Author's Note: This chapter is now up and ready to view. Sorry that I was taking so long on this. Please let me know of any writing errors within it.


Chapter 7

Leaving for Hogwarts

Year 1 - Assorted Locations - Earth

Early the next morning, once everyone got up and had breakfast, and after Josh quickly showered and changed into some fresh clothes which he had instantly materialized from wherever the location of his current residence was, of which he didn't reveal to either Harry or anyone else; thus wanting to keep his dwelling-place a total secret until he felt the time was right to unveil his address, all of the Weasley siblings who were present exited the Burrow with the two Jedi and headed for a garage that was situated just a few yards away from the house.

"Um, why are we all going over to the garage?" Ron asked in confusion. "That's where dad's car is." Suddenly, a realization instantaneously hit him and he ran directly in front of the Jedi Knight, thereby blocking his path and halting him dead in his tracks. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on! You are not thinking of taking our father's car out for a drive!"

Josh immediately shook his head. "Nope. I'll be taking my own vehicle for a ride."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, even more confused now.

"Just be patient…and you'll see," Varner answered with a tiny smirk.

As the Weasleys followed the two Jedi over to the main garage doors, Ron glanced curiously up at Josh as he noticed him take something from inside his left pants pocket, yet couldn't tell exactly what it was. A moment later, the double garage doors opened wide to unveil a humongous interior, with all sorts of different kinds of tools, gadgets, and equipment (both modern and futuristic), placed on and within various workbenches, tool-racks, shelves, and drawers along all three of the inner walls.

"Ah, Josh, this isn't our garage. At least, it's not the interior of our garage," remarked Ron, looking around at the place now in absolute confusion as to what had just happened.

"Nope, it's my garage actually," remarked Varner as he held up a rather peculiar-shaped skeleton key. "I used this on the garage door's locking mechanism. Don't worry, I'd never break and enter into someone else's property, if that's what you're thinking."

"But… how did you do that?" asked Percy curiously. "Was it by using Magic?"

Josh shrugged at the older boy's line of questioning. "Ahhh, well in a way, yes. I created this key which in turn allows me to gain access to virtually almost any location on the planet that has a door lock in-between me and it that I need to get to, even if I'm not at the exact spot where the area that I need to gain access to is based. And remember, it's the "Force", and not "Magic" as you think of it as being."

Walking over to the far side of the garage where a rather large gray-colored tarp shielded a strange vehicle from view, Varner grabbed hold of the thick groundsheet and quickly yanked it back; off to the left and away from the group, revealing an airspeeder that was a little bigger in size and scale than average.

"Whoa! What is that?" exclaimed Ron in utter amazement as soon as he saw the speeder.

"It's an airspeeder, Ron," Harry answered him before looking at Josh with a peculiar expression on his face. "But… I've never seen this type before, Josh."

"That's because I designed and built this customized speeder myself actually," replied Josh. "All those courses in physics, engineering, and mechanics paid off."

"I thought you mentioned that you had attended Ilvermorny School over in the United States," Ron stated, looking a bit perplexed at the Jedi Knight.

Varner nodded in response to the redhead's comment. "Yes, I did, Ron. But I also took the time to finish-up with my regular education from where I left off outside of Ilvermorny too. Gradually worked my way up through all of the remaining grades, went through high-school-"

"So, does that mean you're in collage now?" asked Harry, as everyone in the group climbed into the slightly extra-wide and long airspeeder.

Josh glanced down at the little boy who in turn sat next to him in the front passenger seat. "Actually, I just finished early a couple of weeks ago. I've been somewhat considering of late about attending a university to further my studies and education in a number of different fields, but I haven't made a final decision on either where or even if I'll attend, yet. Just remember, Harry, that you're never too old to discover something new that you didn't know before."

After the engines on the speeder roared to life, Josh pressed gently down on the accelerator pedal and the vessel steadily hovered out of the garage, before he used the Force to both close and bolt the double doors shut. With that, the airspeeder gradually levitated up into the sky and then sped off towards the location of the hidden passageway which led directly to the Leaky Cauldron inn, where the group once again found Alice Longbottom sitting comfortably and quietly in the rocking chair with little Hermione cradled in her arms up in the lounge area of the inn after they had all gotten out of the airspeeder upon it's descent and landing into the shadows of a nearby alleyway not too far from the hidden entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

Longbottom delightfully glanced over as the group silently made their way into the room while she continued gently rocking the precious little munchkin in her arms, with Hermione in question feeding most ardently from a bottle of warm milk as though she were practically dying of starvation.

