Author's note. It should be noted that Ginny is a little bratty in this chapter but before everyone starts shrieking, try to remember that she's a ten year old girl being left behind for a whole year by her siblings. It's not their fault but it is going to be very tough for her. I can't imagine how my brother felt when I went to Uni, particularly as there's no one his age living nearby. Also, we all get annoyed by things our friends do, it's inevitable when you're close to someone. We don't know when Ginny became friends with Luna but since they lived so close, I figured they at least hung out a bit. Ron never mentioned that he didn't know her but he probably wasn't interested in going with Ginny to hers especially as Luna's not into Quidditch.

So anyway, I'm pretty sure Ginny would have known Luna for quite a long time but she might not have been very close. Sometimes, people we know where once close but have grown apart, and some people we've known for a long time become closer. I think once Ginny was at Hogwarts and not competing for her brothers' attention, she would have grown a lot closer to Luna. In conclusion, please don't leave me long rants about how much you hate Ginny, we all have moments of grumpy or immatureness.

I've had a couple of brainstorms concerning what the trio could get up to in the future which I hope everyone likes but suggestions are always welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

Hermione's POV

"Soon be there," her dad said softly, they were waiting behind a traffic light.

"Yes," Hermione replied, her stomach churning with butterflies. It was odd but this was very like the first time she'd gone to Hogwarts. Just the fact she was moving far away from her parents for almost a whole year had been a terrifying experience.

"I'll take lots of photos," she added for her parents benefit. "You'll be able to see how well I'm doing."

"That would be good," her mum admitted, she was almost tearful at the idea of Hermione going away.

Crookshanks growled in his wicker basket, he was not impressed with the travelling arrangements at all. Hermione leant over and cooed.

"It's alright Crookshanks, I'll let you out on the train."

In a whisper, she added.

"Remember, you can't attack the rat that Ron has, at least not yet. We'll take care of it, okay."

Crookshanks eyed her with his bright yellow eyes and seemed to understand. She smiled, he was a very clever cat and she knew he'd refrain from attacking Scabbers. She had explained at length about Scabbers to Crookshanks and why he couldn't do anything to the rat because she knew how intelligent her cat really was. Idly, she wondered what her parents would think if they knew how intelligent the orange moggy was.

"Will your cat be okay?" her dad now asked as the car pulled forward. "If you're going to let him out."

"He'll be fine," Hermione assured him. "I'll be in a compartment anyway, with the door closed. Crookshanks can relax on a seat or on my lap if it's full."

"I wonder how many children go to this Hogwarts," her mum wondered aloud.

"Quite a few I'd imagine," her dad replied. "Didn't that Professor McGonagall say it was the only school for magical kids in the whole of Britain? There must be thousands going there."

"I'm not sure," Hermione said slowly, already knowing the answer. "From what I've read, non magic folk far outnumber magical ones so I believe it's less than a thousand at Hogwarts. Maybe...eight hundred or so."

"Hmm, that's not much for a population," her dad said. "And how many of those are...Muggleborn, would you say?"

"A good third at the very least," Hermione said, seeing what her dad was getting at. "The wizard population is really small compared to ours."

"Incredible," her dad murmured. "They must really need Muggleborns to make up their numbers."

"In a way but it is important that I learn to be a witch," Hermione said quickly. "If I didn't learn, my magic could become out of control."

"We know darling," her mum said soothingly. "Just don't forget where you come from."

"I won't, mum," Hermione said solemnly and she promised herself that this time, she wouldn't become distant from her parents. She belonged to two worlds and she would find a way to bridge those worlds, one way or another.

Ron's POV

"What's wrong Ginny?" Ron asked his little sister who was moodily sitting in a squashy armchair.

She shot him a miserable look and said in a slightly whiny voice.

"It's not fair; I want to go to Hogwarts to. Why can't I go?"

"Because you're too young," Ron explained, vaguely remembering how upset she'd been at being left behind. "But it's just a year and then you'll be at Hogwarts."

