Chapter 36-Goodbyes and Hellos (Epilogue)
The morning came so much faster than any of them had anticipated. Harry was groggily dragging his trunk down the stairs into the common room when Hermione calmly, yet just as groggily let hers settle to the floor.
"Harry, why didn't you just levitate the trunk? What's wrong?" Hermione asked in a very concerned manner.
"Nothing really. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking of all the things that happened this year and how wonderful the next couple of months are going to be. I kept thinking of all the places we can go." I was just too excited to sleep.
"I was pretty excited too, but I probably slept a little more than you did." Hermione said in a relieved tone. She was glad he was excited and that was all the matter was.
"Good morning'," said Ron as he masterfully plopped his trunk down next to Harry's. "My dad must be going nuts thinking about the opportunity to go to that airport place. I am too."
"Yeah, that place'll really be your dad's cup of tea." Harry said still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying to focus on the room around him.
"Okay, well let's go get the others. We can't be late today." Hermione levitated her trunk and as she did so, so did the boys.
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The trip to the Platform for the Hogwarts' Express seemed surreal this year. Harry and Hermione were sitting a car away from Draco and Ginny. The end of the school year had come again, but this time seemed very similar even though so many things had changed. Harry and Hermione would be together, but Ron and Luna would be separated for a while as Luna went home with her dad to help him with the Quibbler. Ron looked very unhappy about this being the last stretch of time they'd be together.
Harry and Hermione sensed the tension. "Hey, Ron, we'll just take a walk for a few minutes. We'll be back."
"That's right. We have to talk to Ginny and Draco about something anyway." Hermione lied. She didn't want to make a big deal of the emotions that seemed to be coming to the surface.
"Thanks…." Ron and Luna said almost in perfect harmony.
As Harry and Hermione stepped out, Ron turned to Luna. He glanced back briefly to see if they'd gone past the windows to the car. "Luna, I am going to miss you this summer." Ron paused for a second. "I love you, Luna. A year ago I would have laughed if someone told me the changes that would come the next year." He paused again.
"I love you too, Ron. I know you want to spend more time with me. Since my dad went back to work after you were rescued, he's been by himself. The summer is a tough time if he's alone. He wants to travel again like he and I did last year." Luna had a sad and teary-eyed expression on her face.
"I know. It is the way it is. It's too bad we can't travel together. Your dad, you, and I could have a great time. We could chase Harry and Hermione." Ron laughed at the thought, because he knew that his family didn't have the money for a trip like that.
"We haven't decided where we're going yet, Ron. Maybe I can convince my dad to take our holiday to the States. We could maybe catch up with the Granger's and Harry. It's worth a shot." Luna's mood changed almost immediately.
"I wouldn't be able to afford it." Ron said with a hangdog expression.
"Don't worry about that. We have to find out if we can go first. Otherwise, the money won't matter." Luna looked excited.
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Harry and Hermione were so excited when the airport came into view they could hardly curb their enthusiasm. They saw the flights taking off and landing like majestic birds. They spent the hour and a half going through customs and security laughing at all the muggle families who seemed to have no notion whatsoever of how wonderful all this was. To Harry and Hermione, the incredible monotony of airports and all the crazy rules was an experience of a lifetime. Everyone in the lines at the airport complained about the weather or delays or the attitude of the customs personnel.
Hermione's parents were satisfied with just watching their daughter happily talking with her boyfriend. They commented on how often he looked at her with astonishment. After all, their daughter often left people reeling in wonder. They looked at each other and laughed.
Finally at 2:35 PM, they boarded the plane bound for New York. They had said their good-byes to Arthur and Ron some hours ago just before entering the queue for customs. Harry and Hermione were assigned seats in the center of the Boeing 747 on the starboard side of the aircraft. Across the aisle were two young boys and a young girl about the age of first year Hogwarts students and to Harry and Hermione's left was an elderly couple oblivious to the excitement oozing out the teenagers sitting next to them.
As the jet made its way toward the runway, Harry noticed that the children's parents were in the rows immediately behind their children and Mr. and Mrs. Granger were in the row behind them. As he looked back toward Hermione, he felt that incredibly familiar adrenaline rush as the acceleration of the aircraft shook everyone. He smiled and leaned over and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek. "Here we go. A new adventure just waiting to begin." He laughed as he saw a somewhat uncharacteristically unnerved look pass over Hermione's face. He didn't know why, but it did have the feeling as though a new adventure was starting.
