This was supposed to be about the entire train ride, but it was getting way too long, so I up into two parts.

You care lol.

Chapter 46: Back To School

I woke up to someone nudging me extremely hard.

"What did you do, Ron?! yelled Percy, shoving a photo in my face.

"The bloody hell are you going on about?" I said, sitting up and looking at the photo. It was of Percy's Ravenclaw girlfriend. For some reason, she was hiding her face.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked as I stretched.

"You know damn well what's wrong with it!" huffed Percy. "You spilled your tea you had last night on her and it caused her face to swell. She won't even look at me!"

I gave Percy a deadpan look. "And why, may I ask, would I do something like that?"

'You're just jealous that you can't get a girlfriend." said Percy, smugly.

I hopped out of bed and proceeded to get my clothes and shower stuff ready. "Oh year, Perce. My 13 year old self is sooooo jealous that I don't have a girlfriend yet and that you do. Hopefully you don't bore the poor girl to death."

And before he could retort, I slammed the door to the loo in his face.

After my shower I put on my clothes and headed towards Harry's room. He was just lacing up his shoes.

"The sooner we get on the train, the better." I said. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know, his girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy."

"I've got something to tell you," Harry began, but we were interrupted by Fred and George, who had looked in to congratulate me on infuriating Percy again.

We headed down to breakfast, where Dad was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a frustrated look on his face and Mum was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly. Those were the last two that needs to know what a love potion was. Hermione would get it better than accurate, and Ginny would use it to trap Harry into a fake marriage.

"What were you saying?" I asked Harry as we sat down for breakfast.

"Later." Harry muttered as Percy stormed in.

Soon after, we were busy heaving all our trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow staircase and piling them up near the door, with Hedwig and Hermes perched on top in their cages. Hermione's miniature tiger was hissing from his cage.

"It's all right, Crookshanks." Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't! What about poor Scabbers, eh?" I said, pointing at my chest, where Scabbers was curled up in my pocket.

Dad, who had been outside waiting for the Ministry cars, stuck his head inside.

"They're here." he said. "Harry, come on."

Dad marched Harry toward the first of two old-fashioned green cars, each of which was driven by some official looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet.

"In you get, Harry." said Dad, glancing up and down the crowded street, as if he was being hypersensitive about something.

Harry got into the back of the car. Hermione and I got in after him. Unfortunately, Percy got in as well.

The journey to King's Cross was very uneventful. We reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare. The Ministry drivers found us trolleys, unloaded our trunks, touched their hats in salute to Dad, and drove away.

For some reason, Dad kept close to Harry's elbow all the way into the station.

"Right then." he said, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."

After Harry and Dad went, Percy and Ginny followed, then the twins, and then Hermione and I, with Mum bringing up the rear.

"Ah, there's Penelope!" said Percy, smoothing his hair and going pink again. Ginny and Harry turned away to hide their laughter as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair, walking with his chest thrown out so that she couldn't miss his shiny badge.

Dad led the way to the end of the train, past packed compartments, to a carriage that looked quite empty. We loaded our trunks onto it, stowed Hedwig and Crookshanks in the luggage rack, then went back outside to say goodbye to Mum and Dad

Mum kissed us all, Hermione and Harry included. "Do take care, won't you Harry?" she said. Then she opened her enormous handbag and said, "I've made you all sandwiches. Here you are."

I made a face. Not another repeat of first year.

"Ron...no, they're not corned beef... Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are dear..."

Dad took Harry aside and talked to him out of earshot. That was unusual.

"Now, you'll mind your sister, won't you Ron?" asked Mum, straightening my shirt.

"Yes, Mum, I promise."

"Good boy." she said, embarrassingly pinching my cheek. I suddenly felt even more embarrassed by Hermione giggling about it.

"Arthur!" called Mum as she pushed us onto the train. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"

"He's coming Molly!" said yelled Dad.

Hermione and I stood by, watching as Dad continued to speak to Harry a bit note frantically.

"Arthur, quickly!" cried Mum.

Harry ran to the compartment door and I threw it open and stood back to let him on. We leaned out of the window and waved at Mum and Dad until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.

"I need to talk to you in private," Harry muttered to Hermione and I as the train picked up speed.

"Go away, Ginny." I said, not meaning to sound mean, but it probably came out that way.

"Oh, that's nice." said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off.

We set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train.

