"...I'm still saying that this is utterly outrageous. I'm going to tell Harry immediately, as soon as I see him, this is…" Hermione was muttering darkly under her breath as she sat in the carriage of the train that had just taken off from the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
Hogwarts Express was once again moving towards Hogwarts, full of students once again, even though there had been more than a few complaints from the muggle-born students about the mental state of the Headmaster when he had declared that the students would on-the-spot practice the usage of Floo Network, and they were sent through the Floo Network to the Platform of Nine and Three Quarters.
Luckily enough only a couple of first-years had gotten scattered and had gotten lost in the Network, and each of them had been recovered by the Professors who were overlooking the transportation.
And a part of Hermione did agree that training to use Floo Network would be a good learning experience, but the majority of her did not agree as to why the training was taking place.
The older students had just gone along with the flow without complaint, as they had already gotten used to Dumbledore's antics and at least this time it didn't involve forbidden forests, cerberus hounds locked to random rooms, exploding secret mazes with dead Defense Against The Dark Arts teachers found inside them, or an announcement that another Defense Against The Dark Arts professor had been killed and eaten due to a case of mistaken identity.
"Grumble grumble grumble…" The words coming from Hermione's mouth slowly quieted to just a simple uninterrupted growl.
"Um…" Neville looked supremely uncomfortable with the whole situation and rummaged through his bag for a while.
The students had not been required to take all of their items with them to the train, but due to being asked to wear muggle clothes until reaching Hogwarts, many had packed change of clothes as well as some snacks to last the half-a-day train ride back to Hogwarts.
Neville offered Hermione a bar of some sort of cream candy and Hermione took it without conscious decision as she was too stuck on grumbling about favoritism, heroes acting selfishly and missed classes.
Ron merely shrugged and circled his finger next to his temple, as if to say to Neville that Hermione had something wrong with her head.
"Anyway, let's go find Harry. I'm certain that he's already been cornered by the Dark Wizards-" Ron began to speak but Hermione interrupted him.
"Slytherin students, Ron, they are not all dark wizards. Just some." Hermione stated, feeling as if painting a whole group after a few bad apples to be too generalizing, but at the same time- Some students, like Draco Malfoy and his cronies, had certainly had picked their side in the light spectrum and it was not hard to see what it was.
"...Are you a spy for Slytherin, Hermione?" Ron seemed suspicious, making Hermione sigh.
"I just do not want to paint an entire House with a single stroke of color. And no, I am not a Slytherin spy, Ronald Weasley." Hermione added as Ron seemed just more suspicious, and she once again felt her decision to ask to be sorted to Ravenclaw to be justified.
Then again, from what Hermione had gathered of her impromptu 'friends' after the Headmaster had dismissed the trio from the Headmaster's Office, the entire Weasley family had a huge psychological abhorrence towards Slytherin after the events of the last war, so she did understand why Ron was so adamantly hostile towards them- Even if she felt that clinging to old hatreds would be a good way to reignite a conflict that would have otherwise been snuffed out by time.
Not to mention that she had learned from Hufflepuffs that Neville had a huge responsibility placed on his shoulders as he was the last scion of an Ancient and Noble family, and had been so late to awaken his magic that he had nearly been declared a Squib. In addition there had been some uncertain rumors regarding Neville's parents, making Hermione fairly certain that Neville's lack of courage didn't come from his own actions but rather from his surroundings.
'Oh. It's actually good.' Hermione thought while she ate the creamy bar of some sort of butter-like candy and felt a bit better, almost as if an annoyed haze had lifted from her head.
In retrospect Hermione realized that she hadn't eaten her breakfast and had been quite hungry, and it must have been a big reason why she had gone off on Dumbledore as hard as she had- And she promptly panicked internally. 'Oh- Oh no! W-what if I get a detention later, or expelled?! But I was supposed to make friends with Harry Potter- Wait, doesn't that mean Dumbledore is effectively saying that 'he'll hold the expulsion for now, but if you don't make friends with Harry Potter, you're expelled?!'
