Chapter 4: Pink robes an Old friend and new experiences

An owl tapped on the window of Ron's room. Sleeping there were two teenagers, Harry and Ron. Harry groaned and walked to the window. He let the owl in. There was a letter attached to the owl's foot so Harry untied it and sat down. He watched the owl for a moment, ruffling its brown feathers and blinking its large, yellow eyes.

There were six letters and a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry paid the owl a Knut for the paper delivery and watched it fly off into the sunrise. He took out the paper and read the first page. It read;

DEATH EATERS ATTACK AT QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!

After the Irish victory at the Quidditch World Cup fifteen or more Death Eaters appeared at the campsite. "How they got in is a mystery, security is as tight as a baby's grip on a rattle these days." Says Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, but we are wondering how tight this baby's grip is. Soon after the Death Eater attack the dark mark appeared in the sky. No one knows who conjured it but Fudge is giving the matter his full attention and Aurors are on the case at this very moment.

A loud snore came from the corner where Ron was sleeping. Harry shook him awake.

"What Harry can't a guy get some sleep?" Ron mumbled half awake.

"Ron take a look at this." Ron got up and Harry watched as his eyes scanned the page. Once he had finally finished he said, "Well I don't see anything wrong with it. Everything seems true."

"Yeah, except the part about Fudge giving it his full attention, I bet he's more worried about the next election. Oh and our Hogwarts letters are here."

Ron and Harry tore open their letters. Harry's read;

This year Mr Potter you will be needing the following books for your fourth year studies.

The Standard book of spells: Book 4 by Miranda Goshawk

Rare and exotic Creatures by Newt Scamander

Brewing Potions for Dummies by Severus Snape

Unclouding the Future by Anonymous

Transfigure your world by Defferenzia Nortington

Charm your world by Defferenzia Nortington

Dark forces and creatures by Quentin Trimble

We hope to see you at Hogwarts this year.

Your head of House,

Minerva Mcgonagal

After reading his letter Harry went into Hermione's room to wake her up. He cautiously opened the door and tip-toed in. She looked so peaceful in her sleep it was almost a shame to wake her. Harry sat next to her on her bed and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Hermione. Hermione."

"Mmm?"

"Come on it's time to get up." As a reply Hermione pulled the covers over her head.

"Don't wanna." A small voice said from the ball of covers. Harry chuckled to himself.

"Come on Hermione, don't make me go down there."

"Do your worst." Taking this as an invitation Harry dived under the covers and started tickling Hermione furiously. "Give in now?"

"No." She managed between giggles. Harry tickled more extremely.

"Ok! Ok! Have mercy!" Harry stopped tickling and Hermione sat back to catch her breath. She leaned back up against Harry and he wrapped his arms around her. They sat there for a while contentedly listening to each other's breathing. Harry kissed her head and stood up.

"As much as I'm liking this we have to go."

"Where?"

"Well Diagon Alley of course. Our Hogwarts letters are here. Didn't I tell you?"

"No. Well if you expect me to go there I'll have to change."

"Oh right me too." Harry was just about to leave Hermione pulled him into a kiss. They were kissing for a while when a red haired girl walked in,

"Hey Hermione which top is better the blue or th-" If it was possible Ginny's jaw would've hit the floor. "What? How can this be? This isn't right! Harry you can't be kissing Hermione! Stop that!" She made a desperate attempt to pull them apart and slumped to the floor sobbing.

"Ginny stop being immature, if you liked Harry you would've asked him out first, not wait for him to make the first."

"Yeah Gin, and also you have to understand that I don't like you in that way you're like a sister to me." Harry added, reaching out to Ginny to help her up. Ginny slipped her hand into his and hoisted herself up. She cried into his shoulder for a bit and when she finally calmed down pulled away and wiped her tears away.

"Yeah Harry, I guess you're right. So does this mean you're my adopted brother now?"

"Yeah Gin, I think you're right." He said with a playful punch to her shoulder. "Go on, oh and by the way, the blue looks much better on you."

"Thanks Harry." she said and left the room.

"Now, where were we?"

"I think we were right about here." Hermione said placing Harry's hands around her waist and her arms around his neck. "Ah now I remember." Harry chuckled before they started to kiss again.

The rat was almost reaching its target he was sure of it. He pushed through some weeds and grass to see a great house. It was made from red brick, and almost all of its four stories were covered in ivy. It gasped and scuttled towards it even faster.

He reached the maple double doors of the house and transformed into the short man again. He pushed the door ajar and walked in.

"Alright kids come along, come along." The Weasley children Hermione and Harry had gathered around the fireplace to floo to Diagon alley. "Now we'll have to floo in pairs on account of our shortage of floo powder. Too double floo you must make sure you have a good grip on the other person and that you both say the name of your destination at the same time. Fred, George show them what I mean."

Fred and George stepped into the fireplace and put each other. They got a handful of floo powder and at the same time shouted, "Diagon alley!" With a flash of smoke they were gone. Everyone else followed suit, Ron with Ginny, Molly with Arthur, and lastly, Hermione with Harry.