There was a man sitting fast asleep next to the window in there. Which was weird because the only adult we ever seen on here was the trolley lady. He was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that looked worse off than anything that was ever handed down to me. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair had strands of gray in it.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" I hissed as we sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.

"Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's on his case." she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

"Wonder what he teaches?" I said, frowning.

"That's obvious." whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Well, I hope he's up to it." I said doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway, what were you going to tell us, Harry?"

Harry explained all about overhearing Mum and Dad speaking on the fact that Sirius Black was out to get Harry, and how Dad had warned him not to go looking for him.

"Sirius Black escaped to come after you?" gasped Hermione at the end. "Oh, Harry...you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry."

"I don't go looking for trouble." said Harry. "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him? No one knows how he got out of Azkaban. No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too." I said, feeling extremely scared for my best mate.

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione, hopeful. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too."

Suddenly there came a faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. We looked all around the compartment.

"What's that noise?" I asked. "It's coming from your trunk, Harry."

I stood up and reached into the luggage rack, pulling out the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of my hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah. Mind you, it's a very cheap one." I said, eyeing it. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione suspiciously.

"No! Well...I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys. But how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him? And letters to you?"

"Stick it back in the trunk or it'll wake him up." said Harry, nodding toward Professor Lupin as it continued to whistle almost ear splitting.

I stuffed the Sneakoscope into a some smelly ass socks that looked way too big for Harry, making me wonder why the bloody hell did he have them anyways. It deafened the sound though, so that helped as I closed the trunk and locked it.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade." I said sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain!"

"Yeah, I think it is, but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!" I said, licking my lips.

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"It's this sweet shop!" I exclaimed, looking off into the distance as I thought of all the wonderful things the store had. "They've got everything. Pepper Imps; they make you smoke at the mouth, and great fat Choco Balls full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next. It's gonna be wicked!"

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain."

"And massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them." I said, plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying.

Hermione looked around at Harry.

"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"

"'Spect it will." said Harry with a downtrodden sigh. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."

"What d'you mean?" I asked.

"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either."

I was horrified.

"You're not allowed to come? But.. no way! McGonagall or someone will give you permission! She just has to!"

Harry laughed as if I was telling a joke.

"Or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle..."

"Ron!" scolded Hermione. "I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the school with Black on the loose."

"Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask of permission." said Harry bitterly.

"But if we're with him, Black wouldn't dare -"

"Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish. Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street, do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because we're there?" said Hermione, as she started fumbling with the straps of Crookshanks basket.

"Don't let that thing out!" I yelled, but too late. Crookshanks leapt from the basket, stretched, yawned, and sprang onto my fucking knees. My pocket trembled as I shoved the stupid tiger cub angrily away.

"Get out of it!"

"Ron, don't!" said Hermione angrily.

I was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred. We watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.

The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. Crookshanks had now settled in an empty seat, his squashed face turned towards me, his vindictive eyes on my top pocket.

Fuzzy little menace.

At one o'clock the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.

Do you think we should wake him up?" I asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food."

Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously.

"Er, Professor?" she said. "Excuse me. Professor?"

He didn't move.

"Don't worry, dear," said the witch, as she handed Harry a large stack of cauldron cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver."

"I suppose he is asleep, right?" I asked quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. "I mean, he hasn't died, has he?"

"No, no, he's breathing," whispered Hermione, taking the cauldron cake Harry passed her.

He may not have been very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in our compartment had its uses. Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, we heard footsteps outside in the corridor again, and our three least favorite people appeared at the door: Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

Annoying gits. The school would have been a much friendlier place if those three weren't running around being assholes to everyone, especially us.

"Well, look who it is." said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley." said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock?"

I stood up so quickly that I knocked Crookshanks basket to the floor. I was ready to punch his lights out, but Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher " said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed to hold me back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed. Apparently he wasn't that stupid to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.

"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.

Harry and I sat down again, I massaged my knuckles as I tried to calm myself down.

"I'm not going to take any shit from Malfoy this year." I said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and -"

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin. "be careful..."

But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep.

"I'm just sick of it, Hermione." I said, wishing I could punch something or someone. Crookshanks looked promising, but Hermione would have had my head.

"I know, but you don't want to get in trouble before we even get there."

"As angry as I am for you Ron, she's right." said Harry. "Just ignore the little prick for now."

I sat back in my seat, crossed my arms, and looked out the sliding door window, as the other students were ruining past.