"I can't wait that long," she wailed, her face a little red with misery. "It's going to be just me here and I'll die of boredom."

"Don't be a silly billy, Ginny," Ron said, employing the phrase he used to call her when he was younger. "There's plenty you can do here...like practicing your flying with our old brooms."

This got her attention, she jerked and her mouth fell open as she stared at him in shock. Ron grinned before saying smugly.

"I know you sneak out to fly when we're busy. I've seen you in the air."

Actaully, none of what he'd just said was a lie but he knew she got a different meaning from his words.

"You're...you're not going to tell mum or dad, are you?" she asked anxiously and he shook his head.

"No...but you can owe me a favour," he told her and she looked relived as she asked.

"What kind of favour?"

"Just a favour," Ron replied, flopping down in a chair near her. "I don't know what it'll be though, just something for the future."

She considered this before nodding.

"Okay."

Pleased he'd distracted her, Ron now said.

"Hey, if you get really lonely, you can always visit that Luna Lovegood girl."

This caused Ginny to pull a face.

"What?" Ron asked, a little confused by her reaction. As far as he knew, Ginny and Luna had always gotten on but he'd never really paid attention to the friendship until his fifth year.

"She's weird," Ginny blurted out suddenly. "Ever since her mum died, she's gotten really weird."

"I thought she's always been weird," Ron said, nonplussed.

"She has," Ginny acknowledged. "But she's become obsessed with Nargals, Horn Snorcacks..."

"Err...what?" Ron questioned as he remembered to act like he'd never heard of those things.

"Their imaginary creatures she's made up," his sister replied rather exasperatedly. "She's always going on about them and her dad encourages it. He acts like their real too."

"He's the one who writes that magazine...the Dribbler?" Ron asked.

"Quibbler," Ginny corrected. "And yeah, he does."

Their dad occasionally got an issue; he seemed to find the ludicrous articles amusing. Their mum on the other hand didn't particularly like it; she said it was too full of ridiculous conspiracy theories. Ron had to admit, they both had a point, the articles were funny but it was a little disconcerting that Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood believed every single thing they wrote. But while he didn't especially like Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's weirdness was part of her charm.

Sure, a lot of the things she believed in were either untrue or didn't exist but that didn't mean they all were. From what Harry had said in passing, Luna had a rather unique perceptive on life that shouldn't just be shot down.

"If her dad believes in this stuff," Ron began slowly. "Then that's probably why she believes it. I mean, when dad tells us that Muggles aren't animals, we believe him right."

"Yeah," Ginny said slowly.

"Well, that's how it works with Luna," Ron explained. "And it's why Death Eater kids tend to grow up nasty, because of the stuff their parents tell them."

During this summer, he'd realised that a lot of the rubbish Malfoy had spouted and the ideas he'd endorsed were mostly due to his dad. When it came down to actually being a Death Eater, Malfoy did not have it in him, he was a gutless worm who wasn't as evil as he claimed to be. Ron still hated him but quite frankly, couldn't be bothered with the bloody git. Dear Merlin, he had to spend another seven years in the same building as the git. In some ways, life was very cruel to him.

"So Luna's weird because of her dad?" Ginny asked slowly.

"Well...partly," Ron said as he hastened to explain. "Kids don't always grow up the way parents want them to; you can get good kids from bad families and vice versa. From what you've told me, Luna's pretty weird all on her own because that's who she is. And well...its harmless isn't it, looking for these creatures?"

"Yeah," Ginny sighed. "It's just...it's annoys me sometimes."

This made Ron snort.

"Ginny, have you forgotten we live with some of the most annoying people on the planet? If Percy's not boring us all, then Fred and George are being obnoxious gits. Mum drives us crazy with chores and homework."

He looked right at her and said.

"Don't let the fact she can probably be as annoying as hell keep you from remaining friends. I bet there are times she can be great fun to be with."

His sister considered this point before shrugging.

"Okay, I'll do my best," she said with a slight huff.

