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CHAPTER TWO: Long Journeys

"Ron and Parvati,"Hermione complained, aware that she'd said it a number of times on the journey home.

"Does that bother you?"Harry asked. "I mean, I'd rather Ron was happy. It'd make things better for all of us."

"I know but Parvati? I just can't see that. She is so not Ron's type."

"Well, what do you think Ron's type is?"

Hermione gave an embarrassed smile. "Me, I suppose." She sighed. "I know, I'm being irrational. It's just a shock to find I have no idea what's going on in his life." She noticed Harry's sudden awkward look. "What?"

"It's just… I've seen them having lunch together at the Ministry a few times. I thought maybe there was something going on."

"Great. The brightest witch of my generation and I can't even tell who my husband's dating."

Harry put his arms around her waist. "Well, I guess you've been focusing on other things lately."

He kissed her and she melted in the kiss, all her worries disappearing. The kiss became more intense and passionate, she felt him gripping her body tightly and realised it was inevitably going to lead to one thing. She pulled away slightly. "We're supposed to be going to work."

"We could send them a message saying we're both sick and have to spend the day in bed,"Harry suggested. "It's the first time we've had the house to ourselves in ages."

Hermione understood what he meant: They'd both learned that a few Muffliato Charms and Locking Spells could be useful at night when there was children in the house but privacy was still hard to come by. She couldn't help remembering that first crazy week after they'd got together, when Kingsley Shacklebolt had given them time off in the aftermath of the Death Eaters' defeat. They hadn't left the house and she was sure there was a couple of days when they hadn't even managed to get dressed.

Harry kissed her again and she surrendered to it for a moment before pulling away once more, resting her forehead against his. "We'd better go in,"she sighed. "I'll just have a stack of work if we miss a day. It's not like Susan's there to pick up the slack for me."

Harry's mood dampened slightly at the mention of Susan Bones, who had been Hermione's friend and colleague in the Ministry's Law Department, until she'd been killed after following him to Riddle Mansion. "We'd better go in,"he said simply. But the memories of that time, months ago, had caused him to think of Ginny again. He didn't know if any of the Death Eaters they'd captured had known Rodolphus Lestrange was planning to murder her. In truth, he didn't want to know. Rodolphus was dead and those of his followers who had survived were in Azkaban, with sentences ranging from five years to twenty. He had to consider the matter settled or he'd drive himself mad. He was happy with Hermione and between them they would make sure that his and Ginny's children would grow up happy. But Ginny had deserved a long life, to see the adults their children would become, to see her grandchildren… He could forgive what had been taken from him but he'd never forgive what they'd taken from her.

Parvati was waiting when Ron got home. He was glad of that. With Rose and Hugo at Hogwarts, the house tended to feel empty with just him in it, now Hermione lived elsewhere. "Did they catch the Express all right?"she asked.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, they're on their way,"he confirmed as he sat down next to her.

Parvati had obviously picked up on his sullen mood. "Has something happened?"

"Hugo let slip about us to Hermione."

Parvati remained silent for a few moments, unsure of the right thing to say. "Is that a bad thing?"she asked at last.

Ron shrugged. "Guess she had to find out some time. Nothing to do with her, is it? She's with Harry now."

Parvati waited a bit longer before standing up. "Well, we'd better…"

Ron grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. She ended up sitting in his lap. He started kissing her, then started unbuttoning her blouse.

"We should-"she attempted.

"Go upstairs? Good idea."

The Potter, Longbottom and Weasley children had ended up sharing a carriage as the Express train headed towards Hogwarts, so Rose had felt it was only polite to stay with them for a while. But when Albus had had enough of family and gone to look for his friend Owen Spink, Rose had seen that as an excuse for her to do the same.

She made her way towards one of the rear carriages, where she knew the Slytherin students tended to congress. She wandered past the compartments until she came across one full of boys from her year. She stood by the window, trying to attract Scorpius Malfoy's attention.

But it was Apollo Zabini who noticed her first. "Look, Scorpius,"he sneered,"your fellow deputy's come to pick out more people to lock up."

"Give it a rest, Apollo,"Scorpius snapped before heading out of the compartment to meet Rose.

"Why do you hang out with him?"Rose asked.

