching the first years with great interest. She certainly didn't look bothered by any unwelcome thoughts, as Ron was. Maybe she had been convinced when he and Harry had told her that she didn't need to worry about the dream.

Tearing his eyes away from Hermione, Ron noticed that Harry had a strange look on his face. What was he looking at? He was sitting across the table from Ron and staring behind Ron's head with a look of utter confusion and worry. Ron nudged Hermione with his elbow and nodded toward Harry. Her brow furrowed, as they both turned to look behind them.

They immediately saw the object of Harry's surprise. Ron heard Hermione gasp. The Slytherin table was only two-thirds full. There must have been one hundred students missing. Unfortunately, Malfoy was not one of them, and neither were Crabbe or Goyle. Hermione gripped his arm and looked at him in mild shock. He shook his head as he looked into her troubled brown eyes. Eyes that beautiful should never be troubled, Ron thought absently.

He managed to smile back weakly in an attempt to reassure her before McGonagall announced the Sorting Hat's song. Ron looked up to the front of the Hall and saw the rim of the hat open to begin…

Another year begins for all / So with this melody/ I'll give you a quick warning / Of the changes you will see.

The discord that has always lived / Between the houses four/ Results in those that feel superior / To be seen here…no more.

Sir Slytherin would be too pleased/ If he still lived today. / To see a Hogwart's rival school / That actually bears his name.

For in this newly founded school / The founders do believe / That pureblood witches and wizards are/ The ones who'll rule supreme.

Yes, at Slytherin School of Magic / No Muggle-Borns are found. / Only ambitious pureblood students / To this society are bound.

But Gryffindor and Ravenclaw/ And Hufflepuff still stand/ United with those Slytherin / Who have not left the band.

And though it seems a shame / For some to split apart/ Those left are those devoted / Of the mind and of the heart.

So, devoted students here tonight/Prepare to learn this year. / Not only magic spells and charms/But history, I fear.

No, I don't mean you'll learn from books / The history of which I speak / But from the rise of the Dark Lord/ Who wants history to repeat.

Frightening times are here and now/ And all should be aware/ But there's still hope among the dark / There's still hope in the air.

A prophecy has been foretold / Of a wizard here tonight/ He holds the power to free our world / If he can win the fight.

Now that you've heard my warning/ The sorting I will start. / Just place me straight upon your head /So I can see what's in your heart.

Was it possible for time to stop? Ron was beginning to think so as a deadly uncomfortable silence overpowered the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione slowly turned to look at Harry as time resumed its pace with the immediate outburst of voices. No one even attempted to whisper. Neville and Ginny were looking at Harry, as well. As for everyone else in the hall, students and teachers alike, half were staring at Harry and the other half were staring at Dumbledore.

Ron suddenly realized that although time had overcome its pause, he had forgotten to resume his breathing. He took a deep breath. Slytherin School of Magic? Prophecy? Wizard here tonight…with the power to free our world…? The words wouldn't collaborate in Ron's mind.

Hermione was sitting completely still and staring with the utmost shock and worry at Harry. Harry had turned ghostly pale and had put his head in his hands. Was that prophecy…Harry's prophecy? Was that what Voldemort had been after? What did that mean…if he could win? What did any of it mean? A clenching fear grabbed at Ron's heart. Harry was the wizard with the power to free their world of Voldemort? Ron felt as if the walls of the Great Hall had suddenly decided to start moving as he clutched a hand to his throbbing head.

If Ron had this many unanswered thoughts, he knew Hermione must be ready to implode with the weight of her questions. Ron put his hand gently on Hermione's back, while he looked at Harry. Harry had raised his head from his hands and his mouth was fixed in a straight line. Ron had never seen Harry's eyes look the way they did at that moment. He was looking at Ron with an apologetic…yet pleading look.

"Silence!" Ron turned to see Dumbledore standing at the front of the Hall in long purple robes with both hands raised. For the first time since Ron had been at Hogwarts, no one obeyed the Headmaster's order. The talking continued, and Ron thought he saw a brief look of surprise cross Dumbledore's face before he asked for silence again. This time the talking died to a low murmur.

"Please, I need everyone's attention!" Dumbledore's booming voice was finally the only sound in the Hall. "Assumptions are being made at this very moment in the young minds before me. But assumptions are useless to make regarding the Sorting Hat's…unexpected song. As far as even I know, the wizard made reference to…could be me. Now, I have some announcements to make…"

"Dumbledore just said that it could be him to save me some undesired attention. He told me about the prophecy last term after we returned from the Ministry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I…didn't know how. Trewlawny prophesied that I would either kill or be killed by Voldemort. We can't both survive."

Hermione felt as if she were in some sort of Muggle soap opera. What she was hearing was just as unbelievable. It was the night before classes started and she was in the common room alone with her two best friends. Except, they weren't her best friends; they were robots or some kind of gross semblance of her friends.

