Harry stares out the window of the Hogwarts Express while his friends, Ron and Hermione, talked about their plans for Christmas break. He reflected on how much his life has changed over the past 4 months. From making his first friend, starting his magical education, learning to fly, defeating a mountain troll, making another friend, and playing quidditch. And now he was on his way to the Weasley's for his first real Christmas. Even the bad things about Hogwarts, Snape, Malfoy and most of the other Slytherins, could not dampen his mood.
His name being called drew him from his musings. Turning from the window he sees his friends smiling at him. "Sorry," Harry says. "Was just thinking about everything that's happened this term."
"It has been rather chaotic, hasn't it?" Hermione stated.
"You're not joking," Ron laughed. "Midnight duels, three headed dogs, jinxed brooms, trolls. It's been great!"
"Don't forget setting professors on fire," teased Harry while smiling at Hermione, who huffed while turning away with her nose in the air. Though Harry did not miss the slight uptick at the corners of her mouth.
Attempting to change the subject, Hermione asked, "How long will you be staying with your family, Ron?"
"We will all be coming back to Hogwarts the day after Boxing Day," Ron explained. "Then Mum, Dad, and Ginny will be going to Romania to visit Charlie at the dragon reserve."
"I've read about them, but I can't imagine dragons being real," Hermione began. "It must be terribly difficult to keep creatures that big and dangerous secret. Not to mention the amount of land needed to ensure they each have enough territory, and then there's the amount of livestock needed to keep them properly fed…" She seemed to be taking more to herself then the boys at this point, but Harry nodded along in agreement all the same.
"If it wasn't for Mum and Dad needing to talk with Harry, we would have probably been staying at school the whole break," Ron added, ignoring Hermione's continued muttering.
Ron hasn't said exactly what they wanted to talk to Harry about. Instead worrying he might "need it up and scare Harry." Ginny also would not give him any clues in her weekly letters.
Ginny was quite different from her brothers and very different from Hermione, the first girl Harry had spent any significant time around besides his aunt. She was much more confident and easy going in her letters than when they met on the platform. This fit more with her brothers' description of their fiercely independent, fiery sister who could make even the twins run when angered. Ginny would occasionally complain about butting heads with her mother for not being "ladylike." She told him stories about taking her brothers' wands to attempt magic whenever she could. Ginny might have been more excited than Ron when Harry wrote to her about being the new Gryffindor seeker. She confessed to sneaking out to the family's broom shed at night for past several years to practice flying. She also told him about the family's quidditch pitch beyond their orchard (although Ron has already mentioned it to him multiple times prior). If the weather cooperated, they planed the go flying while Harry was visiting.
Harry and Ginny also wrote about more mundane things like their favorite foods, Ginny's daily chores, and Harry's favorite subjects.
"Well," Hermione drawed, once more breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "Since the two of you will be at Hogwarts without classes or assignments to worry about, you should try to find information on Nicholas Flemel."
"We've already checked the library, Hermione," Ron interjected.
"Not the Restricted Section," she countered with a mischievous grin.
"I think we've had a bad influence on her," Ron stage whispered to Harry.
All three burst out laughing after a moment. One they regained control, the trio began brainstorming ideas to access the Restricted Section, each more ridiculous than the last.
A few hours later the friend were leaving the train to meet their parents. Mrs. Weasley was fussing over Fred, George, and Percy as they approached, while Ginny took turns giving them hugs.
"Oh Ron I can't believe his much I've missed you," she gushed while pulling him in for a hug. "It is so quiet with just Ginny in the house. And you've grown so much since I last saw you."
"It's been less than 4 months, Mum." Fred started. At least Harry was pretty certain it was Fred since he was still learning to tell them part.
"Yeah you'd think he was coming home was it something," George added.
While they talked, Ginny walked up to Harry and greeted him with a hug. "Hello Harry," she said while embracing him briefly.
If Harry hasn't written to her so much, he would have probably froze up. As it was he only hesitated briefly before returning her greeting, "Hello, Ginny." While he didn't have the confidence to hug her as well, he knew he wanted to. Ginny apparently had grown some as well because she was only a bit shorter than Harry, and she looked even prettier than he remembered.
"Oh hush you two," Mrs. Weasley chided with a smile. "I was the same when all my boys came home the first time. Harry dear!" She exclaimed before giving him the same treatment as her sons. "I'm so glad you agreed to come for Christmas, even if it's not for the whole break."
"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs Wesley," hat said sincerely.
"You're always welcome at our home, dear," she replied kindly with a hand on each of his shoulders. Her eyes then focused on someone behind Harry, and when he followed her gaze, he saw Hermione standing awkwardly a short distance away.
"Mrs Weasley, this is our friend, Hermione Granger. She's in Gryffindor too," Harry said introducing them.
"Yeah, she's brilliant, Mum. Probably the best in our year," Ron exclaimed.
Hermione bloodshed slightly at the praise before Mrs Weasley greeted her. "Lovely to meet you, dear." She glanced around the platform then added, "Where are your parents?"
"Oh, they should be on the other platform," Hermione answered. "They're muggles."
Mrs Weasley smiled as she said, "Well it's a good thing Arthur isn't here or else we might not be home before breakfast tomorrow," cussing her children to chuckle. "Let's get you to them, dear."
As they're making your way to the barrier, Harry overheard, Ginny and Hermione talking, "It's good to finally meet you, Hermione. Harry's wrote about you quite a bit."
"It's good to meet you as well. Harry talks about you often," the traitor replies before she and Ginny share a small laugh.
The group walks toward the barrier and crosses two at a time, with Percy and Ron leading them through. Harry found himself going through a genie. Fred and George had apparently done some prank on Percy as he was scolding them for inappropriate and immature behavior right at the mother side of the platform. This force Harry to take a hard step to the left to avoid running into them and cause him to nearly knock Ginny down. Luckily, his quick reflexes allowed him to catch her around the waist and pull her to him so she didn't fall. They shared a small somewhat nervous smile but do not immediately move away from one another.
A few months ago Harry would have men blushing so hard blood would have been coming out of his nose. Thanks to actually having friends, the confidence would it just giving him, and his somewhat regular correspondence with the girl in his arms, Harry is much more sure of himself.
Once everyone makes it onto the platform they finally separate to rejoin the group. After bidding Hermione and her parents goodbye and a Happy Christmas, Harry and the Weasley's load into a blue Ford Anglia. There was obviously magic involved given the seven of them fit rather comfortably. To pass the surprisingly short time to the Weasley's home. Apparently called the borough students talked about the school term. They all avoided any missions of cursed brooms and forbidden corridors.
AN: Sorry for the extremely long delay but it was a crazy year plus I revised the chapter a few times. I've also broken this chapter in two because I have difficulty typing/writing since I had a second hand surgery this past Friday. I've got what will now be Chapter 3 written but I still need to type it, so unfortunately this chapter is a bit short.
A big thing I wanted to mention is that I have decided to have Hogwarts begin at 13 in this story. This is primarily because I think it makes more sense than 11 given certain details in canon.
It's stated that witches and wizards come of age at 17 but it is also implied that they don't have to pass their NEWTs in order to be a legal wizard/witch. This is shown by Fred and George not being forced back to Hogwarts after they left in Order of the Phoenix. It seems that NEWTs are only required for certain professions but most people go those last 2 years so they can be better at magic in general.
I think of it as OWLs being the equivalent of a high school diploma, while NEWTs are like a bachelor's degree. So therefore, by starting at 13, witches and wizards will be of age when they sit there OWLs. This will still make Harry underage during his fourth year.
That's all for now, and of course I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters