"Well Miss Granger, other then that tender spot on your head, I think you'll be alright now."

Madame Pomfrey was a kindly but stern woman whom Harry took an immediate liking to. She must've been informed by Dumbledore that they were coming, as she hadn't looked twice before ushering Hermione straight to a bed for examination. His beautiful best friend was fine — as Harry knew she would be — but it brought him some piece of mind knowing she had a clean bill of health by a professional.

"Just lay down and rest for a while to make sure there's no concussion or after effects of the jinx. I'll be back in a little while." She said, marking something on a clipboard with a flick of her wand before leaving them alone again.

"At least she doesn't hover like Tonks does," Hermione huffed, leaning back into the pillows. Harry merely chuckled at the memory of the magenta haired Auror being chased out like a stray dog in a butcher shop. This meant they at least had some privacy, other then the other students in the ward.

"Oi,"

Apparently one of said students was trying to get Harry's attention from across the room, "Oi! Mate!"

Glancing at Hermione who shrugged, Harry patted her hand before moving to the bed just opposite theirs. The boy looked to be a year or so their senior, and was in a black and yellow bedshirt and trousers. He looked terrible, with burns all over his face and neck, and his arms held tight to his body by slings. Harry almost wanted to say, what the hell happened to you? But didn't, as that was rude and Hermione was still close by.

"Thank Merlin, I'm dying here. Could you be a mate and just poke that straw over here? I can't...reach."

Nodding to water on the bedside table, Harry did the boy one better and picked up the cup, holding it close so he didn't have to reach awkwardly with his lips. He seemed deeply relieved at finally getting a drink, sighing as he settled again, "thank you."

"Welcome." Harry answered, making sure the straw and cup were closer and in a less awkward spot on the bedside tray.

"Tell me, how does it look?" Stretching his neck out to show off the burns, Harry winced and the stranger nodded, "mhm, thought as much. Madame Pomfrey says it'll heal eventually, but it'll be ugly for a while,"

"What...er, happened exactly?"

The boys brows popped up before he squinted at Harry again and seemed to realize he wasn't a student.

"Oh! Sorry, mate. I swear I thought you were someone else." He admitted, "you are new to Hogwarts? You don't look like a first year."

"We're visiting, my...friend, and I," Harry explained, not willing to give anything away about their status as prisoners inside the castle. He didn't think anyone would appreciate that.

"Here for the tournament, then?" The older boy queried jovially, impressive given his current condition. Harry shook his head in a negative motion.

"Uh, no. Just visiting in general. There's a tournament going on?"

"Yeah, the Triwizard Tournament. It's all over the Daily Prophet, but I guess the paper is kinda old school for the younger crowd," he made a shrug like motion, even though he couldn't move his shoulders more then a tic, "I'm Cedric, by the way. Cedric Diggory. Hogwarts Champion."

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you Cedric. I'm Harry, and that's Hermione over there, the one who's not resting!"

Harry scowled at the girl who was sitting up in bed, rubbing the back of her neck. She made a face at him but returned to her laying position as Harry turned his attentions back to Cedric, "knock back jinx," he explained, "hit a bookshelf. Knocked some cobwebs loose, but she's fine now."

"Ah. Was it that git Malfoy? Kinda wish he was of age so that little blighter could go and get nearly barbecued by a dragon."

"A dragon?" Harry queried, eyes widening, "you mean your burns are from an actual...?"

"Dragon? Yeah. Crazy right? Hungarian Horntail. Nasty beast; lucky I didn't lose my arms instead of just breaking them."

"Bloody hell," Harry breathed, "and you lived?"

"Barely," Cedric laughed, wagging his wrapped elbows pathetically, "only good thing about all this is that Cho Chang from Ravenclaw apparently digs men with scars. Or so I've heard."

Sharing a wink with his younger counterpart, Harry had to chuckle at that as he glanced at Hermione. She was still laying down, but her foot was bouncing. Does Hermione like guys with scars? His scar was rather pathetic looking compared to Cedric's burns, not like he'd ever be willing to trade.

"I guess I can't ask her to get more rest, she never listens to me," he groaned, "I better get back. Good luck in the tournament, Cedric. I hope you win."

"Hope I live, you mean," he countered, "I'll see you at the Yule Ball though, right?"

"Ball?" Harry asked in wonder. Cedric bobbed his head affirmatively.

"Yeah. If you're around for Christmas, you can take your bird. She might enjoy a bit of dancing and romance and all that."

