Author's note: Here's chapter two. They are all heading to Hogwarts. Hope you'll enjoy it! Oh! And no, I don't own Harry Potter!
Enjoy!
Harry woke up to the sound of people constantly running up and down the stairs. It was fairly loud though, taking into consideration the no of people currently living in this old house. A loud bang came from somewhere near Harry and he opened his eyes, a bit startled. Harry propelled himself on his elbows and looked in the direction of the noise, his vision slightly blurred. But he could make out the mass of red hair frantically moving here and there.
"Oh! Sorry Harry, I was just looking for my transfiguration text." Ron was practically running from one end of the room to the other dodging things on his way. Harry finally made to sit up on the bed. He was staring at the blurred form of Ron while his hand searched for his glasses on the bedside table. Having found them, he put them on, his vision sharping instantly.
Harry looked around; the whole room was a complete mess. Clothes were strewn across the floor, on Ron's bed and some on Harry's; textbooks lay across the bed, some hidden under the clothes; wrappers and chocolates were unceremoniously scattered in Ron's trunk and the table. Harry's expression grew more horrified as his head turned from the left side of the room to the right.
"Ron!" he shouted, jumping up from the bed. Ron startled, books falling on the ground with a loud thump!
"What have you done?" Harry said gesturing with his head to the mess he had made. Ron looked around, shocked he had made so much mess unknowingly.
"Oh sorry! I just panicked. I couldn't find my robes and then some of my books." he said still, looking around for his charms text.
"And you better hurry up; we are going to be late, as usual." He said the latter part with more force. It was true, every year on first September they had reached the station just minutes before the train started. Hell! They had even missed it once, but it wasn't their fault!
"Hello. mate. Come back." Harry shook his head, coming back from his thoughts.
"Yeah right!" he said and took a few steps towards his bed when he stopped suddenly causing Ron to bump into him.
"What the hell mate?" he said and walked around to face Harry. Harry's face had drained of all colours. He was looking pale…pale as Malfoy! Worse thoughts shook Ron from head to foot. Harry was staring past him, looking pale as ever and he was not responding to any of Ron's frantic calls. Just when Ron was about to slap Harry on the back, did his head gave a slight jerk. He slowly faced Ron, but spoke nothing.
"What is it Harry? Is it your scar? Is it paining? Do you want me to call mum? Hermione?" Ron was going berserk with each passing moment.
"Ron…" Harry said, going paler by the second.
"Yeah mate? What happened?" Ron was getting impatient. He was worried. He hated seeing Harry in pain or trouble. Ever since You-know-who's rebirth last year, Harry had been in constant pain. His nightmares had taken a toll on his health; you could see the faint purple bags underneath his eyes. There were 'n' no of times when Ron had woken up to a screaming Harry. He just decided that it was the worst noise and feeling in the entire world.
Ron now grabbed Harry by the shoulders to shake him when Harry spoke, "I still haven't packed up my trunk." Ron had to strain his ears to listen. Just as the words made sense to him, his hands dropped from Harry's shoulders and whatever colour was remaining on Ron's face, drained. It was now past ten and both of them were yet to pack.
Harry slumped on his bed. "I just…I just thought I would pack up yesterday after dinner, but then…Shit!" Harry and Ron were last minute packers and always forgot something or the other behind which Mrs Weasley had to owl for three to four days continuously. So this time Mrs Weasley had taken up to screaming after the boys two days prior to 1st of September, making them to start packing. But they were boys!
Suddenly they heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and their eyes grew wider with every second. They both looked at each other, terror gripping them both tightly. Seriously, Mrs Weasley was not some woman you should anger. They both jumped as the noise got louder and grabbed whatever they could reach and dumped it in their respective trunks.
Harry's trunk was on the floor and he tossed whatever he could lay his hands on, not caring whether it was his or Ron's. Ron did the same. If his mother found out about their last minute packing, she was definitely going to hex them into pulps.
The noise stopped and both boys visibly relaxed. Ron's shoulders relaxed a bit and Harry let out a shaky breath. "Merlin's pants Harry!" Ron said, grinning at his best friend and depositing Harry's shirt in his trunk. "That was close." Harry said grinning back at him.
