Harry watched as Hermione walked through the front door and before he had a chance to say something, she grabbed him around the neck and gave him a passionate kiss.
Harry jolted out of bed. Why does he keep dreaming about his friend like that? Did he really have feelings for her? By this point, he couldn't go back to sleep. He put on his glasses and saw that it was 5 am.
He decided to use the time to double check that he had everything he needed. Harry took all of his things downstairs and waited.
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley all dressed early and were waiting in the lounge to see who was going to be picking up Harry.
"You're sure they are going to pick you up in a normal way," grumbled Uncle Vernon.
"Yes, for the thousandth time," Harry moaned. Not that he could really blame him after last year.
He had met the Grangers in his second year, but he didn't really have much of an opportunity to talk to them. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time. When the clock hit 7 am exactly there was a knock on the door.
Harry was relieved. He was pretty sure they were going to be much more presentable to the Dursleys that the Weasleys were.
Uncle Vernon opened the door and saw the Grangers dressed in fine business attire. Hermione was also looking stunning in a very pretty blue dress. Harry saw the shocked look on Dudley's face, and he had to smile.
Uncle Vernon looked at the luxury car they drove in, and his impression of them changed immediately. Uncle Vernon raised his large hand to Mr. Granger, who had obviously heard about the Dursleys from Hermione, because he looked at them with contempt, but when he saw Harry in the stairway and the expression on his face warmed up considerably.
"Hello there Harry," asked Mr. Granger.
"Hello Mr. Granger," Harry replied.
"All your things ready?"
Harry pointed to his belongings and the Grangers helped him put his things in their car.
"Anything left," asked Mr. Granger they put the last of the thing in the car.
"Just Hedwig," Harry said.
Hermione said, "I'll go up with him to get her, ok?"
"Ok honey. We'll wait for you in the car," Mrs. Granger said kindly.
Harry just couldn't get over how different Hermione looked from even last year. After a couple of seconds of doing this, and almost walking into a closed door, he finally looked away. Hermione either didn't notice this, or at least pretended that she didn't. They went in to his room and she looked around as Harry picked up Hedwig's cage.
When Harry looked at her, he noticed something was different. She still had her bushy brown hair, but it wasn't quite as bushy.
"I thought you lived in a cupboard," Hermione said, as she continued to look in the mostly empty room.
"No. I used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said remembering his pre-Hogwarts days.
She shook her head as Harry picked up the box of owl treats on the end table.
"It's very nice of your parents to come over here and pick me up," Harry said.
"It's our pleasure." Hermione smiled adding, "I've got some news for you though."
"I have loads for you too but I would rather leave now. We can talk while we are over at your place, ok?"
Hermione agreed, and the two of them went downstairs, quickly passing the Dursleys, who still had a dumbstruck look on their faces. Harry entered the car, and he said, "I want to thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Granger for picking me up this morning."
Mrs. Granger turned around to look at him. Harry sat in the back seat with Hermione. "Don't be silly. Of course we are happy to pick you up. The amount Hermione speaks about you, we feel that you're practically family already."
Harry went slightly pink saying, "the three of us are good friends."
"Three?" Mrs. Granger said looking slightly confused.
"Hermione, Ron and myself," Harry said, not sure of what she could have thought he had meant.
"Oh, yes. Ron. Of course." she turned back around and it sounded like she giggled. This time it was Hermione that went slightly pink.
Harry felt that it would be better not to bring this up again and he looked out the window as they were leaving Surrey.
Nobody talked for about five minutes or so. Finally, Mr. Granger broke the silence. "Congratulations on winning that tri-wizard cup last year."
"Thanks," Harry said hoping they won't ask him too many questions about it. It still was a painful subject to talk about. It seemed they were able to figure this out and didn't ask him anything more on the subject.
A little while later, as they pulled up to a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood Mr. Granger helped take all of Harry's things into the house. He said, "we have to go to work. I trust we can leave you two to fend for yourselves until we get home."