"Now, now, not so fast. Hey, not so fast, little one," Alice softly cooed to the baby as she tried coaxing Granger to take smaller sips from her bottle without much success.

Upon watching Alice and Hermione for a bit, Josh promptly turned his head to look over at Percy and inquire whether he and his siblings wanted to go check-in on Arthur and Molly at the hospital, or if they all wanted to remain here for a little while longer with the Longbottoms, with Varner in turn suggesting that he go over to the hospital alone and see if their father was in good shape to come over to the Leaky Cauldron after getting discharged from the hospital, before they all headed back to the Burrow.

The oldest Weasley boy in the group then asked the rest of his siblings if they all wanted to go visit their father in the hospital and see whether or not if he's well enough to come home, or if they instead wanted to remain here with the Longbottoms and little Hermione at the Leaky Cauldron until either both he and/or just Varner returned from checking-in on Arthur and Molly.

Ron, Ginny, and the twins all gladly agreed to go over and check-in on their father's well-being at the hospital, but Harry decided to remain behind with Hermione and the Longbottoms at the inn so that he could stay and chat with Neville.

Josh immediately nodded his approval at the little boy's request, and then he along with the Weasley siblings all went downstairs and exited the inn to head straight back to the airspeeder. As they did so, Varner suddenly stopped dead in his tracks for a brief moment; his senses alert and on guard for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, as he could feel a tiny disturbance in the Force that seemed to be emanating close-by, almost like they were being watched by either something or someone that wasn't supposed to be there.

"What is it?" asked Percy, who walked up to and stood beside the young Jedi Knight almost at once.

"I don't know," Varner replied quietly, yet with an apprehensive tone in his voice. "Just a feeling. It may be nothing."

Once everyone had climbed into the airspeeder after walking back to where Josh had kept it hidden from view, they flew directly to the hospital where both Arthur and Molly were patiently waiting for them to arrive, all the while making sure to mask both their presence as well as the speeder's existence from the public down below in the city streets by way of Josh utilizing the Force along with his superpowers to hide the vehicle's noise and appearance just as he had done before when they had all departed from the Burrow earlier.

After landing in a deserted alleyway near the hospital, everyone made their way to the patient room inside the hospital where Arthur (now conscious) was staying, with Molly comfortably sitting in an armchair by his side.

"Daddy!" Ginny practically shrieked the moment she could clearly tell that her father was alive upon entering the room; immediately sprinting forward and jumping onto the hospital bed, nearly landing on top of him. And as she threw her arms around him, hugging Arthur rather tightly, he could tell that something was very wrong as he could feel her little body shaking against him.

"Careful, Ginny!" exclaimed Molly the instant she saw her daughter practically tackle Arthur, who in turn jolted back in surprise as he clearly wasn't prepared for that. "Your father's still not-"

"Ginny? Hey. What's wrong?" Arthur asked softly as he gently pulled her off of him to look at her, only to immediately pull her back into his arms upon seeing that she was in tears.

Molly gently leaned-in closer towards her daughter to see what all the fuss was about, before promptly and quite firmly wrapping her own arms comfortingly around Ginny upon noticing that her little girl was crying rather hysterically.

"Sweetheart, whatever is the matter?" asked Molly only but a few minutes later as she was deeply worried over the current state of her daughter.

Ginny, along with Ron, both started to explain about the events that went on the night before at the Burrow: how they both weren't able to sleep due to the two siblings constantly thinking and worrying over Arthur's condition at the hospital, with Ginny ultimately crying herself to sleep, thus causing Ron to partially follow suit, as well as Ginny telling both of her parents that she subsequently woke-up screaming and crying with absolute fright only just a few hours later because she had experienced a truly awful nightmare in which she dreamt that Arthur had passed away from his injuries.