Hermione thought about it for a split second, and then dismissed the theory as her mind going on a ramble due to realizing that she had been incredibly rude to the Headmaster. 'No, expelling students as punishment is not something Dumbledore would do, I'm certain of it. He doesn't seem like the type- It's just that I am just an idiot who thought I'd be more intelligent than him…'
Hermione felt as if her anger and panic had both subsided too quickly, and glanced at the snack bar.
"I- It's a cream puff bar that has been laced with a calming potion… Grandma sent me a box of those before we first got to Hogwarts, just in case, and told me that 'I wouldn't need to participate but…'." Neville explained as Hermione glanced at the candy bar while squinting her eyes suspiciously. "I- I figured that since you looked really stressed- um- S-sorry. I should have told you first."
"Yes, you should. But I'll forgive you. Just… Promise me you won't get into the habit of feeding strange potions to young witches without their knowledge." Hermione pointed out, making Neville jump a bit and nod his head nervously as he must have realized the implications.
Ron merely glanced between the two, not exactly seeing where the problem was if his expression was anything to go by. "Wait, you're stressed about this, why? We'll get to meet Harry Potter and potentially save him!"
"It's… Fine, let's just go with that." Hermione hesitated on whether or not she should say anything, and decided on 'no' since she was fairly certain that Ron was hyperfixated on the 'mission' so anything she'd say would likely be for vain.
Hermione had spoken to Ron's younger sister on a couple of occasions, and found from her that the Weasley family practically considered Harry Potter to be a patron saint of Gryffindor, even though he had never set foot on Hogwarts, and hero-worship was very strong in the family. So she didn't take too much offense on Ron's single minded focus.
Too much.
Regardless, the snack cart moved in the center of the carriage and the old, chubby and homely lady who sold snacks and food to the students paused by the cabin to ask if any of the three students within wanted anything.
The lady then spotted Hermione, Ron and Neville, and winked at them before leaning into the carriage cabin. "Mr. Potter is in the sixth carriage, in the second cabin on the right. Dumbledore told me to tell you. Chop chop! And take these with you, if you want."
The lady offered a fruit basket that contained snacks. "If mr. Potter asks, then "consider these to be a gift from a person that is grateful over what he has done for all of us in Magical Britain."
Ron took the basket and stood up instantly, grabbed his pet rat who had been sleeping by the window, and put the rat on his head. "Right! Let's go!"
"Um…" Neville searched around a bit… And paled. "Um… My toad… Trevor? Trevor, where did you go?"
Hermione covered her face in exasperation. "Why did you bring your pets here… I left Crookshanks to Hogwarts on purpose-"
"Yeah, like you should! That beast was eyeing Scabbers like it was wanting to eat him!" Ron looked quite wary, making Hermione sigh.
"It's not his fault, cats eat rats. I've tried to teach him to be a vegan, but he doesn't really want to do that…" Hermione defended her pet half-kneazle and felt a bit angry over the accusation. "Anyway, weren't you in a hurry to go fanboy over Harry Potter or whatever?"
Ron looked a bit angry and just huffed before walking off, leaving Hermione and Neville in the cabin.
"Um… Hermione, I'm really, really, really sorry but can you help me find Trevor?" Neville asked with a very small voice.
"Didn't we already do this once, when we arrived at Hogwarts for our first year studies?" Hermione sighed quite hard.
"Yes, I'm sorry…"
"Fine, I'll help you search. Haa, I should have practiced Accio when I first read on that spell…"
"Thanks, Hermione, you're a lifesaver."
"Don't mention it."
.
.
.
Draco Malfoy was… worried.
'...Very good. I expect that you'll be able to infiltrate mr. Potter's inner circle and influence him. If you require gold for this task then send me an Owl, and I'll procure as much as you need, specifically if mr. Potter requests a loan of some sort. However, no matter what happens, you are not to become his enemy- At least as far as he understands it.' Lucius Malfoy had instructed Draco as soon as Draco had contacted his father after the dramatic event at the picking of Champions.
Naturally, Lucius Malfoy had heard that Harry Potter had been picked as the Fourth Champion even before Draco had managed to sneak away from the chaos, reach the Slytherin common rooms, and find a secluded spot to contact his father through a mirror which would connect to a similar duplicate mirror in his father's possession, allowing secure communication between them for emergencies.
