Hello, this is the newest chappie! For those who reviewed: Thanks. For those that didn't: Thanks for reading and please review. Speciba. (Russian for thank you)
PreetoakaRavenPotterWeasley- Sure. I'll make a shippy like that. Yes. Most excellent. AND THANKS FOR THE FIRST REVIEW!!!!!!!! And Hermione's mom's name's Amelia.> > > > > > > > >
Chapter 2: Who's This Slimy Freak?
Harry sighed. Today was the last day of summer vacation. Uncle Vernon had reluctantly agreed to drive Harry to the station, but only because Tonks had threatened him with some bad thoughts, such as putting Dudley's tail back where it belonged.
Dragging his trunk to the car wasn't as hard as it used to be. Having to do hard work in the garden and housework did Harry good. His muscles became more defined, and he had taken to running in the morning. However, the summer did nothing to Dudley, who had grown larger despite the diet placed upon him.
Going to the station was deathly quite. Harry was silent, thinking about last year. Vernon was silent, just for the sake of being silent. Throwing his trunk onto a trolley, Harry wheeled it to the barrier as the older man drove off without saying goodbye.
Running through the barrier, he didn't trust himself to walk, Harry saw the train puffing out smoke and heard all the voices talking excitedly about the new year. Harry saw Ron, and the redhead came jogging over. Ron had grown another couple inches and lost most of the fat about him.
"Hiya Harry. Come on, my stuff's already put away. We've got our own compartment. Ginny and Neville'll be with us though." Ron greeted.
"Fine with me. Don't you have to go to the front of the train with Lavender though?" Harry asked as he lugged the trunk to the door. Ron grabbed one end and they made their way down the aisle.
"Yeah. But then I'm free after the instructions." Ron said with a grin. Opening a carriage door with one hand, Ron backed into the room and hefted the trunk up to the rack.
"Whew. What have you got in there?" Ron said flopping down onto the seat.
"Well, all my books for Auror training, the set I got for Christmas from Lupin, the normal junk...." Harry listed. Ron made a face.
"That's enough. Don't need a biography."
Ginny walked in with Neville following with a tight hold on Trevor. "Hello Harry." was the combined greeting. Harry waved and sighed. This year was going to be excruciating painful.
Lavender's head appeared in the doorway. "Ron, we've got to go up front now. Get your robes on." Ron nodded, red faced. Lavender walked on to the front of the train. Harry heard the warning whistle and the footsteps clamor onto the train. Ron hurriedly threw on his robes and dashed out the door.
Ginny left to see Luna, and Neville followed the girl. Harry was left alone in the area until he perceived a sound that he really didn't like.
"Well, if it isn't Potter." A voice sneered. Harry groaned. Malfoy, he couldn't stand the freak. Harry gritted his teeth and turned to the voice. The pale blond boy stood there, unflanked by his cronies. Harry noted his with a raised eyebrow. Ron had heard that the two knuckleheads had failed their O.W.L.S and were kicked out of school
Apparently, this was true. "So, Twiddledee and Twiddledum aren't around any longer." Harry said.
"So? I can still take you down, you slimy fre---"Draco began.
"Um, is this apartment free?" an American accented voice asked quietly. Draco whirled around to see a brown haired girl ask with a suspicious glare at him.
Harry poked his head out of the area. "Nope. You a new student or what?" The girl nodded. Draco scoffed again.
"Another idiot to take over." The girl's eyes hardened into rocks and she drew her wand. "And you can't attack me, it's against the ru----,"
"Stupefy!" she cried. The blond Slytherin crumpled to a heap in the floor. She calmly put her wand back into her pocket. Now that Harry could see her, his jaw dropped.
She was a beautiful girl, with long brown hair. Baggy jeans and a green shirt hid her slender body. "Sorry about that." Harry got out.
"It's okay. At my old school, there were no boys. It was kind of strange to see one. HIS nasty kind is not welcome in American circles." She said with a glare at the unconscious body.
"His kind?"
"Freaks, people that put other people down. So-called 'Purebloods'." She informed. " Oh, and by the way. I'm Hermione Granger."
"I'm Harry Pot----,"
"Blimey, what happened to the nerd?" Ron came crashing in, destroying Harry's last word. Hermione looked at the newcomer with confusion. Harry told the story of Hermione's takedown. Ron goggled at the girl.
"Wow. You took down the slimy git." Ron said, impressed.
Hermione nudged the body with her toe. "So, who's this slimy git?" Harry suppressed a giggle.
"That's Draco Malfoy. His dad's a Deatheater, and he himself is well on the path to becoming one." Harry informed. Hermione's narrowed at the sound of Deatheater, and her lips thinned. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of Professor McGonagall.
"So. Why are you coming to Hogwarts?" Ron asked after he and Harry placed her trunk upon the rack. Hermione sat down.
"Well, I'm going into Auror training, and my old school didn't offer the right courses. So my old headmaster talked with Dumbledore and he accepted me to come. He said that we would need many more Aurors nowadays."
Harry and Ron looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Hermione was going to be in the same classes as they were.
"Me 'n Harry are taking Auror classes now too." Ron said proudly. Hermione looked slightly surprised. Harry guessed that she didn't believe Ron looked like Defense material.
"You must have gotten a good amount of O.W.L.S then. I got mostly Os, except in History of Magic and Divination." Hermione made a face. "Those don't even count, so I dropped them."