"Th- The- The worst part is… that it all seemed so very real!" cried Ginny frantically, before she promptly threw herself into Molly's arms and buried her face deep into the woman's chest as she once more started to sob uncontrollably, which in turn got Ron going in almost the exact same matter as well (though not as emotionally distraught as his little sister was), and Mrs. Weasley instantly embraced her two youngest children quite firmly as she simply held them most comfortingly in her arms.

After a while, Molly gradually calmed them both right down while Josh speculated that Arthur was still not completely in shipshape to leave the hospital just yet, with Mr. Weasley confirming to him of this to be so. Varner then promptly stepped over to Arthur's side and gently placed his hand on the redhead's shoulder for a moment. And upon doing so, Molly's husband immediately began to feel an increase in his energy reserves, as well as whatever soreness in his back, shoulder, and arm slowly dissipate.

"There. You should being feeling back to yourself again by tomorrow morning," remarked the young Jedi after taking a few small paces back in order to allow Arthur to examine his shoulder and arm in perplexed wonderment, not fully grasping what had occurred just now.

"What did you do?" asked Molly in curious bewilderment.

"Gave him a little energy boost so that his cells will heal-up at a slightly faster rate than normal," Varner remarked.

Arthur suddenly felt his strength returning to him, as he was able to sit fully upright in his bed from the way in which his body was positioned only but a moment ago.

"Thank you," he expressed with utmost sincere gratitude.

Josh merely smiled in reply. "Don't mention it."

Upon glancing down at an expensive watch on his left wrist that was concealed underneath the sleeve of his overcoat and jacket, Varner then immediately asked all the Weasley siblings if they wanted to ether stay there with Arthur and Molly at the hospital, or if they all wanted to return to the Burrow, since Josh had plans to go and take Harry out shopping to buy some fresh new clothes to wear before he left for the train tomorrow which would take him to the Hogwarts School.

Ginny wanted to stay with her mother and father at the hospital, but Percy needed to get back to the Burrow in order to prepare for the upcoming new term of the year at Hogwarts, as well as the fact that he was looking forward to being made a Prefect at the school also; a position of which he had seriously been striving to acquire.

Fred and George also needed to get back to the Burrow since they both still had some last minute homework that needed to be finished-up with before they headed back to school for their as of now third year at Hogwarts, with Josh offering his assistance in helping them both to study for their remaining assignments, given his own years of attending Ilvermorny School over in the United States, to which both of the Weasley twins happily agreed. And although Ron begged and pleaded with his mother to let him stay as well, he finally relented when Molly prodded him to go with Josh and the others to retrieve both Harry and the Longbottoms from the Leaky Cauldron before heading back to the Burrow, as he had a really big day ahead of him tomorrow and needed to get packed-up and ready to leave for the train station in the morning.

After saying their good-byes, Varner and the Weasley boys all walked back to the airspeeder and hopped inside it; immediately heading straight back to the Leaky Cauldron inn to pick-up Harry, Hermione, and the Longbottoms. There, they found Harry, Neville, and Frank all sitting around a table chatting with Hagrid and a few other patrons on the barroom floor. And upon entering the inn, Josh surmised right away that Alice was still upstairs with little Hermione just as she had been when the group had left for the hospital earlier.

Varner immediately walked over to the lot sitting around the table together and informed Harry that Arthur was going to remain at the hospital for one more night before he was fully well enough to return home with his family.

Frank then got up from his chair and went upstairs to inform his wife that Josh and the Weasleys were back and that it was time to go. As he entered the lounge area, he saw Alice getting up out of the rocking chair and begin to steadily pace back and forth in front of the now dead fireplace while gently rocking little Hermione in her arms.

"Oh! Hey, luv!" she exclaimed the moment she turned to see Frank entering the room. "I just finished burping Hermione. And let me tell you, the little munchkin sure had quite a lot of air in her tummy." She looked direct at Hermione and started to lightly tickle her, thus making the little girl giggle and laugh most adorably.

"Didn't you? Yes, you did! Yes, you did! Coochie-coo! Coochie-coo!" Alice playfully cooed to the baby while tickling her, before turning to look up at her husband again, who in turn was happily smiling and chuckling inwardly to himself as he amusingly watched his wife play with little Hermione for the brief moment of time.

"Top! Top!" squealed Hermione with tremendous laughter as she was being tickled. "Do ickle!"

