1 Confrontations
Harry hung around King's Cross Station for hours. Uncle Vernon had grudgingly dropped him off before his early morning appointment in London. Harry was stuck there until the eleven o'clock train arrived. He waited quietly for his two companions near the platform.
The station was beginning to liven up. More and more people were rushing about trying to get to their destinations. Harry idly watched the scurrying passersby, keeping an eye out for witches and wizards.
Ron showed up first looking taller and better dressed. He was sporting a large new backpack instead of a dusty old trunk.
"Ron!" Harry shouted, "Over here!"
Ron hurried over to the busy platform.
"It's great to see you Harry. The Muggles treating you any better?"
"Oh yeah, they ignored me completely. Uncle Vernon didn't say one word all the way to the station."
Ron gave Harry a concerned look. "When there's a break you need to come see the Burrow. Dad's been getting on well at the Ministry and Mum's done up the place. Special dinners, new rugs and curtains, matching chairs 'round the table and everything," Ron said proudly.
"As long as there's still a chair for me," came a voice.
Hermione Granger stood there smiling, wearing a backpack nearly as large as Ron's. Harry laughed and hugged Hermione. Ron gaped at her.
"Come here you big lump," she said, embracing him. "I'm glad your dad is doing well and I've always liked the way your mum kept the Burrow, so I imagine that it's better than ever, Ron."
Ron continued to stare at her. She still wore her old sweater, plaid skirt and flat shoes, yet she seemed so different.
"Parent's making out OK with Muggle teeth then?"
"They're called dentists, Ron. And yes, they're doing quite well thanks to the equivalent of places like Honeydukes. And stop gawping at me, it's not like I'm a Quidditch star."
"Sorry Hermione," Ron spluttered, "it's just that I'm glad to see you and you look lovely," he added quickly.
"Hermione the female, what a concept," she said coyly, smiling despite herself. "The train's ready to board, let's go."
Settling into a compartment near the back of the train. They quickly caught up on events and made small talk. The conversation predictably degraded (at least from Harry's point of view) into an argument between Hermione and Ron.
"Honestly Ron, I can't believe you didn't see him for the spoiled little prat that he is."
"Hermione, I didn't say that. I knew he wasn't up to it, the spineless git."
"Don't you two start up again," Harry groaned. "I'm glad he's gone though if I see him again I may mistake him for a horcrux."
"Malfoy isn't worth it, Harry. Let the Aurors deal with him," Hermione said.
"You killing Malfoy lends him a dignity he doesn't deserve." Ron added.
Harry and Hermione both looked askance at Ron.
"I heard my father say it. But it's still true," Ron blushed.
"I didn't mean literally. The horcruxes come first." Harry said grimly.
Hermione looked to Ron and then to Harry. She made to speak, then bit her lip. She crossed the compartment and sat between Ron and Harry silently gripping their arms.
The train came to halt and the three of them slipped off the platform.
Two wizards and a witch started their late afternoon trek down a pleasant country lane towards Godric's Hollow.
Hermione and Ron cast about the remains of the Potter home for magical objects. They were examining the house and grounds for anything that might lead them to a horcrux.
Harry stood in his wrecked bedroom for the first time. Beneath the havoc wrought by time and vandals he could still feel something of his parents. He pictured the happy hours they must have spent here, cozy winter evenings downstairs and lazy, idyllic summer afternoons in the garden.
Gazing through a glassless window into the courtyard he saw Ron and Hermione. An ugly flash of jealousy began to course through him. "They have parents, they have each other. Why has all that been taken away from me?" he said out loud.
"Harry?" a voice called up the stairs. "Ron and I found something in the garden. We'd like you to see it."
Harry ran down the stairs to find his two friends standing over a shattered paving stone.
"I was looking for magical wards when I felt my wand pull in this direction. I tried to levitate the stone to see what was underneath but it flew apart," Hermione whispered.
"Don't touch it!" Ron said, pushing the two aside, "It might be a port key."
Very gingerly Hermione ran her wand around the object. She spoke half a dozen incantations. A small green spark danced on the tip of her wand for a second and vanished.
"There's no way to be absolutely sure but I don't see any signs of one," she said.
Ron grimaced as he lifted the object from beneath the broken walkway. He held it up to the light. A serpent shaped walking staff cast in brilliant, finely worked silver.
"Blimey, it must have cost a fortune to have this made. Why would . . ."
Harry held up his hand, "I hear something."
Hermione and Ron pulled their wands and stepped back. Harry stood still, moving his head from side to side, listening intently. The sound came from just over the garden wall, a hoarse, sibilant sound. Harry recognized it from his encounters with Voldemort. He drew out his wand and joined the other two.
Nagini slithered over the low wall and coiled around the weedy, overgrown fountain. Three strong, blazing red stunners bounced off Nagini's thick scales and into the night sky. The huge serpent hissed loudly and even without the ability to speak parseltongue, Ron and Hermione knew it was a derisive laugh.