Harry looked at her in a new light. She was a pretty bright girl if she got that many O.W.L.S. Of course, she probably didn't have Snape as a Potions teacher at her old school. "I got an O in everything except History and Divination. I always knew I'd fail those last too." Harry said ruefully.
"Yeah. Trelawny was a huge glittering bug fraud. Thank god we're gonna be saved from choking to death on her evil fumes." Ron said with a seriously straight face. Both the teens burst out laughing at his expression.
"So, mate, who'd ya think will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Hope they bring back Lupin. He was the best we had." Ron said thoughtfully. Harry shrugged.
"No clue. Snape would go bonkers if he began teaching again." Harry pointed out. Ron groaned, and slumped into the seat. Hermione pursed her lips.
"Is this Snape guy really horrible?"
"Hell yeah. He's the Devil Incarnate." Ron informed her bleakly. Hermione winced.
As they talked throughout most of the ride, they didn't notice the sky growing dark, and many other students running up and down the hall quickly changing into their Hogwarts uniforms.
When Ron came back from one of his patrols, he informed the two that they would reach the station in a half-hour. Harry and Hermione pulled on black-robed outfit of the school. Hermione had told Harry she had been Sorted into Gryffindor during the summer, when Dumbledore came to America to talk to her old headmaster and her.
Walking Hermione to the carriages had fallen into Harry's hands, as Ron had run off to sort out a fight escalating between Ravenclaw and Slytherin girls. The main fighters were Pansy Parkinson and a 5th year Harry didn't know.
As Hermione spied the horseless (to her) coach, she perspired a little. Harry told her it was a herd of threstles that pulled it, and she calmed a bit. In the entryway, Peeves was already making a racket with a golf club and was hitting the hats off of the students as if he was teeing off.
Hand positioned firmly on his hat brim, Harry showed Hermione to the Gryffindor table. He saw Seamus and Dean wave cheerfully and made for them.
"Hello Harry!" Dean said clapping his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry grinned at the two.
"Hey Dean, Seamus. This is Hermione. She came from America." Harry said, introducing the brunette girl. Dean smiled and shook her hand and Seamus did the same. After a friendly banter of words, Hermione and Seamus were hushed by the crash of the Great Hall doors swinging open. A line of trembling with nerves and excitement came down the middle row.
Professor McGonagall was at the head, carrying the Sorting Hat. Harry himself was taken back to the time when he was the little first years, eyeing everything that Hogwarts had to offer.
Setting the Sorting Hat down, it began its song. Once it finished, she pulled out a roll of parchment. Beginning with 'Aarons, Julie' who became a Gryffindor and ending with ' Ziti, Kyle' who became a Hufflepuff. Gryffindor had six new kids, evenly split. Hufflepuff had 3 girls and four boys. Ravenclaw had four of each, and Slytherin had the record low of 2 girls and 3 boys.
(A/N Believe me that you would cringe at the lyrics I would have made. So, I skipped it altogether. Sorry, but they really sucked.)
After a round of applause for the new students, Dumbledore stood and waved his hand for quiet.
"Welcome to another year to Hogwarts!" proclaimed Dumbledore in a deep musical voice. Out of the corner of his green eyes, Harry saw Hermione shiver with anticipation. "There is a time and place for every word said, but there are none for now. Dig in, my fellow witches and wizards!"
A hearty cheer went up in the Hall and the tables blossomed with food. Hermione heard some of the first years squeal with delight. Ron grabbed as much food as he could reach and piled it upon his plate. Harry did likewise, albeit a bit slower.
Lavender and Parvati started giggling at the some joke, and looked in Hermione's direction. She didn't notice, but felt a tingling on the back of her neck. Dismissing the feeling, the girl grabbed a chicken leg and mashed potatoes.
As the talking gradually got louder, Dumbledore stood again and the school silenced once more.
"To out new students, welcome. To the old, may your year be as good as the last. I have some announcements. The Forbidden Forest is what its name provides: Forbidden." His eyes went lazily to the two boys. "And Mr. Filch would like it to be known that under no condition may magic be used in the halls."
Harry whispered to Hermione, "Don't get on his bad side, he's a mean man and a Squib to boot." Hermione nodded and went back to the speech.
"—and to those who have permission slips may go into Hogsmeade on appointed weekends. And to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who gladly took the job on short notice, Professor Larson."
A blond man on the right side of the headmaster gave a jaunty two-fingered wave and smiled at the mass of students. Harry was surprised; this guy was young. Didn't look like he was out of school himself. He wondered if he knew the active curse of a DADA teacher only staying for a year under strange circumstances.
"And now I bid you adieu!" Dumbledore rumbled, and the school got up to leave for their respective dorms. Ron and Lavender went to the front. ("You, midgets!"), and Harry, Dean, Seamus, and Hermione escalated the staircases to Gryffindor Tower talking about the good food, bemoaning class beginning, and their very warm beds awaiting them at the top of the climb.
Hermione felt very much at home here.
> > > > > > >
So? How'd I do? Review yay or nay. Makes me happy. For the later chappies, when forcomthing, they forthcome. I really can't set specific dates. And for the peeps who read my CCS series. Your worst fears are confirmed.
Which is none of you, I think.
But what the hey. It's the dear ol' Tyhho Larson, the cupcake killer. It's so much easier to make a character that I've already known. He's just there to fill the place. No real roll 'cept that.
Ciao! Paka! Das Vidanya! Ja Mata! Adieu!
-Spear of Longinus