Frank told his wife that Varner and the others had returned from seeing Mr. Weasley at the hospital, but that he was still not well enough to leave and go home with his family just yet. Alice then asked if it was time to leave, to which her endearing husband said yes, and that they should get whatever they had brought with them packed-up immediately.

"Alright, dear. Let me just get Hermione changed and then we'll go," said Alice as she walked over and kissed Frank on the lips, before turning and walking back into the stateroom where their family had all stayed the previous night. She promptly laid Hermione down on a changing pad, which she had retrieved from inside the diaper bag that Molly had handed over to her when she had offered to watch Granger for awhile back at the wand shop in Diagon Alley the day before, and proceeded to remove Hermione's clothes, as well as her wet and soiled nappy.

"Pee-yew! Somebody sure is a stinky little baby, aren't they?" she expressed playfully in a childish tone of voice that made Hermione giggle rather cutely, while the little one in turn clapped her hands together in amusement.

Alice quickly, as well as thoroughly cleaned and then powdered Hermione's naked little butt, before putting a fresh nappy on her. And upon affixing the tabs, Alice then dressed the little rascal in a tiny white long-sleeve fleece sleep-and-play footed onesie, with a hood that also had little bunny-rabbit ears and a small round fluffy tail made of cotton on the bottoms of the garment, once she had quickly washed her hands and disposed of the dirty nappy into a rubbish bin which was located in a nearby washroom, that is.

Frank and Neville then proceeded to gather up everything that they had brought with them out of the stateroom, while Alice in turn gathered up her belongings (including the diaper bag), before the entire Longbottom family went downstairs to where Josh, Harry, and the Weasley boys were all waiting for them. And once Frank returned the door sign to the bartender, everyone in their small group exited the Leaky Cauldron and immediately headed for the location of where Josh had parked the airspeeder, which in turn was quite well-hidden from the public's eye.

Upon the lot of them steadily making their way back to the Burrow, Josh made a brief stopover at the Longbottom's residence to see Frank, Alice, Neville, as well as little Hermione off (since the tiny squirt had practically whined her little head off; wanting ever so vehemently to stay with them for the time-being) before returning to the Weasley's remote domicile. And a little over half an hour or so later, both Harry and Josh flew directly over to London so that Potter could finally get himself some casually descent everyday clothes to wear, that of which he definitely needed.

While at the clothing shop, Harry was measured-up for just the right size of clothing that he needed at present. He then slowly walked through the "Boys" department of the store and picked out a few sets of various clothing styles (that being both short and long-sleeve shirts, long pants and jeans, shorts, socks, and underwear; many of them in differing colors, patterns, and designs) that he found interesting, while at the same time, earning himself a few odd glances and stares from other customers in the shop regarding his Jedi tunic, robes, and boots, with Varner stating that it was merely a costume to anyone (mostly children) who inquired to Harry about the current set of clothes he had on.

Harry also picked out a nice warm long-sleeve fleece jacket to wear, since it was now in the colder part of the year, and it was soon to get much, MUCH colder as winter approached. And once Varner purchased everything for the little boy, they quickly stopped over at a shoe store to get Harry a new pair of shoes, as well.

After all was said and done, the duo flew straight back to the Burrow just in time for supper. And as soon as they had finished eating, Harry helped Josh with cleaning, pressing, and folding his new clothes; placing all of his long-sleeve shirts, long pants, as well as several pairs of both his socks and underwear into his trunk for school the following day, while also putting away the rest of his new clothes into a kid's dresser that was positioned inside one of the guestrooms that he was currently staying in. Potter then immediately went to take a nice warm bath, before slipping into his newly cleaned pajamas (of which Varner had also purchased for him while they were out shopping), and going right to bed that evening.

The following morning saw both Harry and the Weasley siblings all up bright and early. Josh had apparently left about an hour or so beforehand to go over to the hospital and see if Arthur and Molly were up and ready to go back home to the Burrow, hopefully in time to take Ron, Harry, and the twins over to the train station in order to see them all off to Hogwarts from a railway platform that was referred to as Platform 9¾. Percy had left sometime prior to everyone waking up in order to take the earliest train (a steam locomotive known in the Wizarding World as the Hogwarts Express) from Platform 9¾ straight over to the school so that he could prep for his new duties as Prefect.