"Trewlawny? Harry! Are you mad?" She said exasperatedly, standing up from the sofa.

"Hermione, I know it sounds awful, but…" Harry began.

"NO! Dumbledore has really lost it! I mean, Trewlawny? We all know she's a phony!" Hermione was screaming at him, but he wouldn't look at her. He just sighed and put his head in his hands. Why didn't he understand? She turned to Ron, at least he was looking at her. "Ron…there is no prophecy! There can't be! Sybil Trewlawny is a FAKE!"

Ron simply looked at her as if he had no idea what to believe. It made her even angrier! What was the matter with them? They were going to believe something Sybil Trewlawny said, without question? No, not just something she'd said…a "prophecy" concerning the fate of the entire wizarding world! Ron reached a hand toward her, but she jerked away. Harry suddenly stood up from his lounge chair.

"Hermione, Trewlawny is, for the most part, a phony. But when she prophesies…it's different." He said calmly, and then he turned to look down at Ron, who was still sitting on the couch looking dumbstruck. "Ron? You believe me right?"

"Um…" Ron began uneasily. He turned to look up at her. Hermione stared down at him. "Hermione…um…we did see it in the Hall of Prophecy. I mean…it has to be…"

Hermione growled and stomped her foot, before turning to Harry. "Harry, I'm sorry, but I won't believe anything that horrible woman says. Believe what you will, but I won't believe in that so-called prophecy simply because it was in the Department of Mysteries! If you two want something to lose sleep over, worry about this Slytherin School of Magic!"

Hermione felt the tears coming so she turned and ran up the girl's staircase. She wasn't going to believe it. Trewlawny? Of course that woman wants Harry to either kill or be killed! She's obsessed with death! Hermione put her hands to her eyes, which she was squeezing shut. I won't cry! She thought. I'm not going to cry because it's not true…

However, when Hermione laid down in her bed and pulled the curtains closed, silent tears began cascading down her cheeks. It was times like these when she wished Ron were there to comfort her. He had tried to comfort her some downstairs, but she had jerked away. This made her cry harder! But of course she'd jerked away! He was siding with Harry and that…mystic.

This was her first night at Hogwarts and she was lying in bed crying! She had been so excited about returning to school while at the platform this morning. But, after hearing about Harry's dream, the Slytherin School of Magic, and this fake prophecy…Oh! Hermione grabbed her pillow out from under her head and hugged it to her tightly.

Okay, am I a Gryffindor or not? She asked herself. I'm not going to scare myself silly worrying about a hypothetical kidnapping and a bogus prophecy. If she were going to worry, it would be over that horrible new school. She gripped her pillow tightly, and willed herself to go to sleep. However, it wasn't the Slytherin School of Magic that Hermione was thinking about as she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning Ron dressed hurriedly and made his way down to the common room to meet Harry and Hermione, who were both waiting for him at the portrait hole. The night before he had lain in bed for a long while before going to sleep; he wondered if Harry or Hermione had had the same problem.

There had just been so many things thrown at him in one day, they couldn't just disappear as soon as the lights had gone out. Ron didn't want to believe that Harry's dream was real. And if it were real, he didn't want to believe that Hermione might be the victim of a kidnapping. He couldn't bear to think of it. So naturally…his mind had wondered to another unpleasant thought. Some purebloods had decided to form their own school!

Ron couldn't believe that it was a coincidence that they formed this school as soon as Voldemort became widely believed to be alive and strong. It seemed like something a horde of Death Eaters would do for their children. But, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were still at Hogwarts. Ron had thought those three would've been the first to sign up for a Slytherin School of Magic. The Sorting Hat had said that those that felt superior had left and those devoted of heart and mind had stayed. If Malfoy'sheart and mind were devoted to anything...it was evil! And…if Malfoy didn't feel superior to everyone around him…who did?

And to top everything off, Harry has been prophesied to murder or be murdered. Ron didn't want either for his best friend! He couldn't imagine living day to day with the knowledge that you were destined to be a murderer. Of course, if Hermione were right, the prophecy was a fake, but Ron really didn't think so. Trewlawny was mentally off, but she had made that prediction about Pettigrew returning to Voldemort in their third year…and she had been right.

Oh yes! Ron thought cynically, as Hermione turned to smile weakly at him before they exited the portrait hole door, I also have to worry about getting a better hold on my emotions. No more noticing Hermione's eyes, hair, smile…and other…accoutrements. Today he was going to look at Hermione as one of his two best friends because…that's all she was. With that unhappy thought on his mind, he then remembered he had one more thing to worry about. Their first class was, unfortunately, Potions with Professor Snape.

"I can't believe his skinny face will be the first thing we see every Monday morning!" Ron exclaimed with disgust as the trio left breakfast and walked down the many staircases to the dungeons. Harry grunted in agreement.