Draco noticed that Lucius had been quite wary and calculating when he spoke, meaning that his father was taking the news of Harry Potter's appearance quite seriously, and that adjusted Draco's attitude to the event quite a bit.
At first his reaction would have been of a dismissive sneer and mocking towards the Potters, but the fact Lucius had instructed Draco to approach Harry but to be very wary about it, had caused Draco to drastically adjust his opinion.
Draco didn't understand why, considering that a latecomer to Hogwarts or whatever surely wouldn't be a big threat even if he carried the Potter name, but Lucius had been very clear in telling Draco to be very careful.
If Draco Malfoy had to put a finger on it, he would have pointed at the strange 'school of magic' that Harry Potter allegedly belonged to based on Dumbledore's announcement. However, Draco hadn't been told of any such school existing, meaning that either it was a sham… Or Lucius knew something that he wasn't willing to let Draco know.
Draco was feeling slightly betrayed that Lucius was keeping something from him, but he trusted that his father would have informed him if the information was something that concerned Draco in a meaningful way- Much like Lucius had told Draco about the Tri-Wizard Tournament pretty much instantly after learning it's arrangement during a meeting in Wizengamot.
So, with the instructions and internalized worry in mind, Draco Malfoy had embarked on the second train-trip to Hogwarts during that school-year aboard the Hogwarts Express, and had used his entourage to try to find Harry Potter.
Crabbe and Goyle had proven to be utterly useless at the task as any form of subterfuge had been an utterly alien concept to the bouncer-like teenagers, but some of his other contacts had managed to find someone who they believed was Harry Potter.
Blaize Zabini bowed a bit to Malfoy after informing him about Harry Potter's location, and Malfoy motioned for Crabbe and Goyle to stop interrogating a terrified first-year boy and the pair dropped the kid who scurried away like a rat, and then fell lock-step with their master.
A few minutes later Malfoy was behind the closed door of a cabin in the sixth carriage.
He knocked on the door…
No-one answered.
Malfoy knocked again.
No-one answered.
Malfoy slammed the door open.
There was no-one in the cabin.
A vein ticked in Malfoy's temple. 'Oh. I'm so going to get Zabini for this… How dare he try to prank me?!'
Crabbe and Goyle looked confused and glanced around the empty cabin.
"We'll find him. Keep searching." Malfoy turned around and walked off, and Crabbe and Goyle followed him.
Luckily enough they came across Ronald Weasley who had been courteously carrying snacks for Malfoy to make up for his bad mood, and after some physical convincing by Crabbe and Goyle, Ronald had agreed to give the basket of snacks to Draco in exchange for not being thrown out of the window of the moving train.
.
.
.
A few minutes later Hermione, Neville and Ron walked to the sixth carriage- Or rather, Hermione and Neville walked, and Ron limped as he had gotten a head-start on them, but had been delayed by the Slytherin bully-trio.
"That was horrible! I'm going to report that to the Prefects! And Professor Flitwick! This is completely unacceptable!" Hermione was fuming after Ron had told what had happened. "That was a robbery! Pure and simple!"
"Yea. I'd like that. But don't get yourself into trouble over it. Seriously." Ron was rubbing his cheek and reached into his mouth to pull a loose tooth out. "Ow… Well, Madam Pomfrey can fix that, I'm sure of it."
"That doesn't make it okay!" Hermione stomped her feet.
"Yea, Malfoy's a right prat… Thanks, Hermione." Ron looked a bit glad and Hermione nodded to him before knocking on the cabin door that allegedly housed Harry Potter.
No-one answered, and Hermione knocked again.
"Do you think he's asleep?" Neville suggested a bit warily while keeping his pet toad within a careful cage-like grip and was looking at it, determined to not let it escape again.
"Hm… Excuse me! May we come in?" Hermione tried to call to the cabin… And Ron just opened the door. "Hey!"
"Hey! Harry!" Ron spoke while walking in… And paused. "Oh. He's not here."
"Um…" Hermione looked uncertain. "Do you think he moved somewhere else?"
"W-what if he's taking a pee and isn't here right now…" Neville suggested, making Hermione sigh. "He'll come back, right?"
"We can just say that we thought this carriage was empty, and that'll be fine, right?" Ron suggested in an unusual display of guile.