Hermione said, "sure, no problem."
Her mother looked at the two of them and said, "if you need us don't hesitate to call, otherwise we will be home tonight."
As her parents pulled away, Hermione ushered Harry in to the house. "Let me show you around."
After she showed him around the house, including her bedroom, they went back to the kitchen "Would you like something to eat," she asked.
"Sure, that would be great."
She fried up some bacon and eggs, while Harry sat down and watched her cook. She smiled and brought over two plates.
Harry didn't realize how hungry he was, he was so anxious to leave Privet Drive. It was very good and he enjoyed just sitting there with Hermione.
"I have some news, Harry," she said.
"What is it," Harry asked.
"I got a letter from Hogwarts yesterday," Hermione's sentence the trailed off.
"Yes?"
"They made me a prefect." Hermione had both looked pleased and concerned of his reaction at the same time.
It almost slipped his mind. "Hold on," Harry said as he went to his trunk.
Hermione looked at him, obviously not expecting this reaction. After a couple of seconds, he got what he was looking for. He sat back down at the table and showed her his own prefects pin.
Hermione beamed at Harry, and the she said exuberantly, "you too. This is great."
"I still think it must be some kind of mistake. I was expecting you to get the letter, but I was stunned when I got one."
"No, it's not. This is going to be great," she repeated, albeit in a slightly more restrained tone this time.
Harry, however, couldn't get one though off his mind. "What about Ron?"
"What about Ron?"
"What if he didn't get the same letter. The two of you are my best friends. I don't want to lose him."
"You won't," Hermione said, although she was not looking convinced of this herself.
After breakfast, Harry and Hermione went looking around the House again. Hermione's parents had built a library for her. Everybody knew she loved to read, but Harry was flabbergasted at the number of books she had. Harry had no doubts that she had indeed, read all of these books.
Harry also finally saw her copy of, the now infamous, Hogwarts, a History. It was an impressive and fairly large book. Harry glanced through it, but he had too much on his mind to find where it says the ceiling in the Great Hall is bewitched or where that you can't apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts grounds.
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day talking about everything, from who will be the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to the Weasleys.
Hermione still didn't bring up the whole tri-wizard cup incident, and Harry was grateful. However if he ever was going to talk about it, he felt this was as good a time as any, and he could sense that Hermione wanted to ask, but was just being polite.
Harry looked up into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes and said, "it's ok," and they talked about the events of that day well into the night. They only stopped when the Grangers had come back home from work.
They all decided to go out to dinner that night and Harry had a nice time. When they returned home, they agreed on when they will be going to Diagon Alley, to get their new school term supplies.
Hermione wrote to Ron telling him when they will be meeting him at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry attached it to Hedwig and the two of them watched as she flew off into the horizon.
Hermione showed Harry up to the guest bedroom, where he will be spending the night, and hugged him and wishing him a good night.
Harry looked into a mirror in his and looked at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Of all the unusual thing about Harry, this was by far and away the most. It was even unusual in the wizarding world, and he has become accustomed, if not always comfortable, with people scanning his forehead when they found out who he was.
The reason it was so unusual was that a scar like this only come from being touched by an evil curse, and a powerful one at that. The scar was a remnant of the night Voldemort's attack that took his parents lives, but failed to take his. Nobody really understands understood what happened that night, but as far as anybody could guess Harry was protected from Voldemort's attack when his mother had sacrificed herself to save his life, but as to why his curse had backfired on him, nobody could be certain.
Despite this, Harry, being extremely content and tired after spending such a pleasant day with Hermione, quickly drifted off to sleep.
Harry found himself back at the graveyard where Voldemort returned to full strength. He looked down and saw the face of Cedric Diggory. His stomach dissolved at the sight.
He heard a high cruel laugh that he recognized at once. When he looked up he was indeed back in the graveyard again. He could see a house in the distance, and several tombstones of the Riddles.