Blushing slightly at the idea of him and Hermione together, as in together-together, Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe. See you around, Cedric."

Waving a hand, Harry headed back to Hermione's bed as she sat up, clearly bored out of her little brilliant mind.

"Who were you talking to just now?" She asked, leaning against Harry's side.

"Uh, Cedric Diggory? He seemed nice. Apparently there's some kind of tournament going on right now."

"Oh." Hermione didn't need much more explanation then that as she perked up at the sight of Madame Pomfrey. The pair were dismissed, seeing as Hermione looked ready to run out the door with or without permission, and the two left the Hospital Wing. Tonks was waiting for them, bundles of black, blue, silver and bronze in each arm.

"Wotcher, Harry, Hermione," she greeted, "McGonagall came and gave these to me. They're to help you blend in."

"Uh, thanks."

Taking a bundle each, they were Ravenclaw robes. Harry mindlessly ran a thumb over the embossed eagle crest sewn to the breast pocket. He glanced at Hermione who glanced back wearily. They were deep in it now.

"Hey, could you both not do that?"

Looking up at Tonks, her pink brows were furrowed as Harry blinked owlishly at her. They weren't doing anything just now, "don't look at me like that! I'm not a mind reader. Stop doing that...talking without words thing, it's creepy."

Noticing a distinct eye roll from Hermione, both teens threw on the cloaks over their street clothes, tucking the tie and other pieces into the pockets for later.

"McGonagall said dinner was starting in the Great Hall soon, and that it would be a good time to introduce yourselves to your house."

"I guess I could eat." Harry shrugged, "Hermione?"

"Fine with me. Will you be accompanying us everywhere we go, Auror Tonks?"

"Nah, I gotta report back to Kingsley. Just wanted to make sure you were both alright before I left."

Nodding at her as the woman vanished into the long corridors, her pink hair bobbing the whole way, Harry huffed and snorted angrily.

"Been here less then an hour and I already hate it."

"We just need to keep out wits about us," Hermione insisted, following the sounds of school chatter towards the 'Great Hall', "I want to go to the library after we eat and read up on Hogwarts. It's been a while since I read Hogwarts: A History."

"We should probably find time to get Rowena out of your bag and have a talk with her," Harry suggested, "she's probably suffocating in there."

"She's not!" Hermione cried indignantly, Harry wincing and playfully backing away as he received a smack to the shoulder, "but you're probably right. Maybe she knows more about the castle?"

Before leaving the Manor, both Harry and Hermione hadn't been willing to leave their dear mentor behind. It had taken a bit of tinkering on Hermione's part to accomplish, seeing as Rowena's portrait was incredibly large. But with a mix of transfiguration, and good luck, they had managed to get the Hogwarts founder into a smaller, more portable frame. They hadn't spoken with the woman since leaving, but it had been a bit of a whirlwind for them both so far.

"Probably. But first, I'm absolutely starving," glancing up at the large open doors, the hall was decorated in the house colors and filled wall to wall with people. Since leaving Privet Drive, their interactions with others had been minimal. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid interaction just in case. It made Harry's stomach do a nervous little flip flop when he realized he hadn't spoken to anyone his own age other then Hermione in over a year, "maybe we shouldn't."

"Oh, come on, Harry."

Hermione grabbed his hand in her own, pulling him forward. With all the exercise they'd been doing back at the manor, she had become significantly stronger, and could easily drag him to and fo with little effort. She's not 'blow over in a breath of wind Granger' anymore, Harry mused to himself. With their Ravenclaw robes on, no one seemed to bat an eye as they entered. Glancing around, and then glancing up, Harry's jaw unhooked slightly.

"Wow,"

"It's not real," Hermione said beside him, smiling broadly as she bounced from foot to foot, "it's just enchanted to look like the sky. Fantastic isn't it?"

"I love magic."

Pulling Harry along towards the left side of the hall, the long table decorated in blue seemed to be their destination. Hermione scoffed slightly in her throat and shook her head.

"Ugh, I hate navy," she mumbled, receiving a hearty chuckle from Harry as he hugged her from the side. He could recall the straight navy uniform with shiny gold buttons from their childhood, but it felt like ages ago. They had left most of their belongings with the Lovegoods when they fled to stay with Remus, including Mr. Weasley's bicycle, their travel cloaks, books and bags of galleons from Gringotts. With their luck as it was, he was thankful those things hadn't been desperately needed yet.

"Harry...I-is that...is that Luna?"