"Right. Um- We should just sit down and wait, I guess?" Hermione said. "After that we can tell him that Dumbledore told us to meet him and try to be friends with him, and so forth."
"S-should we?" Neville sounded nervous. "What- what if he gets angry at us?"
"I'm certain he'll get even more angry if he finds out later. Besides, he can just tell us to go away and that'll be that!" Hermione tapped her feet a bit.
It looked like that explanation mollified Neville even though Ron didn't look like he approved, and the trio sat down after stashing their bags which contained their Hogwarts uniforms.
Or rather, Ron and Neville sat down, but when Hermione sat down…
She realized that she was sitting on something warm, and that she was floating in the air.
Hermione looked down and saw that something silk-like had moved and revealed a pair of sneakers that were connected to jeans-covered shins that seemed to be cut from midway up.
"Kya!" Hermione stood up instantly, feeling weirded out over the experience. "What- There's something there!"
"What- Eh?!" Ron looked quite surprised as well while Neville recoiled backwards.
'Wait… I think I read about… something like that?' Hermione got a sudden idea as to what was going on.
The pair of sneakers didn't seem to try to eat the trio or anything like that, and Hermione inched closer to the feet after a moment… And reached to grab an oddly velvety edge near the 'cutoff point' of the shins, before pulling it up.
The invisibility cloak came off and revealed that there had been a young man under it who had been sleeping peacefully.
Moreover, the young man had raven-black hair and a lightning-bolt-like scar on his forehead.
And he opened his bloodshot eyes as the cloak came off. "...Hm…"
"Hoaaah." Harry Potter stretched a bit. "Oh. Greetings."
"Sorry! I didn't realize you were sitting there, and I accidentally sat on you, and then I took this, but- Sorry! Here, I didn't mean to-!" Hermione babbled in panic as she offered the invisibility cloak back- She had read about them and each cloak was quite an expensive artifact, so she really didn't want Harry to get the wrong idea.
"Hm? Oh. Thanks." Harry took the offered cloak, glanced at it and turned it over a couple of times as if inspecting it for damage, and then, much to Hermione's relief, stuffed it into his pocket.
"Wait- Where'd you get an invisibility cloak from? That's awesome, mate!" Ron looked quite excited to see the item.
"From a… mysterious benefactor, who shall remain unnamed." Harry made a mysterious motion and leaned closer to whisper. "You didn't hear this from me, right, mate?"
"Oh- I, um- yeah!" Ron seemed to be a bit surprised but nodded his head. "Listen! You're Harry Potter, right? There's Dark Wizards who are after you, and we're here to help you against them!"
"Gotcha!" Harry looked completely serious and leaned a bit closer. "This is all part of Hogwarts experience, right? I'm in! What do I need to do?"
"Um- that is- It's not really-" Hermione wasn't sure what she should think. "Um, sorry, we interrupted your sleep- Ronald! There aren't any dark wizards about to attack Harry! it's just- Dumbledore said that we should approach you and try to be your friends, Harry!"
"Tight." Harry nodded and then leaned back. "So we wait until the 'Dark Wizards' ambush us, and then we'll ambush them right back?"
"Yeah!" Ron looked pumped up.
"Um…" Neville looked like he was having a mental breakdown. "I don't want to die…"
"Don't worry! It happens to even the best of us!" Harry turned his attention to Neville. "Remember, it's not about how long we live, but how we live! It's better to live and die, than to wither endlessly on a vine!"
Harry then leaned back a bit and rummaged his pocket a bit. "Besides, you can always come back if you feel like it."
"Wait- no, that's not how death works!" Hermione paused. "When you die you're dead!"
"People die when they are killed. This is a well documented phenomena." Harry nodded. "But it's not like death is the end, right?"
"That- There have been magical theories about functions of a soul, but there hasn't been any real evidence-"
Harry lifted his eyebrow at Hermione, almost as if he had gotten suddenly very suspicious. "Wait, what Tradition were you, again?"
"What do you mean, 'tradition'? If you mean House, I'm a Ravenclaw." Hermione paused a bit.
"Hoo, a riddle then? Gotcha." Harry seemed to realize something and nodded. "I'll have to consult my secret awesome magic."