He saw Voldemort standing in front of a group of men in hooded robes, with masks on. He recognized them as being the Death Eaters, a group that he knew only too well.
"Wormtail, you have blundered yet again. Tell me why I should spare your treacherous, miserable life."
A short stocky man in the far right got up and said with a terrified sound in his voice, "b-but m-m-master. I helped bring you Potter here. I helped bring you back to full strength."
He looked down at his cowering servant. "Yes, you did. That is the only reason you are still alive. But you allowed Potter to escape. You all did," Voldemort said to the entire group around him, before returning his attention to the smallest of the group, "and what of your recent carelessness"
Harry saw now that all of the Death Eaters were visibly shaking at these words. Voldemort laughed as he witnessed this twisted sight.
Wormtail, trying to think fast, cried, "Please, my master. I will do anything for you. Just let me prove myself to you."
Voldemort looked in his eyes and said, "Do not worry. You will have that opportunity." He looked around at all of them, "You all will. I have a special assignment for each of you. Especially you, Wormtail."
He let out another, yet more powerful laugh. With this Harry bolted upright from his bed. His lightning bolt shaped scar was burning with a pain that Harry had never felt before.
Harry must have yelled, although he really couldn't remember doing so, because Hermione came running into his room. She was there in a second and sat down next to him.
A few moments latter Mr. and Mrs. Granger appeared outside his door. They all looked concerned as Mr. Granger asked, "what's wrong. Are you ok Harry?"
At this Harry realized that he had his hand over his still searing scar, removed it at once and, thinking quickly, said. "yes, I am. I'm sorry I disturbed you all. I must have stubbed my toe on one of the posters of the bed."
Mr. and Mrs. Granger obviously weren't buying this, but realizing that they weren't going to get a straight answer, left Harry and Hermione, advising them not to stay up too late.
After Hermione heard her parents close their bedroom door, she looked into Harry's emerald green eyes. "What's wrong? It's not you-know-who, is it?"
Instead of saying anything Harry simply put his hand over his scar. It was still very painful, but was starting to become bearable. Hermione's eyes were now watering nearly as much as Harry's were.
Harry didn't really remember much after that, all he can remember was waking up with Hermione asleep on the side of his bed, her head resting on his shoulder.
He wished this didn't have to end, but realizing that this looked pretty dodgy, woke her up. He wasn't sure how her parents would have reacted to this sight, but he would rather not take that risk.
After shaking her, he watched as she slowly woke up. Hermione was smiling at him, but suddenly, almost as if she just realized that she wasn't dreaming, she sprang to her feet.
"Good morning, Hermione."
Mrs. Granger appeared at the doorway. "I was coming to wake you up, but I see Hermie has beaten me to it." Harry could have sworn that she had a smirk on her face, but since his glasses were off, he was possibly mistaken.
Mrs. Granger left the two of them alone. After a minute or so, Hermione also left without saying anything.
Harry put on his glasses and quietly changed. After he dressed, Harry went down to the kitchen, where he saw Mr. Granger sitting reading the paper. When Harry had entered the kitchen Mr. Granger put down his paper. "Good morning Harry. All right there?"
Harry, feeling a little embarrassed about the whole incident simply said, "yes. It was nothing. I am really sorry for disturbing you last night."
Mr. Granger gave him a kindly look, saying, "don't be silly. I'm just happy that nothing's wrong."
Mrs. Granger came over to Harry with a plate full of sausage and eggs. "Good morning dear. I hope Hermie didn't disturb you too much last night."
He was about to look at her with a stunned look on his face, when Hermione came jogging down the stairs.
"Good morning honey," her parents said in unison.
"Good morning mom, dad, Harry," she said as she sat down next to Harry around the table.
As he started to dig into his breakfast Harry saw something ginger from the corner of his eye. As he turned around he saw Crookshanks, a ginger cat with a bottlebrush tail, enter from the rear yard. The cat seemed to pause, as if looking around the room before walking over to Harry to brush up against his leg, purring loudly.