Ron smiled, knowing he wasn't going to get a better answer. Ginny was very stubborn but he suspected boredom and loneliness would drive her to seek out the strange blond girl. It would do Ginny good to have some company during the year she couldn't go to Hogwarts. And it would likely do Luna good to have some company that wasn't her crazy father.

"You do that," he said with a smile.

She still looked a little gloomy so he said.

"Hey, at least you'll get a day out in Diagon Alley with mum, you'll enjoy that."

She made another shrugging motion just as their mum called.

"Ginny dear, are you all ready?"

"Coming mum," Ginny called back, pulling herself up and headed to the kitchen. Ron watched her go a little sadly, he was sorry he couldn't do more for her. Maybe if he tried to write fairly regularly that might help.

He heard a loud thump and knew Fred and George were bringing their cases downstairs. It was something of a miracle that nothing was ever broken. Percy was probably giving his badge another clean, the guy was really obsessed. Ron deliberately ignored the fact he'd been a little silly with his own. He remembered that Percy had done his best to be helpful to the younger years; he just hadn't been so good with the older years. To people like Fred and George, he was a killjoy obsessed with obeying every single rule so they made it a rule to never listen to him.

Ron wondered if being frustrated by this attitude was one reason Percy had become distant. Why he got so close to people like Crouch, Fudge and Umbridge. He wasn't sure but had a feeling Hermione might be able to explain. While she was perfectly capable of breaking rules without any encouragement, she preferred to abide by most of them. She'd surely understand why someone would be obsessed with rule keeping.

Ron considered himself something between Percy/Hermione and the twins. While he didn't stick religiously to rules, he did not make it his mission in life to break most of them. Most of the rules he and his friends had broken had been in aid of a very good cause like defeating Voldemort and helping their friends. It made him wonder how many rules they'd end up breaking this time round. Oh well, at least this time they'd be able to take a few shortcuts.

He got up and stretched, his picnic lunch was carefully packed in his hamper, that rat was locked up, his trunk packed and he'd had breakfast. All he had to do was wait for the others then they'd take the Floo to a chimney near King's Cross and...he'd finally be reunited with Harry and Hermione.

Harry's POV

Harry tried to contain his excitement but it wasn't easy. He sitting in the back with Dudley on their way to King's Cross and he just couldn't wait. At long, long last he'd be back where he belonged along with Ron and Hermione. His Uncle was grumbling in the front and his Aunt looked sour but Harry didn't care. This time around, Dudley wasn't terrified to be in the same car as him meaning he didn't have to put up with flinches or whimpers of fear.

In fact, Dudley just seemed a little bored, he put up with car journeys because of the destination. As Harry had predicted, Dudley was being taken out for the day, to visit sweet and toy shops, going too fast food joints and possibly even the cinema. Harry had only ever been to the cinema when there had been a school trip and he'd certainly never gone after he'd started Hogwarts. It would be quite nice to go there some time with his friends especially as he knew for a fact Ron had never gone in his entire life. Introducing Ron to the world of movies and popcorn would be an interesting experience to say the least.

He hadn't spoken much to Dudley today, not with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon around, letting their disproval of Harry's trip well known. Harry hadn't been given much breakfast but he didn't care. He had money and the food trolley on the Hogwart's Express called, he would be fine. Although he'd learned to not just scoff a mountain of sweets because unless he had some savoury food, he would be rather hyper for a few days. At the time, he hadn't thought anything about it but as he'd matured and thanks to a lecture from Hermione, realised that gorging on sweets wasn't the best plan.

Not that that was going to stop him from getting a good supply.

"How long?" Dudley whined, he was really getting bored. He might be getting on better with his cousin but he didn't feel comfortable enough to converse with Harry while his parents are about.

"Just five more minutes, darling," Aunt Petunia assured. "We just have to drop him off and then we can go have some fun."

"Okay," Dudley said as Uncle Vernon grumbled.

"Which platform are you using, boy?"

"Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Harry answered properly as Uncle almost swerved in shock.

"Don't be ridiculous boy," he roared ay Harry. "There's no such place."