Ron looked to be quite grim, like a soldier preparing to war after Harry mentioned secret awesome magic. "We're here for you, Harry! You don't have to do this alone!"
Neville let a small 'eep' and curled into a ball.
Hermione tapped the carriage's floor with her foot and crossed her arms.
Harry grabbed a ball of something from his pocket and breathed on it while closing his eyes.
"Hocus pocus, hoppity hoo, reveal to me the Tradition of this bint." Harry pronounced something and then opened the ball of paper in his hands, and read its contents. "Oh. Hermetic Order. Figures. I thought you were a Technocrat for a moment there."
"Wait, how does any of that make sense?!" Hermione blinked.
"It was a Magic Spell that was cast using Magic Words." Harry looked very serious.
"That- gr… Fine. But you're wrong. I'm a student of Hogwarts, and I'm a witch!" Hermione declared.
"Right. Gotcha. I was wrong, sorry about that." Harry put the ball of paper back into his pocket. And then winked just a bit, making Hermione very suspicious that something had happened that she hadn't even realized.
"Wait- If that was a real spell- I see!" Ron seemed to realize something. "During my first year, I was thinking my brothers just pranked me but… The rat-coloring spell was a real spell after all! I just didn't cast it right!"
"No, Ron, that was definitely a prank." Hermione groaned as she had been forced to sit in the same cabin as Ron during her first Hogwarts Express trip to Hogwarts, and the boy had tried to show the 'cool spell' to Hermione.
"Was not!" Ron objected.
"No- Listen, you know that spells require wands, and even then the incantations aren't multipart like that!" Hermione despaired.
"What are they like, then?" Harry asked while looking very curious.
"Didn't you just do magic just now?"
"It was my secret awesome magic so it doesn't count."
"Fine, whatever." Hermione drew her wand and pointed it at Ron's bag that the boy had put on the table haphazardly. "Wingardium Leviosa."
The bag floated a bit up, and then floated to the rack that was above the seats and contained Hermione's and Neville's bags.
"Oh. Right. So the Words of Magic are like, pseudolatin?" Harry nodded very seriously. "Thank you for teaching me, professor."
Hermione felt as if Harry was mocking her and sent him an angry glance, but Harry actually seemed like he had been honest as he had a serious expression and there was no sign of mocking in his voice or eyes, making her hesitate. "Um… Yes, it's something like that. Swish- and flick. And it's very important to use the right tone- Um, you can try to do it on this!"
Hermione drew a pen from her bag, as she only used quills if there was no other choice, and put it on the table. "Actually, you're… uh, are you coming in as a first year student? Or, um… Wait, have you done magic before?"
"Sorta! Right, a chick called McGorefall took me to a place called Olliwanders and he got me this foci…" Harry dug into his pocket a bit and drew… a stick.
Hermione blinked as the wand was… a stick.
It even had a small green leaf attached to it.
"Um… Are you sure that is a wand?" Hermione's voice cracked a bit.
"I am very sure that mr. Ollewinder told me that he was very sure that it was a wand." Harry nodded very seriously. "I also have a backup wand, just in case."
"...Um. So…" Hermione's voice had turned quite small and fragile as she stared at the wand. "So… it's a swish, and flick…"
"Right. Winguardian Leviodra." Harry flicked and swished at the pen.
A part of Hermione died as she heard the way Harry pronounced the spell.
"It's… Wingardium leviohsaaa." Hermione emphasized the focus of the words. "And, um… Try to get the words right too…"
"Wingardium Levigoosaa!"
"Very close… Again, please." Hermione repeated, feeling sudden sympathy for all of the Professor's of Hogwarts.
Harry nodded and pointed the wand again. "Wingaudium Leviusa!"
Hermione's skirt flipped up.
She instantly pushed it back down. "Harry!"
"My deepest apologies. My fine-control slipped. I'm certain I'll get more practice in Hogwarts- Thank you for this peek into the future." Harry played the event straight while Ron snickered and Neville blushed and looked away.
"That was very inappropriate… Haa… Fine… It was an accident, right?" Hermione eyed Harry suspiciously. "Wait, what do you mean 'future'?!"