"Hello Crookshanks," Harry said, looking down.
Hermione turned around and scratched Crookshanks behind his ears as he pounced into an empty chair next to her.
"Will you two be alright by yourselves," Mrs. Granger asked. "If you want I can stay behind today."
"No. We will be fine," Hermione quickly interjected. Mrs. Granger tuned toward him and said, "Harry?"
"It's ok. We'll be fine," Harry said.
Both of them kissed Hermione goodbye and told them to call if they needed anything.
"What do you want to do today," Hermione asked.
"I want to fly," Harry said in an exasperated tone, "but that is obviously impossible."
Hermione had a mischievous look on her face as she said, "well, not really."
Harry was absolutely stunned. "What do you mean?"
"Flying is not banned. If you're not seen that is," Hermione said. "Do you follow me?"
"Yeah," Harry said, not really having a clue as to what she was talking about.
"Think - what do we have that could allow you to fly without being seen?"
It hit Harry like a ton of bricks. His father's old invisibility cloak. He didn't know what shocked him more though. Whether it was that he didn't think of it, or that Hermione had suggested it.
Seeing that he looked hesitant she added, "well if you don't really want to fly …."
Before she could say another word Harry ran up to his room grabbing his new broom and his cloak and ran back downstairs.
As they went into the rear yard Hermione said, "be careful. If that cloak falls off you could get into big trouble."
But Harry wasn't listening at that point. He just wanted to get on his broom and fly off as fast as he could. He mounted his Spitfire and secured his cloak around it.
He kicked off the ground hard and before he knew what was happening he was at least 500 feet above the houses. This was brilliant. He was going faster than he ever had before. The control was remarkable. He did twists and loops and must have been up for about an hour before he saw Hermione wave aimlessly up in the air, uncertain of exactly where he was, indicating she wanted him to get back to the ground.
Harry reluctantly came back down. He was having a blast, but he needed to know what was wrong. When he landed he took off his cloak and asked what was the problem.
"Nothing," Hermione said with a wide grin on her face. "But did you think that you would hog all the fun for yourself."
Now Harry was really shocked, he knew that Hermione hated to fly. It was one of the very few things that she wasn't very good at.
But before he could dismount his broom to let her have a go, Hermione had climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry's waist. Grinning broadly Harry re-secured the cloak, now around the two of them. He kicked off again, although not nearly as hard as last time.
As they were flying around, Hermione kept pointing out different things in the area, like her old school, the park, the zoo and a soccer stadium.
The only thing that seemed to be going faster than they were was the time. It only seemed like they were up for a few minutes, but it was starting to get quite dark. So Harry turned back and landed in the rear yard as gently as he could.
After they dismounted, Harry put his broom and cloak away. When he went back down he saw Hermione busily preparing dinner.
"Can I help?" Harry volunteered.
Hermione told him to set the table and prepare the salad. Harry could tell that she liked bossing him around, but he complied without saying anything.
After the dinner was ready, and the table set, Hermione's parents came home from work.
Harry enjoyed the next few days with the Grangers immensely, but like most pleasant things it ended far too soon.
The night before they were going to meet the Weasleys down at Diagon Alley, Hermione and Harry were strolling in the rear yard. Hermione told Harry to sit down and close his eyes. Harry had absolutely no idea what to expect, but did what he was asked.
He heard something, and sensed that Hermione was returning. He heard as she said, "you're not peeking are you?"
"No, come on," Harry said. Patience wasn't exactly one of Harry's strong suits.
Hermione told him that he could open his eyes. When Harry did he saw that Hermione was holding a pair of glasses. Harry hadn't had a pair of new glasses in a long time, but he wondered what was so special about this, and why she couldn't send them via an owl.
"They're very nice," Harry said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.
"Try them on Harry," Hermione coaxed him.
He removed his own glasses and put on the new ones. They were comfortable, but weren't that special, or so he thought. Hermione took out her wand and cast a spell.