"There is," Harry assured him. "But you can only reach it through a magical barrier between platform nine and ten."

As Uncle Vernon scoffed, Harry asked calmly.

"Haven't you ever been there Aunt Petunia? With mum?"

He watched as his Aunt stiffened and snapped.

"Never you mind, boy."

Harry just smiled to himself and spotted Dudley giving him and his mother a curious look. So, even Dudley had picked up on just how evasive that answer was. Because he couldn't resist, he asked.

"Do you want to come and see the train, Muggles can go through the barrier to, you know."

"Certainly not," barked Uncle Vernon. "We're dropping you off and that's it boy. You're not our problem until next summer."

"Just asking," Harry said pleasantly and out of the corner of his eye, saw how thoughtful Dudley looked. His cousin wasn't quite brave enough to want to go see the train now but in the future...well, they'd see.

"Well don't," his Aunt snapped back just as they finally pulled into the car park.

Uncle grumpily got out the car and headed for the boot. Harry made to get out too but pause and whispered to Dudley.

"Have a good term Dud."

Dudley glanced at him and mumbled something that sounded like "you too."

Harry quickly got out the car and gratified to see that Uncle Vernon had dumped his truck and Hedwig's cage on a trolley although he didn't look like he was going to wheel it anywhere.

"Thank you, Uncle Vernon," Harry said with a grin. "I'll see you all next summer."

Uncle Vernon scowled, grumbled and waved him away. Harry offered his Aunt and cousin a wave before grabbing hold of the trolley and heading into the station. He did pause as he heard the car start up and pull away, turning to see Dudley watching him as the distance between them rapidly increased. He offered his cousin one last, friendly wave and then the car was gone, swallowed up by traffic. He glanced at the clock and saw that he didn't have much time, only twenty minutes or so to get onto the train.

With a heave, he pushed his trolley forward and headed for the correct platform. For a little eleven year old boy pushing a heavy trolley complete with caged owl, he presented a remarkable confidence to fellow commuters who starred as he walked past. However, he didn't pay attention to any of them baring cursory glances to ensure they weren't a threat. Even after a whole summer of peace, he was still wary for danger and he wondered if that would ever go away.

Just as he reached the platform separating three and four, he heard a very familiar voice.

"...Packed with Muggles of course."

He turned with a grin as a group of red heads trooped towards him. Nearly all of them were absorbed with pushing trolleys or hurrying along but one of them caught his eye. Their face broke into a relived grin and Harry shot him a grin right back. Ron looked just like he remembered so long ago, although he noted with amusement Ron had ensured there was no black smudge on his long nose.

"Come along now," Mrs Weasley said as Harry sneakily followed them. "Now, what's the platform again?"

Ron had told him that Mrs Weasley asked this in order to include whoever wasn't going to Hogwarts. Before his First year, Ron had eagerly answered as his mum had asked this and now it was Ginny's turn.

"Nine and three quarters," came the little girl's abolesant voice and Harry's heart gave a painful twinge. She was so young, so innocent and untouched by any darkness; he was at once happy and sad. How long before she became the vibrant, strong, beautiful girl he'd known?

He watched as Ginny begged to be allowed to go and briskly but gently told she wasn't old enough. Mrs Weasley instructed all of her children, especially the twins to be good and no mischief. Harry tried not to gaze at Fred but it wasn't easy. He was the first 'dead' person Harry had come into contact with and he fought to prevent a lump forming in his throat. Fred was alive, everything was okay, and there was no need to grieve.

He'd done plenty of that this summer.

"Oh, are you a Prefect Percy?" George was now mocking but then Ron spoke.

"We get it, you guys don't like Prefects."

The whole family stared at Ron in mild shock, although it was hard to tell if the twins or Percy was the most shocked. Fred recovered and demanded.

"What's up with you?"

"Just saying," Ron said with a small shrug. "Bill was a Prefect; you didn't rib him for it."