"Uh huh. Say, do either of you know about a woman named 'McGonegall'?" Harry spoke, ignoring Hermione's indignant squeak at the end. "Speaking of which, you'all seem to know me so can you introduce yourselves?"
"What do- Oh." Hermione blushed as she realized that they had not introduced themselves to Harry, and had more or less gone straight to magical lessons like some sort of brutes.
"I'm Hermione Granger. Greetings. And it's Professor McGongall who you are referring to, and who is the head of House Gryffindor and teaches Transfiguration in Hogwarts. And we've been told by the Headmaster to attempt to become your friends." Hermione spoke first before Ron could even open his mouth.
"I see… This McGongurl of yours showed me around your alleyway-town-thing in London so I got curious. And I like your honesty! But it's alright. After all, I said 'I want the full Hogwarts experience' when Dumbledore asked me to come on over. I didn't know you guys had a practice of pre-assigned minions." Harry waved his hand reassuringly. "Well, in addition to that prophecy-thing that more or less forces me to attend a tournament of some sort."
"You're… um…" Ron was seemingly a bit surprised how Harry reacted to the news. "Um…"
"Fret not, friend-in-pretend. We can be friends-in-pretend-in-pretend if you want." Harry was very serious as he spoke. "I do not approve slavery."
"Ugh…" Hermione sat down and held her head. "Forget I said anything…"
"Um… And I'm Neville… Neville Longbottom…" The boy added as Harry glanced at him while Ron was coming to terms what was being said.
"Nice to meet you. In honor of our newly-found 'a group of people locked in a cabin during a train-ride'-status of friendship, may I offer a celebratory mug of tea?" Harry reached under the seat and pulled what looked like muggle thermos and four cups from under there. Or rather, five cups, except one of them was really tiny.
'...Um… Did he know to expect us if he had four cups prepared?' Hermione blinked a bit but didn't make a fuss of it- She had already gotten a bit of a headache just listening to Harry's words, and she wasn't going to make it worse.
"It's a tea from southern america. I'm a big fan. I figured that it'd help us really amp up this train ride." Harry explained as he poured tea for all of them, and the liquid let off a very sweet scent that seemed to envelop the cabin in seconds.
He then placed the teacups on the table at the center of the cabin, and offered the tiny cup to the rat that was on top of Ron's head.
Scabbers looked thoroughly spooked by the gesture and hid into Ron's hoodie.
"...I'm really sorry if this comes off as weird or offensive, but have you put anything weird into this?" Hermione felt a bit uncertain and wanted to check as she took the cup.
"Do you mean that as a question about the ingredients, or…?" Harry lifted his eyebrow while sipping from his cup.
"Nevermind." Hermione relaxed a bit as Harry drank it as well, so the drink most likely didn't contain anything too suspicious, and she took a sip as well while Ron had already drank his cup. 'Oh. It's sweet, kind of like butterbeer. But without the butter. Or the beer. I think I like this…'
There was a slightly bitter, earthy taste after the fruity sweetness passed, making her fairly certain that the tea had contained some sort of root.
She put the teacup down after a moment.
"Hm… So, I figured that I'd ask about something you mentioned- You said that Dumbledore asked you to come meet me and so forth?" Harry asked after the group relaxed a bit, and just listened to the train's various sounds for a moment while drinking the tea.
"Hm… Yeap. Dumbledore is a really ancient and powerful and wise wizard, even if he acts really goofy… Mom says so and I know that it is so." Ron told Harry. "He asked us to be your friends because the evil Slytherins will try to corner and ambush you. They are all Dark Wizards!"
"Are you my sword and shield, sent by Dumbledore to protect against the factions within your factions? I am grateful for your presence, protectors." Harry bowed his head a bit at Ron, Neville and Hermione, making Neville look worried and Ron to preen proudly.
Hermione just sighed as her headache had disappeared some time after drinking the tea. "Actually, I think it's just Dumbledore trying to influence you, Harry. I think he's a hypocrite. Or something."
"Huh. So he has ulterior motives, then?" Harry looked quite sad, making Hermione pat his shoulder reassuringly, and then feel strange as she somehow felt as if she had acted weird just now, or said something she shouldn't have. "Are you going to betray me?"