The snake hissed again, her gaze focused on Harry.
"No!" Harry said aloud and resumed in frenzied parseltongue.
Nagini crushed the fountain with her powerful, swift coils and struck at Ron.
"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted. She was thrown back with enough force to split the garden wall. Nagini shook her head and recovered quickly.
She turned and struck at Hermione repeatedly. Hermione ducked and dodged the attacks but did not use her wand. Harry shouted "impedimentia," but Nagini only slowed for a second. Ron stepped in front of Harry and hit Nagini with a freezing charm.
"Impedimentia!" Hermione screeched in a voice that startled even her.
Instead of slowing, the serpent broke into convulsions, narrowly missing Ron and snapping his wand. Harry got knocked off his feet and into Hermione.
Shaking and twitching almost uncontrollably Nagini closed in on the dazed pair.
Desperate for a weapon Ron struck at her with the walking staff.
The end of the staff found its mark behind her head. Her slit-like pupils dilated. Blood gushed from the small wound. She recoiled from the staff, backed away from Ron and disappeared through a gap in the garden wall.
Ron dropped the staff, his large, shaking hands covered in serpent's blood. Harry managed to get into a sitting position, putting his hand on his head. "You two all right?" he asked.
Hermione got up and walked unsteadily towards Ron. She wrapped her arms around him and stood there without a sound. Ron wiped the snake blood on his cloak and returned the embrace. "We need to see to Harry," he said. Ron crouched over Harry, checking for any serious wounds.
"She didn't get her fangs into either of you?" Hermione asked them, still a bit stunned.
"No." The two answered.
"Do you think it's a horcrux?" Ron asked, staring at the bloody walking staff.
"I don't know, Ron. The answer to this isn't in any book I've ever read," said Hermione.
"Then we are in trouble," moaned Ron.
Working in silence, the three of them gathered their few belongings and listened for intruders. Hermione kept looking at her foe glass. She had given a spare wand to Ron and he had put it behind his ear Luna-style, watching for anything. Harry also kept vigilant, he kept moving his head and eyes constantly, eerily like a snake himself.
"We all know where we have to go next," Hermione said slowly. "We need help from Slughorn."
"But he's at Hogwarts."
"Right in one, Ron."
Harry got up suddenly, an angry look on his face. "There's something here, I can feel it."
"We've looked everywhere Harry and we haven't seen anything. We need more information. Besides, if we don't get back soon people will start asking questions," Hermione said.
"Right then, if you're so certain Hermione, let's go," he grumbled.
"Maybe the horcruxes are invisible," Ron joked.
Hermione gave Harry a stern look. Ron sensed a fight coming on and blanched a little. Harry glowered at them for a moment and then burst into laughter. Hermione's frown flipped into a smile, and she began to laugh loudly too. Ron stood there, confused. He thought they might be hexed.
"You never see it coming when it's you and Hermione itching to fight." Harry gasped. Hermione abruptly stopped laughing and glared at Harry, furrowing her brow.
"I thought you were laughing at Ron for usually starting the fight."
"Me? Hermione, it's you that won't let anything go," Ron started in.
"Everyone just drop it. There's nothing more we can do today and we have a train to catch." Harry snapped.
Hermione looked to Ron and he beamed at her.
"My best mate and a bossy, brilliant girl on a scarlet train, now things are starting to go right again."
The Hogwarts Express had scarcely left London behind when the students were already settled into their traveling routines. Some polished prefect badges. Others tried on robes or looked for sweethearts from the last school year.
Blaise Zabini had other plans. He had taken it upon himself to assume the role of head bully vacated by Draco Malfoy. His first target of opportunity was Seamus Finnegan making his way down the corridor. Seamus was getting a little too popular and needed taken down a peg. He needed a good, humiliating hexing. Zabini discreetly eyed Seamus as he slipped his wand out slowly. Seamus spotted his surreptitious move and pulled out two thick wands. Blaise moved in a flash and grabbed both of them. Seamus grinned. Blaise hesitated. A crowd formed quickly.
"One's a wand; the other is a charmed knife. Which one do you feel lucky enough to try and snap?"
Blaise looked from wand to wand, let go and stepped back.
"Out of me way you blitherin' Slytherin." Seamus said as he walked past Zabini.
The train filled with laughter. Blaise glared at the Gryffindor boy and clenched his fists. From out of the crowd Dean Thomas and a short, wide Hufflepuff boy with no neck appeared and flanked Seamus.
Mr. Finnegan jauntily dropped his two wands back into a Zonko's candy wand box and the three departed the rail car. Scowling, Blaise returned to his compartment. Crabbe and Goyle wandered in looking lost without Malfoy. Blaise Zabini saw an opportunity.