"Are you done boys?" Mrs Weasley opened the door suddenly and simultaneously both the grins on their faces were replaced with horror. Their eyes grew wide and both of them turned to her.
"Yeah…" Ron spluttered "We were just…"he looked helplessly at Harry. Harry took up the sign and continued. "Yeah, we were just figuring out where my black shirt was. It seems to have disappeared." He said and moved closer to Ron in a desperate attempt to hide the mess behind them which would give them away.
"Yeah mum…do you know where it is?" Ron was visibly shaking a bit but managed to cover up a fair amount of mess.
"Oh! Yes your black shirt. Sorry dear, I almost forgot. I washed it up last night. I'll send it right away." She grinned at Harry and walked away closing the door behind her.
Harry and Ron stood rooted on their spots, neither daring to move for a couple of seconds in case she returned. When finally there was no sound of footsteps they practically ran, filling up their trunks, jumping and dodging each other.
Harry took off his shirt while collecting some parchments and his ink bottle from his study table and dumped them into his trunk. Ron threw a shirt at Harry which he wore without complaining. The pants would have to do, he thought. Thank god he had the senses of not changing his clothes last night or else Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived" would be arriving at Hogwarts in his pyjamas!
When they were sure nothing was left behind, they picked up their trunks and owl cages and ran down the stairs, Hedwig and Pig twittering and hooting loudly at them, visibly angry; their trunks were bouncing behind them with a loud thud threating to break open with every step they took. Finally they reached the bottom and both gave a huge sigh of relief and turned to grin sheepishly at each other.
"Last minute packing really drains you, doesn't it?" Hermione said dragging her trunk behind her and depositing it near Harry's. She was wearing a grey jersey tee with blue jeans and wedge sneakers. She had changed a lot over the years. Harry and Ron had seen her grow up from an 11 year old to this 15 year old that stood before them. Her hair were not as bushy as before, but had developed into small and beautiful curls which came up to her chest. She looked pretty and datable for a 15 year old.
"What are you talking about? We packed ages ago." Ron said puffing out his chest. Ron had grown a couple of inches over the summer and so had Harry but he was still an inch shorter than Ron. Harry nodded his head looking at Hermione.
"Really? Then why is Harry's shirt poking out of your trunk and Harry's trunk is looking like it will explode any minute?" She emphasized "your" in such a way that Ron cringed and Harry took a step back from her.
"Please don't tell mum." Ron whispered urgently looking around for any signs of his mum, his pride vanishing into thin air. Hermione frowned, "Why can't you boys pack decently and in time? Do you know how…?"
Harry beat her up to it. "Yeah Hermione we know and we are sorry." He was in no mood for early morning lectures. Hermione just fumed even more and walked in the opposite direction calling for Ginny.
Mrs Weasley came out of the kitchen murmuring something about dumb animagus and dogs. As if on cue a huge black dog leapt on Harry out of nowhere and barked in amazement. Ron yelped and was now standing leaning against the wall, panting.
"Really Sirius? You think no one will know?" Mrs Weasley asked who was looking furious. The dog just ignored her and walked towards the entrance dragging Harry with him.
Harry was glad Sirius wanted to come. But at the same he didn't wanted Sirius to land in any trouble. The ministry had already done a fantastic job of declaring him the most dangerous wizard after You-know-who. Harry was furious when he read the news in the Daily Prophet just weeks before school ended. He looked at the dog and an urge to cry filled him up. He knew if he didn't distract himself he would end up crying in front of the entire family.
"All ready?" Mad eye's growling voice ranged in the room as he appeared from the Order meeting room. Harry was not that fond of the former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, if you could call him one. He looked as if his face was roughly carved from wood. Due to his injuries from his long career as an Auror, it was covered with scars, and a chunk of his nose was missing. He had dark grizzled hair and had a wooden leg which added to Harry's dislike of the man even more.
Behind Mad eye, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in. He was still in his Auror robes and had a patient expression on his face which he wore all time. Behind Kingsley, a huge no. of order members appeared a determined look on their faces.