"No! There's no way!" Ron looked shocked. "There's no way! You're the Boy-Who-Lived so of course we'll stick by you!"
"Even if Dumbledore was a hypocrite who turned against me?" Harry asked, making Hermione feel quite strange.
"Um… eh…" Ron seemed taken aback. But then he shook his head. "No, because Dumbledore is the good leader of Light, and Harry Potter is the hero, so there's no way Dumbledore would betray Harry Potter, and there's no way Harry Potter would betray Dumbledore! Why-"
"Sorry. I asked an unfair question. Please forgive me." Harry bowed his head again at Ron, making whatever further response he might have had die on his lips.
"No, it's… Hermione! Stop saying things like that! You're confusing Harry!" Ron blinked and then turned his attention to Hermione.
Hermione hiccupped a bit. "Did not!"
Neville had a dark expression on his face as he cradled the teacup. "I want to punch Malfoy."
"Neville! That's… Illegal!" Hermione paused. "Wait, since when did you say things like that?"
"It's alright man. We'll get our revenge one day!" Harry reached to pat Neville's shoulder reassuringly. "What did this Malfoy-guy do?"
"He… ehm… Actually…" Neville seemed to snap out of it, but then seemed to droop a bit. "He called me… A worthless son of a noble house… and said a bunch of mean things… The worst part… he's right…"
All of a sudden Neville buried his face in his hands and started to cry. "I'm worthless! Granny is so disappointed in me! I can't… I'm too afraid to fight, I don't want to hurt anyone, but if I don't stay strong and 'hold my ground' I'll just get rolled over… sniff…"
"Hey, hey, it's alright big man." Harry stood up and walked to Neville, and then hugged him. "It's cool. I think you're big and strong and brave."
"You… you're just saying that to cheer me up…" Neville, however, wasn't swayed. Although he did physically sway more than a bit.
"If you weren't big and strong and brave, why did Dumbledore send you to me as a guard against dark wizards, then?" Harry seemed to switch tactics, making Hermione blink at the sight as the cabin seemed oddly hazy.
Neville didn't seem to notice the strange haziness, however, as he was hiccupping quite a bit. "It's not that… I'm just… I don't know… I don't know why I'm even here… I just am… I'm a failure of a Hufflepuff…"
"Do you mean you're more intelligent than Dumbledore?" Harry sounded quite amazed, making Neville bawl even harder, and Hermione started to stand up as she had flopped back on her seat some time ago.
She wouldn't be just watching when Harry was clearly mocking Neville… And then she paused to think, which proved to be quite hard. 'Wait… thinking… uugh… wait… that tea?'
"I- No, no way… I'm not as intelligent as Dumbledore-" Neville seemed to rear back as if struck, and Harry proceeded on the offense.
"In other words- Since you think you're weak and useless, Dumbledore must have known this and nonetheless sent you to guard me against Dark Wizards…" Harry drawled with a worrying amount of realization in the tone, making Ron tilt his head and Neville to whimper. "In other words, Dumbledore is trying to get me killed by sending me useless bodyguards! Dumbledore must be one of the Dark Wizards!"
"No! That- that can't be!" Ron and Neville spoke almost at the same time, although with nearly the same words. "Dumbledore isn't like that! He's the leader of good! He wouldn't send useless bodyguards or try to get you killed, Harry!"
"I see… That is a relief. And also means that Neville is competent and strong, he himself just doesn't think that he is." Harry seemed to give a sigh of relief and slumped back on his seat. "In other words, Dumbledore thinks that Neville is strong, awesome and big, because he wanted to send a big, strong and awesome bodyguards to make sure I won't die to a Dark Wizard attack. However, Neville thinks that he isn't big, strong and awesome, but since Dumbledore is more intelligent than Neville, then Dumbledore would be correct and Neville would be incorrect."
"Uuh…" Neville seemed to blink quite a few times, and then absentmindedly drank another sip of tea as Harry had filled his cup after hugging him. "I… am? But… I had to get dropped on my head as a child to awaken my magic…"
Hermione let out a small giggle against her will, even though she felt quite mortified after the fact.