"I've kind of got to, he's my cousin." Scorpius noticed her look of surprise and shrugged. "His mum and my mum are sisters."

Rose nodded in understanding. "Cousins can be annoying sometimes,"she agreed, recalling all the tricks James had played on her when they were younger.

"Thanks for your owls. It was nice to hear you were thinking of me."

"Well, I liked getting your letters too."

"How was your holidays?"

Rose sighed. "Well, Mum and Dad decided to play pass the parcel with me and Hugo. We spent the first half with Mum and Uncle Harry, then the second half with Dad and his new girlfriend. I had to share a room with my cousin Lily and she never left me alone to read. I kept having to stop her practising spells outside school. What about you?"

Scorpius was silent for a moment. "I missed my dad,"he said at last. "Mum wouldn't even let me talk about him. The only person I could talk to about him was you."

Rose smiled sympathetically. Most people would probably think it strange, given that his father and grandparents were in Azkaban because they'd kept her, Scorpius and their friends prisoner and ended up fighting her parents. Certainly her father had had an expression that suggested he was struggling not to say anything disapproving when he caught her writing to him. But somehow she was able to ignore what Scorpius' family had done and recognise the fact he missed them. "You can talk to me as often as you like,"she told him and hugged him gently.

Scorpius smiled and offered her his arm as they went to find an empty compartment, chatting as they went.

James did a quick mental check on the current occupants of the compartment. Albus and Rose had left to find their friends. Lily and Hugo were engrossed in a game of exploding snap. And Martin was asleep. Which meant he could give Emily his undivided attention. If he could think of anything to say. From the way she kept looking at him, he had a feeling she wanted him to say something but he wasn't sure. What courage he'd gained from facing down the ghost of the most evil wizard in living memory seemed to have left him.

"You looking forward to being in the fourth year?"he asked her.

Emily looked amused. "Is it any different to being in the third year?"

"Oh yeah, loads different,"James confirmed, even though no real differences sprang to mind. "If you need any advice, you can always come to me."

"Advice from you?"Emily repeated teasingly.

"Yeah. I mean, I did it last year."

"That's true,"she conceeded.

James felt himself getting a bit bolder. "I thought of writing to you,"he admitted. "During the holidays."

He thought he was a faint trace of pleasure in her expression at the news but he wasn't sure. "Why didn't you?"she asked.

"Well… it's a bit weird, isn't it? Writing letters to your friend's sister." He noticed her slump slightly and realised she was in danger of losing interest. "It's just… you were the only person I could talk to after Mum died and I want you to know that meant a lot."

To his relief, she smiled. "I was glad I could be there for you."

"Do you want a butterbeer?"

She seemed surprised but pleased by the offer. "Yes, please."

He nodded. "I'll find the trolley,"he announced, hurrying out of the compartment. He headed down the corridor, fully aware he could be heading in completely the wrong direction, keeping an ear out for the familiar rattle of the refreshment trolley. Instead, he heard something else.

Coming from a store room, he heard a strangulated groan, as if someone was in pain. It didn't sound like a teenager's voice, it sounded older. Adults were pretty rare on the Hogwarts Express, only the occasional teacher like Martin and Emily's father, his parents' friend Neville, made the trip with them.

He knocked on the door, trying to see through the frosted window. He could see the outline of someone stretching. "Are you all right in there?"he asked.

The door was suddenly flung open, hitting him in the face. He had the briefest glimpse of a blonde-haired woman pushing past him before he was knocked to the floor. By the time he had a chance to look round, she was nowhere in sight. Either she'd ducked into one of the compartments or she'd made it as far as the next carriage. Even though he hadn't got a good look at her, he was sure she was someone he didn't know. Were there any new teachers at Hogwarts? He wasn't sure what had been done with the headteacher's position since Professor McGonagall's death, whether Professor Slughorn was still headmaster as he had been for the remainder of the last school year or whether someone else had been appointed. He resolved to keep an eye out.

He was about to close the door and move on when he noticed a small glass bottle lying on its side in the middle of the store room. He picked it up and sniffed it. There was an unpleasant odour coming from the dregs of a potion in the bottom of the bottle. He thought he recognised it but he wasn't sure. What he was sure was that the woman he'd seen had been doing something she really didn't want anyone to know about.