"Harry?" Remus walked towards him, pushing a couple of people on his way. "You'll be going with Kingsley."
"What? where?" Harry asked puzzled. He looked around at other people in the room, some he recognized, some he didn't.
"What he means boy, is that Kingsley and some of the Order members will accompany you to the station while others will go with me. Understood?" Mad eye was staring intently at Harry with his normal eye while the other was zooming around dangerously making a small buzzing like noise.
"Harry." Kingsley stepped forward and stood in front of Harry. "We are the Advance Guard, the people who will go to the station with you."
"Advance Guard?" Hermione asked, crookshanks lazing on her arm.
"It was Dumbledore's idea. The Advance Guard is Harry's guard." Remus stated slipping a hand over Kingsley shoulder.
"As in like bodyguards?" She looked at every one disbelievingly. That was completely ridiculous. She knew from all these years of experience that Harry was fairly good enough and capable of protecting himself and the people around him. He didn't need any guard to protect himself. She was sure Harry was going to give them a hard time accepting it.
"Similar." Aurther Weasley said from the far corner of the room where he stood with Mrs Weasley, her hand held tightly between his.
Harry's temper boiled. What was Dumbledore playing at? Harry wasn't a kid and he knew the consequences of one wrong decision or act on his part. But that thought did nothing to subsidize his anger towards the old man. He trusted Dumbledore with his life and expected the same in return. They had a long chat on the last day of Hogwarts in their fourth year about this 'trust' issue and Harry had fairly managed himself to convince that Dumbledore did trust him after all.
His temper was reaching the explosion point when Hermione noticed and so did everyone as they suddenly started grabbing their things and trunks and heading out towards the door not giving Harry a chance to voice his opinion about the Guard thing.
They reached Platform no. 9 ¾ with just five minutes to spare. Harry along with Kingsley and five other Order members arrived a minute later than everyone else.
"All clear." Kingsley whispered to Mad Eye who took Harry's trunk and limped towards the train. Harry was busy staring at Mad Eye's back that he almost got crushed by one of Mrs Weasley's hug. A smile slowly crept its way across Harry's face. This was one of the things he always looked forward to on the station.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny boarded the train as it started leaving the platform and turned to wave at a very weeping form of Mrs Weasley and a very happy looking dog at her side. It was the first time Sirius had come to see Harry off. Ever since Harry's birth James and Sirius had eagerly looked forward to seeing Harry off on the platform, ending up with bets on who would cry the most.
Harry stood on the door watching the now disappearing form of Sirius and the Weasley's. "He'll be alright, you know." Ginny raised her hand and touched Harry on the back in a comforting way. Harry smiled back at her. "It's just scares me sometimes." Harry turned back to look out the door. "Even me." She smiled and held Harry's graze.
Ginny was attractive. She had all the traits necessary of being a Weasley and she had at least one of all her brothers' qualities. She was a year younger but that hardly mattered to Harry. He had taken to fancy her since the Yule ball.
"We should find an empty compartment." Ron said as he walked, dragging his trunk with him. Finally after a full five minutes, they found one at the very end which was occupied by Neville and Luna.
"Hello guys." Neville greeted, looking up from his herbology magazine. They all greeted each other and started exchanging their summer stories.
They had their part of fun on the train; laughing, talking and pranking each other. They had engaged into fair amount of bets on who would-get-with-who and Quiddtch. They listed down a whole list of pranks to pull on Snape and in case of Ron as why-I-would-happily-dug-his-grave list. A couple of friends dropped in to say their greetings, Fred and George stopped by to play exploding snap, Lavender and Parvati came up to gossip about something with Hermione , Ginny and Luna which earned dirty look from the boys.
Little did this happy group of friends know how their life was going to change the minute they were to step into Hogwarts. Little did they know the magnitude of problem waiting for them at school.
The scenery zoomed past them at an extraordinary speed, like a movie being played at a super-fast speed. The time flew by before anyone could realize and the day was now covered in pitch black as Harry stared out into darkness.
-x-
That's the second one. Hope you'll enjoyed it.
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