Bill Weasley had come over to the Burrow a couple hours earlier to check on both his family as well as Harry in regards to a message that was delivered to him by owl. And while they were all sitting around the dinning-room table having breakfast, they suddenly heard a rather loud knock at the front door of the house, which Ron and Harry both immediately got up from their seats at the table and went over to see just who it was.

"Hagrid!" exclaimed Harry the minute that Ron opened the door.

"Hello, Harry! Ron!" the half-giant cheerfully replied upon seeing the two little boys greet him at the door. "Got someone here with me whom I think you've been very anxious to see return home to the Burrow. Am I right?"

Ronald's eyes immediately went wide with major excitement, as he knew right away of whom Hagrid was talking about. "Dad!"

Hagrid smiled down at the redhead as he promptly stepped aside to reveal not only Josh, but also Molly, Arthur, and Ginny all standing only but a few yards away from the front door, all of them smiling at the two youths who stood just inside the doorway of the Burrow, as both of the little boys stared in complete surprise at what they were in fact seeing right before their very eyes.

"DAD! DAD, YOU'RE OKAY!" Ron literally exploded with overwhelming joy as he bolted forward to embrace his father the instant he saw him, who in turn was not quite (but almost) ready for his youngest son to virtually tackle him where he stood.

"Oof! Easy there, sport!" Arthur remarked in surprise, upon him getting slightly knocked off-balance from the sheer impact of the blow. "You're not as little as you used to be."

As the twins walked up to Arthur and firmly embraced him, Molly promptly addressed all of the siblings almost at once. "Come on, kids. It's high-time we left for the station already. And we'll be late if we don't hurry."

Ron then went to get his things packed-up in the back of Arthur's car while Fred and George got all of their things ready, including the finished potions and other homework assignment stuff, which was needed for their new term at Hogwarts that Varner had helped them to complete just the night before.

Harry on the other hand gathered up his trunk and school supplies; putting them all (along with Hedwig's cage) in the rear passenger seat of Josh's airspeeder, of which the young Jedi used to bring Molly, Arthur, and Ginny all back to the Burrow.

Once everyone was ready, both Josh and Harry followed the Weasleys to the train station in their respective vehicles: the two Jedi in the airspeeder, and the Weasleys in their car (which was an old beat-up 1962 Ford Anglia that Arthur had enchanted sometime ago in order to give it the ability to fly, as well as become invisible to the Muggle society) before landing near the station only fifteen minutes prior to when the Hogwarts Express was scheduled to depart for the school.

While at the train station, Harry saw Neville walking towards the entrance to Platform 9¾ while accompanied by an elderly woman instead of his parents as the little boy steadily pushed a trolley along that was piled-up with his trunk and all his various other school supplies on it.

"Neville!" exclaimed Harry as he walked over to where Longbottom and the elderly woman now stood, while gradually pushing his own trolley which was also piled full of his school supplies along.

"Hi, Harry!" Neville responded cheerfully the minute he noticed Potter walking over to him.

Harry looked up at the old woman a tad confused. "Neville, I thought your mum and dad were bringing you here. Where are they?" he asked.

"Dad had to go to work," Neville immediately answered him. "And Mum decided to stay home to look after Hermione since Grandma apparently didn't want to."

His grandmother immediately gave him a minutely sour look before turning to face Harry and introducing herself as Augusta Longbottom, who in fact was Frank's mother, as well as being a pure-blood witch herself.

Josh then stepped up behind Harry and lightly tapped him on the shoulder, to which Potter immediately turned around to look up at his mentor, sensing that Varner had something he wanted to say to the little boy before he went through the barrier and subsequently got aboard the train, which was due in the next eight and a half minutes.

"Harry, can I talk to you for a second?" asked Josh quietly.

The little boy nodded and immediately stepped off to the side to speak privately with the young Jedi Knight. "What is it, Josh?" he asked curiously.

Josh promptly exhaled softly through his nose as he glanced downwards at his feet for a moment, before looking directly at Harry again.

"I wanted to thank you for… what you did back there - the night that Arthur was shot," Varner remarked softly.