"Ron, complaining won't make it any better." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "It's best to just tough it out with silence and diligence." Ron opened his mouth to defend himself when he suddenly tripped over something and fell hard onto the stone floor.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped as she and Harry bent down to help pull him up from the ground. Once back on his feet, Ron dusted his pants off, and looked up to see Harry staring threateningly at a laughing Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, Harry's wand held tightly in his right hand. Draco's leg was extended into the hallway.

"You imbecile!" Hermione screamed at Malfoy, "You could have really hurt him!" This comment only made Malfoy and his cronies laugh harder. When their laughter subsided, Malfoy approached Hermione; Ron tensed.

"Granger, if I wanted to seriously hurt Weaselby, I wouldn't do it for an audience." Malfoy turned his gaze upon Ron. "No. I'd do it somewhere where he would die in pain before being found."

Ron just stood silently glowering at Malfoy, Hermione had gasped, and Harry was still standing in the same spot holding tightly to his wand. Heat was rising in Ron's cheeks. He was accustomed to disregarding the awful things Malfoy found to say to him, but he couldn't stand the way Malfoy said Hermione's name like it was something dirty on his lips.

"Oh don't worry, Granger." Malfoy said sneering at Hermione, and then in a low whisper he said, "With the Dark Lord back, a Mudblood like yourself will probably be dead before I get the chance to get your boyfriend alone."

Something in Ron snapped at these words. It was like a sheer, red gauze had been pulled over his eyes. Ron grabbed fistfuls of Malfoy's collar and thrust him, with all his strength, into the stonewall. Malfoy took a sharp intake of breath and doubled over gasping for air. Ron then grabbed a handful of white-blonde hair at the back of Malfoy's head and pulled him up straight to face him. He briefly glared into Malfoy's fearful, but soulless grey eyes, before rearing back his fist and punching him square in the jaw. Malfoy fell to the floor, his mouth marked with blood, and Ron was on top of him in a second.

Hermione let out a sound that was a cross between a scream and a squeak as she grabbed the back of Ron's shirt to try and pull him off of Malfoy, who seemed to be whimpering. Somewhere Ron could hear a distant-sounding Harry yelling at Ron to stop, but Ron wasn't satisfied with just the one punch. He pulled his fist back for another, when…

"Mr. Weasley!" Snape had approached the scene with his impeccable timing. "I suggest you lower your fist and remove yourself from Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy, take yourself to the hospital wing. And Potter, put that wand away." Snape glared at Harry with hatred for a moment before a malevolent smile crept onto his thin lips. "Oh, and one hundred points from Gryffindor."

"But Professor! Ron was provoked; if you'd only listen to what…" Hermione began, talking very swiftly, before being interrupted.

"Miss Granger, no provocation is cause enough for violence, but your insolence will cost Gryffindor another fifty points!" And with that Snape swirled around, his black cloak waving behind him, as he entered his classroom. Ron pushed himself off of Malfoy, making sure he used all of his weight to do so. Malfoy limped off, cursing. Crabbe and Goyle were standing off to the side, looking menacing yet unsure of what to do.

Once inside the classroom, Ron and Harry sat down on either side of a sullen Hermione. Ron was fuming at both Malfoy and Snape. Yet, Snape's mind-boggling injustice was doing nothing to Ron's anger as compared to Malfoy's comment toward Hermione. Ron noticed that his hands were actually shaking, and he had a throbbing pain in his right hand now. How dare he speak to her that way? Who cared about stupid house points? He'd punch Malfoy out in a second if he had it to do all over again!

Ron glanced at Hermione, who was looking down at her hands in her lap. Malfoy's comment had surely upset her. She usually ignored Malfoy's offensiveness, but this time his remark had some disturbing truth to it. Ron couldn't bear to think of it, but he knew that Hermione was, in fact, vulnerable in the wizarding world at this time. Both of his best friends were! Whether the dream or prophecy were true or not, they were both vulnerable. If anything happened to either of them…Ron willed himself to not think of such things.

He was only partly aware that Snape had begun his lesson because he sat wordlessly looking at Hermione. Unexpectedly, a single glistening tear rolled down her delicate cheek to fall silently to one of her hands in her lap. Ron felt a horrible crushing feeling in his chest. No one would notice if he just reached a comforting hand to her under the table, Ron thought. It's what any good friend would do!

Taking a shuddering breath, he slowly took hold of Hermione's hand closest to him and interlocked his fingers with hers. Hermione tensed for a moment before looking at Ron, who gave her a feeble smile and squeezed her hand soothingly. Her hand felt so fragile and cold in his, as he rubbed his thumb across the back of it. She returned his smile, and the rest of the class went on with their hands united, while Ron convinced himself that the warm tremor in his stomach was merely a hunger pang.

I promise that the romance in this story grows with each chapter! I just need to form a good foundation for their sixth year before it skyrockets... :)