Jerking up from his thoughts, Hermione pointed at the platinum blonde girl sitting by herself at the end of the Ravenclaw table. She looked slightly miserable, though one wouldn't know it unless you knew her well enough.

"L-Luna?!"

Calling her name, Harry was surprised she heard it over the cacophony of noise. Grey eyes swiveled to meet them, widening as she was up and running at them full speed, blonde hair waving. The rest of the Ravenclaw table turned and stared, as did many from other tables as Harry happy caught her in his arms.

"Harry!" She breathed, releasing him to embrace Hermione next, "Hermione. You disappeared, and I never got a return letter from you and I was so very worried. I thought perhaps the Nargles had kept you from writing but I wasn't sure and oh, I'm so glad you're both ok."

"We're fine," Hermione assured, pulling the younger girl close again, "it was to dangerous to send something back. We didn't know if the...you know, watch was still about your house."

"They left a few weeks after you did. Daddy is fine, but he was worried like me. Why are you at Hogwarts? I thought you were..."

"We were," Harry sighed, cutting the girl off as he took her hand and gave it a squeeze, "we got caught. Stupid really; should've known better."

"Agreed. Quite foolish on our part," Hermione sighed, "come, let's sit and catch up. You must tell me all about what you've been up to."

And so they did. Lunch was provided by the table as the reunited trio happily chatted about this and that. Harry regaled Luna on their year long retreat at the hidden Ravenclaw Manor, to which the girl was enamored and quite jealous. Hermione told of the locked Floo, how their wands had been taken away, and that the wards had been keyed to keep them from leaving.

"Oh, that Dumbledore can be quite clever," Luna sighed, "daddy thought it was time for me to start my formal education, since the Ministry won't accept OWL's not taken at Hogwarts. It's been rather lonely so far, and the Whackspurt's keep infesting my classmates minds; they keep hiding my shoes."

"That's terrible," Hermione recoiled, glaring down the table with such ferocity that many of the other students quickly turned away, lest they be scorched by her ire, "I can teach you a transfiguration charm to turn rocks into shoes. It works quite well, once you get it. Not terribly comfortable I'm afraid, as they tend to be a tad hard."

"That would be lovely," Luna agreed, perking up as someone new appeared in her line of sight, "oh, hello Neville."

Turning, Harry was met face to face with a slightly pudgy blonde boy in red Gryffindor cloaks. He looked friendly enough, and smiled at them all with an awkward little wave.

"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt,"

"Not at all," Luna insisted, "please sit. These are my friends Harry and Hermione. This is Neville Longbottom, he's in Gryffindor."

Greeting the boy, he nodded at them and sat down beside Luna. Harry didn't fail to see how close and comfortable he was, and Hermione didn't either as she was hiding a smile behind her teacup.

"So what brings you lot to Hogwarts?" He asked, "are you with one of the foreign schools?"

"No, we've been private tutored till now," Hermione answered swiftly, "some...ah, unexpected circumstances landed us here. We won't be staying long."

"Oh? Kinda weird to transfer and leave," Neville admitted, his jaw clicking shut as Luna touched his hand.

"Harry and Hermione are very advanced, you see? They wish to travel and see the Ocean."

"That sounds nice. I went to the ocean with my Gran once. All she did was complain about sand getting in her feather hat." Neville admitted with a little shrug, causing the group to chuckle at the mental image. They all turned to the doors though as there was a loud, echoing bark coming up the foyer. Snuffles burst into the hall, skidding and slipping on the marble tiles. He was chasing after a familiar looking rat, with a ball of orange bolting behind. There was a ripple of displeasure through the hall, and the teachers present were already rising to their feet to handle the disruption.

"Uh oh," Harry mumbled, rising from his own bench and giving a sharp whistle with his fingers. Rat forgotten as it was scooped up by a pair of hands, the black animal lifted his head, tongue hanging out as usual, "Snuffles! Come!"

Pointing to the place beside him, the dog begrudgingly looked at the rat in the Weasley twins hands before sulking back to Harry's side. Crooks happily jumped to Hermione, who held him protectively in her arms. The attention was on them now as Harry nodded to the doors.

"I think we best be going," he mumbled, Hermione nodding in agreement as she stood up rapidly.

"May we accompany you?" Luna asked, nudging Neville who was still eating unbothered, "Neville is a good friend. My...well, only friend. He's very trustworthy."

Glancing at one another, Harry shrugged as Hermione agreed as the trio, with Neville in tow, escaped before anyone realized the famous Harry Potter had just run out with Loony Lovegood.