Harry looked up at Josh with a rather confused expression on his face. "What do mean, Josh? I don't think I quite understand? What exactly did I do, I mean aside from-"

Varner immediately nodded at him, and Potter suddenly realized what it was that he was trying to say. "Yes, Harry," he promptly answered. "When you called out to me through the Force, and, well…"

Potter, to his absolute horror, immediately shook his head in utter shock and disbelief. "Josh, what have you done?" the little boy asked as he forcefully grabbed both of the Jedi's arms. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

"Harry! Harry!" shouted Ron from a short distance away, thus prompting Harry to immediately glance over at the redhead. "Are you coming? The train's about ready to leave."

Potter nodded to him in reply before taking one last brief glance up at Josh and then subsequently turned to walk back to where he had left the trolley with all of his things on it; pushing it over to where the Weasleys were immediately standing.

"Are you alright, dear?" asked Molly, with Harry promptly nodding his head at once in response to her question, though Ron could tell that something was in fact very wrong.

Immediately after Harry had passed through the barrier that lead directly onto Platform 9¾ upon following just behind Fred and George (which Molly had instructed him on both what to do and how to do it), he climbed aboard the train, followed immediately by Ron, not three minutes before the Hogwarts Express was set to leave the station.

While on their way to the castle aboard the train, both Ron and Neville could tell that Harry was particularly quiet for awhile. Just then, two little girls (both identical twins) casually walked up to the compartment which all three boys were currently seated in.

"Uh, hello? Excuse us, but…is it alright if we come in?" one of them asked politely. "All the other compartments are packed."

"Sure, come in," Ron immediately answered.

The two children then promptly stepped into the compartment and took a seat directly across from the three boys.

"I'm Parvati Patil, and this is my sister, Padma," said one of them.

"Hello. I'm Neville," replied Longbottom. "That's Ron, and this is Harry." He pointed directly to each of the two boys next to him in turn. Parvati and her sister, Padma, both immediately nodded "hello" to all three of them.

A little while later, all five children were engaged in conversation, with Harry being the least talkative of all of them. And when Ron asked his friend what was wrong, Harry merely stated that he couldn't believe that Josh would have done something so profoundly horrible.

"To who?" Neville asked in confusion.

"Granger," answered Harry bluntly.

Longbottom instantly stared directly at him wide-eyed in total shock. "You mean he did something to-"

"No. Not to her, Neville," Harry interrupted him with a reassuring tone. "To her adoptive father."

Upon hearing that, Longbottom instantly exhaled a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," he expressed rather gratefully. "For a minute there, I thought you were talking about Hermione."

Parvati and Padma both looked at each other in total confusion, before turning to glance at all three of the boys again.

"Um, sorry, who are you talking about now?" asked Padma in bewilderment.

Harry then started to explain of the events surrounding what had occurred in London a few nights ago to the twin girls, including the part about Arthur Weasley getting shot by a Muggle weapon and that it was in fact Hermione's adoptive father who was responsible, thus resulting in Mr. Weasley needing to be hospitalized for awhile. But also of how Josh, while in a fit of rage, brutally attacked Granger in retaliation for what he had done to both Arthur and little Hermione too. Although, he didn't know of what exactly that man had done to her, yet Potter guessed that it must have been something truly awful. Especially for Varner to have done whatever it was that he did to Mr. Granger.

"That's just… horrible!" exclaimed Parvati in disbelief once Harry had finished. "Who would intentionally want to hurt their own child, whether she was adopted or not?"

"I don't know," Harry replied softly while shaking his head.

"How old is she, anyway? Hermione, I mean," Padma inquired curiously.

Ron told the Patil sisters that even though little Hermione was in actuality a mere ten years of age, realistically she only had the mental capacity of a baby as well as possessing the literal physique of a very small toddler. And before either Parvati or Padma could ask the redhead how such a thing like that could possibly be, a male voice over some loudspeakers promptly announced that they would be arriving at their destination within the next few hours.

The two sisters immediately looked at each other momentarily, before turning to glance at all three of the boys sitting across from them one last time; advising Harry, Ron, and Neville that they should probably change into their school uniforms as soon as possible since they were going to be reaching the school grounds within a matter of hours, with the Patil twins then promptly getting to their feet and casually walking out of the compartment to go and put on their own school robes as well.