When she was through, Harry saw clearer than he ever had in his entire life. It was like he had been blind all this time and only now was he able to see properly.
"And that is not all they do either," Hermione said, seeing Harry's stunned expression.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"You'll find out," Hermione said, and she wouldn't say anything else.
They walked back inside for a farewell dinner of sorts. It was a nice way to finish off after such a pleasant stay. They saw that Harry was wearing his new glasses.
"So I understand that you have some very important tests this year," Mr. Granger said.
"Yeah, the O.W.L.s are very important toward our future," Hermione said.
Mrs. Granger than looked at her and asked, "our?"
"You know what I mean." Hermione said.
"Yes, dear. I know exactly what you mean," Mrs. Granger said.
After diner they went out to the movies. Harry sat next to Hermione, and as the film started, he noticed that she was leaning her head onto his shoulder. This was very pleasant, but don't ask him what happened in the movie, but he wouldn't have a clue.
When they went back to the Grangers' house they had some hot chocolate before they retired for the night. Mrs. Granger and Hermione went into the kitchen to bring it out, when Harry suddenly had to go to bathroom. As he was passing the kitchen, he heard Hermione and her mother talking, when suddenly he heard his name. Harry knew this was wrong, but he leaned next to door to try and hear as much as he could.
"I don't now what you are talking abut mother," Harry heard Hermione say.
"I think you do."
"Of course I like Harry, he is my friend."
"That is not what I mean, and you know it. Honey, don't try to play like you don't understand me. It doesn't suit you. You are developing feelings for Harry, and that's okay."
"We're just friends and nothing else."
"I know you are, but that's not the point. I can see that you are starting to get feelings for him, and I can't blame you. He is quite the charmer."
Harry, realizing that he probably heard way too much, left and returned to the lounge immediately.
"You took quite a while. Are you okay?" Mr. Granger asked.
"I'm fine, thanks," Harry said, not really being fine. He was still going over what he overheard through their hot chocolate, and even when he went up to bed. Did Hermione really have feelings for him? If this was true, this changes everything. But before he would do anything on this he needed to absolutely sure, and he wasn't right now.
Early Saturday morning the Granger's drove them over to London, and walked them into the Leaky Cauldron. The four of them grabbed a table in the back toward the gateway, and waited for the Weasley's to appear.
After a few minutes Ron and the twins came bustling through the rear entrance. It was nice seeing them again. Ron was about to sit next to Harry, but before he could Fred jumped in front of him and grabbed the chair.
Looking a little disappointed, Ron sat next to Hermione instead, and noticed Harry had on a new pair of glasses. "You got new glasses. Don't tell me those Muggles bought you something."
"No, definitely not," Harry said. "Hermione got me them for my birthday."
As Ron and Hermione started to talk, Fred lowered his voice to a little more than a whisper and spoke so that only Harry could hear him.
"We have some very exciting news, partner."
Harry looked at the devious looks on the twins' faces, and knowing them as well as he did, he very much doubted that he really wanted to hear this.
Fred and George kept craning their neck, obviously keeping an eye out for their imposing, though very pleasant, mother. She didn't like the idea of them going into the joke shop business at all, and if she ever found out that Harry helped them do this…. He shuddered at the thought.
Looking at the two of them though, a thought had struck Harry. "You do remember the condition I insisted upon when I gave you the money. Right?"
George smiled, "Sure, no problem. Consider it taken care of."
Last year Ron had a second-hand dress robe that looked like more like an old dress than a wizard's dress robes. Harry felt really bad for his best friend, and wanted to make sure that it didn't happen again this year.
"Very good. Now, do I really want to know this news of yours?"
The both of them laughed, but before they could answer Mrs. Weasley entered the run-down bar with her daughter Ginny close behind her.
When Ginny saw Harry, she tripped. Ginny was always very accident prone when around him. Fred, George and Ron all had a good laugh at this, but Harry and Hermione pretended that they didn't notice it.