Percy twitched, indicating that he hadn't forgotten this point. Before either twin could hotly retort, Mrs Weasley interrupted.

"That's enough boys. You should all be proud of Percy's achievement and as Ron said, your brother Bill was one too and he became Head boy."

She said this last part rather dreamily, for her; it was still an incredibly proud moment.

"Fine, fine," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "We'll leave perfect Percy the Prefect alone, happy Ron?"

"Pretty happy," Ron quipped with a sly grin as the twins stared at him. Where was this confidence coming from, he was normally so easy to rile up. Almost as easy as Percy.

"Never mind that now, we need to start going through," Mrs Weasley said, shooing the twins towards the barrier and they obeyed, charging for the barrier and disappearing.

"That was very sweet of you Ron," Mrs Weasley sighed, giving him a kiss on the cheek which he only half heatedly squirmed away from.

"Thank you Ron," Percy said in his rather formal way but you could tell he was touched. "I'm going through, mother."

And with that, he was away.

Harry decided that now was as good as any to introduce himself and came forward rather hesitantly.

"Excuse," he asked politely. "How do you..."

He gestured helplessly towards the platform and Mrs Weasley rushed to his rescue.

"You don't know how to get onto the platform, dear?" she asked kindly and as he nodded, said.

"Well not to worry, you just go straight at it and keep going, don't stop. Best do it at a run if you're nervous."

"I'll go with him," Ron piped up. "There's not many Muggles about here."

"Alright, go together," Mrs Weasley said as Ron and Harry lined up, Ginny shooting Harry a curious look. "On you go."

Together, the two boys rushed for the barrier and a moment later were through. They kept wheeling their trolleys just a bit further than they needed to before stopping. Breathing heavily, they stared at each other for a moment before throwing themselves at each. Their tight hug probably only lasted less than a minute but to them, it felt like a lifetime. Emotions coursed through their diminished bodies but they could barely recognise any of them.

And then they broke apart and looked around slightly self consciously.

"Think anyone noticed?" Ron muttered but Harry shook his head, everyone was too busy getting on the train or seeing off loved ones.

"I don't think so," Harry murmured back, "We're safe for now."

"Safe," Ron chuckled. "That feels weird, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry replied as Mrs Weasley and Ginny made their way through.

"I'll go save a compartment," Harry murmured as Mrs Weasley said.

"You got through alright dear?"

"Yes I did, thank you," Harry said warmly. "I'm just going to save a compartment for me and Ron."

"Oh, what a sweet young man," Mrs Weasley exclaimed as Ron resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Some things never changed.

As Harry blushed, after a month of the Dursleys, hearing a compliment embarrassed him a little, Mrs Weasley called.

"Fred...George...come and give a hand."

"We're coming," they chorused as they seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Help this young man put his trunk on the train and then you can help with Ron's," she ordered as Harry noticed that Ron seemed to have an extra piece of luggage this time round. It looked like a hamper but Mrs Weasley didn't usually have time to make anything except sandwiches for the journey.

"There you go," Fred said, after helping Harry to heave the trunk up, along with Hedwig's cage.

"Thanks," Harry said gratefully, resisting the urge to reveal his scar, he didn't feel like being gawked at yet.

"Better find a compartment while we help ickle Ronniekins," George said with a wink and Harry smiled.

He quickly dragged his trunk away with Hedwig's cage until he came to the end where there was a spare. Just as he was stowing everything away, Ron came puffing in.

"Their all dying to know who you are," he remarked. "Cause me and you are friends so quickly."

"Funny that," Harry laughed as he started to help Ron just as a sudden squeal distracted him.

The boys turned and froze as they spotted a very familiar, bushy haired figure down the corridor. She stared at them for a moment, hands clasped together in joy before charging forward, dodging stray students and throwing herself into their arms. And the two boys hugged Hermione, even tighter than they had done themselves as she half cried with happiness.

The trio was together again.

Author's note. Hope you all enjoyed that, now the trio are back together, things can get going. How does their train journey go? What's different this time around? Find out next time, until then.