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As the airplane leveled off and the British Isles faded into the distance on the starboard side of the plane Harry heard a voice speaking to him. "Hi, my name is Danny. This is my brother Bill and my sister Dawn." Danny seemed like a nice kid and Harry didn't have the heart to tell him that he really wanted to be left alone to talk to his girlfriend so he engaged him in conversation.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Harry and this is Hermione." Harry had no idea why this kid was starting a conversation with him.
"I was just watching out the window a minute ago and I heard you talking about doing card tricks. We love card tricks." Harry's heart sank. He had just been telling Hermione how he'd been practicing his card tricks and that he hoped he'd get a chance to show them sometime. He had no intention of doing so on the flight. "Will you do some card tricks for us?" Danny begged.
"Danny, don't bother that nice boy about card tricks. Honestly, you three have magic on the brain this summer." The boy's mother was running interference. "Hi, I'm Agnes, their mother. I won't let them torment you."
"Aw, Mum, please. If Harry could just do one or two, we won't ask again." Danny was being persistent. Hermione snickered quietly behind Harry.
"Little bugger isn't going to let you off the hook Harry, unless Mum…." Hermione stopped as Agnes spoke again.
"D-A-N-N-Y! Leave…." She stopped yelling at Danny when Harry put up his hand and nodded that he'd do a trick or two.
Harry couldn't decide whether to do a really basic trick or something a little more advanced. If he did too little or too much he was sure Danny would beg for more.
Harry took out his deck of cards and told them to tear them up into four pieces each and put them in their pockets. Each child did as they were told as Harry shuffled the deck. When they'd placed the parts of their cards in their pockets, Harry tapped the deck.
"Okay, pull your cards back out of your pockets." Harry said.
The children reached into their pockets for their cards and to their astonishment they were nowhere to be found. They looked puzzled as did their mother. "They're not here." They each said in turn.
"Oh, they're not?" Harry said with mock surprise. "Maybe…" As he turned over the first card he showed them a card that had been torn and put back together. The second and the third were the same. "How'd they get here? That wasn't supposed to happen." He shuffled them into the deck and tapped the deck twice. "There, I think that should do the trick. Check your pockets again."
Each of the children shouted with glee. "Mum, look the cards are back in our pockets and they're brand new." Agnes' face was frozen in amazement. She looked at Harry and back at the children and their cards.
"Harry, I don't know how you did that, but that was a bit of the best magic with cards I have ever seen. For that matter, I don't think I have seen anything like it…ever!"
"Harry!" Hermione whispered a little louder than she intended. "Keep it simple. Don't draw to much attention or you'll be doing tricks all the way to New York."
Harry smiled. He'd never tried returning the cards to the deck before repairing them before, but it did look rather cool. "Thanks."
"Children that will be enough for now." Agnes said.
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Four rows behind Harry and Hermione, a man in a charcoal gray two-button suit watched carefully as Harry did the card trick. He noticed that Harry had remained at quite a distance from the children during both times the cards supposedly moved from the deck to and from the deck. He was convinced. He arose and headed for the small area designated as a lounge and used one of the in-flight phones.
"Hello, is Mr. Parker there please?"
"Parker here."
"Interesting news. I seem to have found someone with an interesting ability to do card tricks." The man looked around furtively to ensure no one was listening. "He can make the cards disappear and reappear wherever he wants them it seems."
"Do you have a name?"
"All I could gather was Harry. He's with a girl named Hermione. I think that's what he said."
"Did he have any distinguishing marks?"
"No, not that I could tell. Wait a minute; he has a scar on his forehead. It looks kind of like the mark of Zorro or something."
"Find a way to get a picture of him and the girl. I think we have found what we're looking for. And, for god sake's Albert, don't go scaring them off."
"Why would I do that?" Albert said.
"It could be that we have found two of the most talented students from one of England's most prestigious prep schools. They have been recruited by nearly every university in England and the U.S." Parker lied. He knew he could not let this bumbling idiot ruin this opportunity. "Do not approach them."
Parker also knew of the legend surrounding Harry Potter. He didn't want Potter confusing his men with the forces of the Dark Wizard Voldemort. After all, the U.S. Government had placed this Voldemort on the watch list as one of the foremost terrorist threats living in England. They needed Harry Potter for more than Albert could ever be trusted to know.
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Harry briefly glanced at the man who had gotten up a moment or two earlier. But his attention was quickly returned to Hermione as she stroked his hand and folded hers into his. He looked into her eyes and realized that he did have the best seat on the plane. "Hermione, have I ever told you that you have the most beautiful brown eyes?"
"Maybe once or twice, but you could say it a thousand times and I'd never get tired of hearing it." She smiled, turned toward Harry, closed her eyes and put her head on his shoulder. Harry rested his head on hers. There they rested for the better part of the flight unaware that the adventure had truly begun.