Fred and George were both in their last years at Hogwarts, although their academic careers always came as something of a disappointment to their mother, they nevertheless managed to do fairly well. They really weren't bad students, mind you, but when compared to their older brothers, two of whom where head boys in their day, they always seemed to fall short.
Hermione was busy working over a large pile of books, when Ron asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm working on some practice O.W.L.s." O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Levels, are a series of exams that are taken after the culmination of your fifth year at Hogwarts.
Ron had a horrified look on his face as he said, "you're kidding me, right? I mean the O.W.L.s won't be until the end of the year. We have ages."
"You can never have enough practice for them Ron. I should have spent more time preparing, but I was a bit distracted." Harry noticed Hermione glance at him when she said this.
Mrs. Weasley interjected, "That's right Ron. Your O.W.L.s are very important." Harry noticed that she was looking at the twins with a bit of a frown on her face when she said this. The twins had managed to get quite a few O.W.L.s, but it was less than she had been hoping for.
Mrs. Weasley warmed up considerably, saying, "hello Harry dear. Alright?"
Harry nodded and said, "Yes ma'am."
Mrs. Weasley than said more formally, "hello Hermione, and how are you?"
Hermione took her nose out of the books in front of her and, a little nervously, replied, "very well, thank you."
Harry wasn't sure if Mrs. Weasley had really gotten over a story that appeared in Witch Weekly last semester. He found out during his stay with the Grangers that Hermione was, in fact, still getting hate mail because of it. The story was about how Hermione had been toying with Harry's emotions in an apparent love triangle with the Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum. The story was not true of course, but that didn't stop almost everybody from believing it.
Now that Mrs. Weasley was there, the Grangers gave Hermione some money for her school things and kissed her goodbye. They told her to write when she got to the Burrow, where she would spend the rest of her holiday.
After looking around, Harry turned to Mrs. Weasley and asked where Mr. Weasley was.
"Arthur was very upset, but he was unable to make it here today. He had important Ministry business today."
Mr. Arthur Weasley worked for the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Harry suspected that this was related to Voldemort's return to power, but chose not to ask.
"Percy was also called into work?" Harry asked noticing that Percy, Ron's older brother, wasn't around.
"Percy is staring his first day in a new department, so he was unable to join us. He wanted me to pass along his best wishes and to apologize for his absence." Mrs. Weasley said.
"So, Percy is no longer with the Department of International Magical Cooperation?" Hermione asked.
"When they replaced Mr. Crouch as head of the department, they reorganized it. He's now with the Department of Experimental Charms. He's very happy with his new assignment," Mrs. Weasley added.
Mr. Crouch, who used to be the head of Percy's old department, was killed by his own son last year at Hogwarts when Barty Crouch junior, who was impersonating Professor Mad-eye Moody, murdured him in the plot to return Voldemort to power.
The twins looked at each other with a look of disgust,
"Percy has become more insufferable than ever now," Fred said.
"He thought has was going to take over after what happened to Mr. Crouch," said George.
"So, when he didn't and they brought someone else in, he couldn't believe it."
"He was making things so difficult on the new head that they had to transfer him,"
"Yeah, and afterward they said that they did it because they were 'reorganizing'."
They both started to laugh, but that died away quickly when Mrs. Weasley shot them a disapproving look.
They proceeded into Diagon Alley and Mrs. Weasley led them all to Gringotts, the wizard bank. Gringotts was the only bank wizards used, and was one of the safest places to keep anything you wanted protected, except perhaps Hogwarts.
When Harry though about this he remembered when Professor Quirrell, working for Voldemort at the time, broke into one of the vaults while attempting to take the Sorcerers Stone. Fortunately Hagrid had already removed it earlier that very same day.
They went to one of the available goblins at the large counter and told him that they were going to be making some withdrawals, showing them their keys. Before they took the journey down into the vaults Hermione had her Muggle money changed into wizard money. She would be needing Galleons, Sickles and Knuts to buy things in the wizard world.