Harry put one hand around Hermione's waist and held the floo powder ins his other hand, while Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. "You ready?", she asked.

"Yeah."

"1,2,3 Diagon Alley!" They felt a tug on their necks and were whizzing through a dark tunnel, watching other fireplaces fly by. Harry buried his face into Hermione's shoulder, wishing it to be over. On the other hand Hermione was having the time of her life.

"Weeeee! I've never felt so alive!" Hermione shouted laughing hysterically. They reached their destination, turning abruptly to the right and sliding out of the fireplace at Gringotts. Harry was left with a screaming Hermione and a pack of staring wizards and witches.

"Whoo hoo! Yeah!" Harry tapped her shoulder and she returned to earth. Harry noticed he still had pairs of eyes gauping at them.

"Muggle borns." he said with a fake. The wizards and witches all nodded and walked away.

"Thanks Harry. Whoa that was so fun." She said with a laugh. For no apparent reason Harry started sniggering.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You look so cute covered in soot." He managed between snorts.

"Well so do you." They both cracked up laughing. The pair got up and started brushing themselves off. They turned to see Ron heading towards them.

"Come on you two, mum's already gotten our money lets go!"

"BELATRIX!"

"What Lucius?" A thin, black haired woman entered the room to see Lucius Malfoy holding up two bright pink robes.

"You washed our Death eater robes with your towels again!" He fumed.

"Yeah so? Just use a spell to remove it."

"You think I haven't tried that yet? It didn't work and do you know why?" Belatrix had to think for a moment until it dawned on her.

"Oh no. I used 'No colour fade' washing powder."

"These robes were spun by French Nymphs by the finest silk, do you know how hard it will be to get new ones!."

"I guess we'll just have to use these now." Belatrix said slowly.

"Crucio!" Belatrix writhed in pain on the ground until Lucius called off the spell. She laid on the ground panting and watched Lucius leave the room.

"That was for your incompetence." He said with a sneer.

Three teens sat eating ice-cream under one of the coloured umbrellas outside Flourean's ice-cream shop. Harry licked his sundae contentedly. He scraped the last of his sundae from its plastic and placed in the bin along with Ron's and Hermione's.

"Finally mate I thought you'd never finish."

"Hey just because you eat like you're in a race doesn't mean I eat slowly."

"Well Harry you do eat pretty slowly, I mean even I ate faster than you." Harry knew he was beaten there and decided to give up.

"Come on, your parents are probably waiting for us at the leaky cauldron."

They picked up the bags that contained their school supplies and walked back to the leaky cauldron. They were almost at the wall that hid Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron when Harry spotted a moving black blur in the distance.

"Wait. Can you see that?"

"No I can't see it. Harry are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Come on I'll show you!" He tore off after the blur, Hermione and Ron struggling to keep up behind him. They finally reached the black shape and saw that it was a big, black dog.

Harry reached a hand towards it. "Sirius?" he asked cautiously. The dog snapped at his hands and snarled threateningly.

"Harry come back, it's not Sirius." Harry lingered for a while, searching the dog's eyes, before joining his friends.

"Harry you disappoint me." Harry wheeled around to see a very different Sirius Black from the one he had seen the previous year. He had long, brown hair and a clean shaven face. His eyes were brown instead of their usual grey, but they still had the Marauder's glint in his eye.

Harry ran up to his godfather and jumped into his arms. They were hugging each other for a while when they heard a cough from behind them.

"Oh sorry. Sirius you remember Hermione and Ron?"

"Hi." He said with a wave. "Hey guys, I've got some great news."

"What is it?"

"Dumbledore's let me have a job at Hogwarts!"

"Really what are you going to do?" Ron asked

"I'm going to be Snape's lab assistant." he said puffing out his chest.

"Well that's great except for the Snape part."

"Yeah I know it does sound a bit pathetic but I'll inch my way up."

Hermione was deep in thought. "Sirius, won't the ministry put you in Azkaban?"

"No. I've worked it out with Dumbledore. I'm going to wear a disguise. Also from now on my name is Georgio McHinely. Sorry kids I've got to go, Ill see you at Hogwarts." Sirius hugged all three teens, transformed back into a dog and padded away.

"Come on lets go." Harry said. Ron walked a way in front while Harry and Hermione lagged behind. Harry had his arm around Hermione's shoulders and Hermione had wrapped her arms around his waist.

They passed through the brick wall and saw the Weasleys sitting at a table chatting. Ron was already there. "Oi Harry! Come 'ere!" One of the twins shouted. Harry and Hermione made their way over.

" What took you so long?" Fred asked. Then he noticed that Harry and Hermione were holding hands.

"Oh. Right" he said tapping the side of his nose.

"Come on Harry, lets put our stuff away." They went to the room that the Weasleys had rented out for the day to store their shopping. Harry put his bags in the corner and flopped down on the bed. Hermione put her stuff down and flopped down next to him.

Harry moved his head towards hers and they entered a deep kiss. Hermione moaned as they laid down on the bed. She entwined her fingers through his hair and he placed his hands on her back. They had their first snogging session.