"We all have had our specific ways of awakening up to magic. Zero shame in that." Harry nodded very seriously and with zero humor in his voice, making both Hermione and Neville jump as neither had expected his expression to turn that quickly. And then he smiled again in a somewhat goofy way. "Actually, did I tell you how I awakened my magic? It was pretty funny in retrospect, actually."
"What… Did you get dropped on your head too?" Neville sounded just a bit hopeful for some reason.
"No, it must have been when You-Know-Who attacked Harry, and Harry destroyed him!" Ron argued.
"Well… Not exactly." Harry refilled the cups of tea, and Hermione found herself reaching for her cup even though her head started to feel really strange and her body felt really light.
"It was actually when a wizard hobo came to my home, aka cupboard under the stairs, and stuffed me full of every kind of illegal drug available to what we term 'Muggles'." Harry told them very seriously while sipping more tea.
Neville let a choking sound as he had been drinking his tea.
Ron just blinked and seemed to lean against the backrest of his seat. "That's… strange…"
Hermione giggled a bit and wobbled on the spot. "Noo… That's silly…"
"I'm perfectly serious!" Harry seemed indignant as the words didn't seem to get the reaction he wanted. "I did!"
"I believe you, Harry!" Neville sounded serious after managing to hack the tea from his lungs.
Harry looked quite happy.
Ron blinked again. "Hold on… Dumbledore said… Harry Potter of Cult of Ecstasy…"
"He must have mis-spoken. I'm actually from the magical Tradition of Sahajiya." Harry corrected, making Ron sigh in relief.
"Sorry, I must have misheard- That kind of stuff, um…" Ron shook his head, and then flopped over on Neville's lap as the motion was perhaps a bit too intense for him. "I… feel sleepy…"
"Well, by my reckoning we'll be in Hogwarts in… Six hours?" Harry seemed to guess and glanced at Hermione.
"We'll be in Hogwarts in… wait, what time is it… um…" Hermione blinked as she leaned out of the cabin and checked the magical clock on the wall. "Wait, we'll… arrive in ten minutes? Wait- wait wait, it's- aaaarg! We need to get changed!"
"Wait, but it's still sunny out- um…" Ron blinked as he glanced out and noticed that the sun had fallen beyond the horizon. "Uh…"
"Man, speaking to you three must have been so much fun that we forgot the passage of Time!" Harry nodded multiple times. "Anyway, apparently I'll get 'sorted' or something like that, so I'm probably supposed to join that line-"
"Sorry! I'll need to go and get changed- I'll go change my clothes in some empty cabin, you can just-" Hermione was pulling her spare clothes from her bag, and stumbled on her feet as the train started to slow down a bit and the room felt really wobbly for some reason.
However, before she could fall and land on her face, she found herself having fallen on Harry's lap while holding her clothes protectively against her chest.
"Are you alright? You stumbled." Harry asked as he patted Hermione's head, causing her head to spin a bit- Although the spinning didn't have much to do with the head-pat.
"It's- um, I need to get changed! Sorry!" Hermione sat up… And blinked.
"You just came from the bathroom, you changed your clothes, right?" Harry pointed out. "You then stumbled on the doorway and fell on my lap. I'm cool with that, by the way, I'm pretty good at catching falling witches."
"I-" Hermione glanced down and realized that she was in the Hogwarts school uniform. "I- um- I… uh… I must have, yeah… A uniwurm…"
Thinking felt incredibly hard for Hermione, and she felt as if something was seriously off.
The train ground to a halt and Hermione discarded that line of thinking in order to get up. "Uh… Right…"
Ron and Neville were leaning on one another, wobbling out of the cabin, and joining the rest of the students who were lazily flowing out of the train.
Hermione paused as she thought she had been given some order or something from Dumbledore, and felt as if she should tell Harry about it.
"Uh… Hawwy… the… the thing is, about us being fwends, is that we're like, fwendies with endies but Dubbledurr was like…" Hermione tried to speak but frowned as only gibberish came out. "Maalfuuu must have… jinx… unfair…"
However, as she turned back towards the cabin, she found that it was now empty.
"Using invishibibi clock is unfaaaair…" Hermione wobbled on the spot and then pointed at the empty cabin. "That's agaaaainst the wooools."
Hermione then fell over, and fell asleep in her bed in Ravenclaw dorm.