Since there were so many of them they took two different cars. Mrs. Weasley went with the twins in one car and Harry went with Ron and Hermione.
Their goblin, called Griphook, took them down the familiar roller-coaster ride to Harry's vault. This was the first time Hermione ever took one of these rides, and she didn't seemed too be to thrilled about it.
When they finally came to a halt, Griphook took a lantern and Harry's key and unlocked his vault. When it opened, Harry wasn't sure who was more embarrassed, Harry for having all this money, or Ron for wishing that it was his instead.
Harry walked into the vault and grabbed a bag full of as many coins as he could carry. He figured that he would probably be needing it this year. After they took the return trip back to the main level they all got off and rejoined the rest of the Weasleys. It was only now that Harry noticed Hermione was looking a little green , but she insisted that she was fine.
After they left the bank they decided to separate and rejoin later. Mrs. Weasley told them all to meet at Flourish and Blotts at noon. They went their separate ways, but not before she reminded the twins not to journey down Knockturn Alley.
Harry remembered his voyage down Knockturn Alley. It was his first trip using Floo Powder and as he didn't say his destination clearly, he wound up in a horrible shop. Knockturn Alley was full of items used in the Dark Arts. He remembered seeing Draco Malfoy and his father in there that day. He was wondering whether they were there right now.
Harry, Ron and Hermione started to walk down the alley, looking at the various store windows, and discussing where they should go first. Hermione was trying to get them to go buy their supplies for the school term, but they somehow where able to lead her toward the Quality Quidditch store first.
In the store window was a magnificent broom. It was a Firebolt, just like the one Harry owned. Harry saw Ron looking longingly at it.
"If I had enough money, I would get that in a second."
Harry understood completely were Ron was coming from, although obviously Hermione didn't. She looked in the display and saw the prices for some of the brooms and saw that they didn't even bother to put a price on the Firebolt
Without looking away from the display she asked, "Why would you spend all that money on a broom?"
Ron was so livid he couldn't even speak. Before he had the chance he heard Fred call to him, "Oy, Ron."
Ron pretended that he didn't hear them as they continued staring at the Firebolt. George ran over to the three of them and said quietly to Ron, "we need to talk to you for a minute." Ron simply shrugged to Harry and Hermione and followed George.
Harry and Hermione watched as the three of them were busy talking some distance away.
"What do you think that is all about?"
Harry shrugged. He knew exactly what this was about, but he wasn't going to let on. Not even to Hermione.
Ron came hurrying over saying, "you wont believe it, but apparently Fred and George are going to be buy me a proper dress robe this year from Malkins. Apparently they made some money last year from their joke shop and they told me that they were going to pay me back for all the aggravation they have given me over the years."
"I'm so happy for you, Ron. We need to have dress robes again this semester, you know," Hermione said.
"I think we should all go, I need to get new robes anyway," Harry said.
They all went into Madam Malkins Robes For All Occasions. They all got measured for their new robes and they picked out the dress robes that they wanted.
Harry picked out some that were mostly black but had some burgundy and gold, like the Gryffindor colors. Ron picked out robes of orange and black. Hermione picked out a long glowing robe of red and gold. Fred and George got identical robes of purple and black.
They paid for their purchases and went their separate ways. Fred and George had spotted their best friend, fellow Gryffindor seventh year Lee Jordan, and caught up with him.
The three of them went to restock their supplies at Abercrombie's. After they left the store they saw that Ron looked visibly worried.
"What's wrong Ron?" Harry asked.
"Well. You see. The thing is that, well, my family doesn't have a lot of money, and," Ron trailed off at that, turning pink at the thought.
Harry continued for him, "You wonder where they got the money, right?"
"Ron, didn't you say that they made money from their novelties last semester?" Hermione said gently.
"Yes, but mom threw most of their stuff out."
"They probably had a lot more hidden somewhere. Anyway your brothers are very resourceful. They probably figured out some way," Harry said reasonably.
"Yeah, that's why I'm worried," Ron said.
Hermione looked at him and said in a whisper, "you don't think they did anything illegal, do you?"
"I don't know, but I definitely wouldn't put it past them. Last year they resorted to blackmail to get some money. I think they would do just about anything to get their hands on some."
Ron was talking about the incident last term when after they won a bet with the Minister of Magical Games Ludo Bagman. He paid them the winnings, from the bet he took from them on the Quidditch World Cup, off in Leprechaun gold, which disappeared shortly afterward. The twins wagered that while Ireland would win the match the Bulgarian seeker Victor Krum would catch the snitch, which is exactly what had happened.
Harry was in a difficult bind now. He wanted to tell Ron that his brothers didn't do anything illegal for the money, but at the same time he didn't want him to find out how they got it. So after considering it this for a few moments he came to the decision that he wouldn't say anything, unless he didn't have any other choice.
They went to purchase some parchment and ink. When they left the shop they ran into fellow Gryffindor fifth years Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. Dean, a West Ham soccer fan, and Seamus started talking about Quidditch.
Dean said, "Hey Ron, are you going to try out for the house team this year? They are going to have to replace Wood, you know."
Oliver Wood was an enthusiastic, if not somewhat obsessed, former captain and keeper of the Gryffindor house Quidditch team.
"I will," Seamus said quickly.
"Me too," Dean added,
"Yeah, I guess I will," Ron said, less than enthusiastically. Harry was surmised at Ron's reaction, expecting him to be thrilled at a chance to make the team.
Seamus continued, "I bet even Neville will try out for the team."
They all had a good laugh at this thought. Neville Longbottom was a round faced, extremely forgetful boy, who lived with his domineering grandmother.
After Dean and Seamus left them, Hermione, who also could tell something was obviously troubling Ron, asked what was wrong.
"Nothing," Ron muttered.
Harry said, "it's us, Ron. Come on. What's wrong?"
"Well, you've seen my broom Harry. If I had to use that, or one of the school brooms, I won't stand a chance," Ron blurted, his face going very red now. Harry had to bite his cheek to stop from grinning. Yes, Ron was right of course, but Harry had a big surprise in store for him.
The three of them decided to have some ice cream while waiting for the others. Soon they were sat at the tables outside the ice cream parlor looking over their lists. All they needed now where their books. Hermione was trying to talk them into dropping their Divination class. She had dropped it in her third year. While Harry and Ron didn't love the class they felt it was important that they keep it.
After enjoying their ice creams they walked over to Flourish and Blotts to meet up with the rest of the Weasleys, and to purchase their books.
When they approached the shop they saw the last person in the world they wanted to see. It was the sneering face of Draco Malfoy.
"Look, it's the Scarhead along with the weasel and the mudblood."
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry said. Without even realizing that he was doing it, he put his hand over his wand.
Malfoy saw this and with his own hand hovering over his wand said. "So you want to duel again Scarhead?"
"No, Harry," Hermione moaned.
Ron on the other hand was looking happier than he had in a while. "Come on Harry you can take him."
They both realized that there were too many people to do this here so they lowered their hands without taking their eyes off each other. While Hermione looked relieved, Ron was obviously disappointed.
"I suppose you think you are going to make the team, Scarhead," Malfoy said.
Harry shot a quizzical sideways look toward Ron, who just shrugged.
"What are you talking about Malfoy?" Harry asked.
"Don't tell me you don't already know?" Malfoy said gleefully, turning to look at Ron. "Your father and brother work for the Ministry, and you still don't know? I've known for a month now."
Hermione said, "either tell us what is on that extremely tiny mind of yours, or go away."
Harry and Ron were now beaming at Hermione, while Malfoy just shot a nasty look toward her and walked away.
Finding the rest of the Weasleys inside the shop, they bought their books and went on to the Leaky cauldron where they used Floo Powder to get back to the Burrow.