Chapter 24 - Back to School Again!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!
AN: Of course thanks to Turnlach once again for his BETA work :P
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Once they arrived home, the Grangers headed back to their house while Hermione decided to stay with Harry. They all went straight up to bed; Hermione crawled under the covers with Harry and almost instantly fell asleep.
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Harry awoke the next morning to find his bed empty and the smell of cooking bacon coming from downstairs.
Groaning, Harry slowly got up and headed into the shower. About ten minutes later Harry was dressed and heading downstairs. When he got there he found Sirius and Remus eating breakfast while Hermione was talking with Binky… 'S.P.E.W. here we come' Harry thought. Then he reminded himself to tell her to think of a better name this time.
Harry sat down next to Sirius and started to fill his plate with the bacon and eggs that were currently on the table. About five minutes later Hermione also filled her plate.
"So… what was in the paper today?" Harry asked, already dreading what was most likely in there.
"Hmm… I don't think you're going to like it… it's nothing bad, but I know you hate the publicity." Hermione said softly.
Harry sighed, "Ok… hand it over then." he said, almost sadly.
Hermione handed Harry the paper and the first thing that he saw was a picture of him standing against ten Death Eaters. Harry groaned when he saw the picture. Though he groaned even more when he noticed the headline.
HARRY POTTER SAVES THE DAY!
Harry had the urge to throw the paper out now, though he was curious to see if she was actually being nice to him or not. So he decided to read on…
After Ireland won the world cup against Bulgaria, we all went back the camp site to celebrate the victory. The celebrations though were brought to a halt as ten of You-Know-Who's followers decided to make an appearance.
But luckily for the wizarding world, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived was there once again to save the day. I was there personally to witness as this young hero deflects the Cruciatus Curse and stared down the ten Death Eaters.
Before any of them could react Harry Potter sent an unknown spell which seemed to blow up one Death Eaters wand and serially injure his/her hand. The next move was by the Death Eaters who seemed to work together and send nine Stunners at young Mr Potter.
It was then that Mr Potter showed the power he held and easily raised another shield which blocked all nine stunners, sending them off into the night's sky!
After that the fight turned into a brawl, the Death Eaters lost their formation and started to attack Mr Potter.
Mr Potter seemed to either dodge or block every spell, sending a banishing charm which effectively knocked out one Death Eater, and also a Blasting Charm which seemed to wound another, since the Death Eater apparated right after being hit.
It was then that the ministry Aurors finally arrived and the Death Eaters manage to apparate away. But not before leaving the Dark Mark in the air.
When the ministry was questioned, a Ministry official named Arthur Weasley stated that no one was killed, though there were a couple of people injured. This statement though goes against the rumours that several covered bodies were removed from the site.
One must wonder what the world is coming to when the Ministry hides the details from the press, though I think we can all agree that we are glad that Mr Potter was there to save the day once again.
Rita Skeeter
"Mr Weasley will most likely get in trouble for this, even though he did nothing wrong." Harry sighed. Hermione looked at him and nodded sadly.
"Trust me we I say this… this will not be the last we see of Skeeter either… and I expect that she will not always be as nice to me as she was in this article." Harry said, looking around.
"What do you think is going to happen to you Harry?" Sirius asked, concerned that Harry may somehow get in trouble.
"Well I see two possible out comes… first, I get a reward or something from Fudge as he tries to make himself look good. Or… nothing at all happens. I doubt he will try and charge me, after all it would make him look bad in the eyes of the public." Harry said, shrugging it off.
Hermione, Remus and Sirius just nodded, agreeing with what he thought.
Remus was the first to voice his opinions on the matter, "I think that he won't do anything personally… if he hates you as much as you say Harry, I doubt he would want to give you anything."
"Yes, but he would if it would make him look good." Harry pointed out.
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The next couple of days passed quickly, Fudge had done nothing other than send an owl, thanking Harry for what he had done, though that was it. Harry was glad that the minister didn't try and hand him an Order of Merlin or some other reward, after Fudge not seeming to like it when Harry turned him down.
Before they knew it, they were all heading to King's Cross station to head back to Hogwarts. Harry didn't know how to feel, he was excited about going back, but he also wanted to just go back home with Sirius, Remus and Hermione. It was the first time he was having mixed feelings about returning to Hogwarts.
Harry looked over at Hermione and she seemed to be having the same problems as he did. He scooted over closer to her and took her in his arms; she let out a contented sigh as he wrapped his arms around her.
They pulled up at King's Cross Station; the Grangers had ended up taking Harry and Hermione since Sirius and Remus needed to talk with Dumbledore, though they promised to meet them all at the barrier.
They quickly loaded their stuff onto a couple of trolleys, Harry had already told Hedwig to fly to Hogwarts, he didn't know why he had nether thought of it before, after all it was a lot easier than having her on the train.
They then met Sirius and Remus at the barrier, before they all went though.
"So, what did Dumbledore want?" Harry asked. Sirius and Remus just smiled.
"That would be a surprise Harry." They said together. Harry knew they were talking about the Tri-wizard tournament, and wondered why they always seemed to forget he already knew about this stuff.
"Oh… ok, will we find out at school?" Harry asked, playing along. They just nodded.
Saying their goodbyes Harry and Hermione boarded the Hogwarts express and found a compartment for themselves. They were in there for about five minutes before Ron and Ginny came into the compartment, Neville also came in not long after.
"Hey, how was your summer Neville?" Harry asked.
"It was ok I guess… helped my Gran out with some stuff she needed done, and she got me a Herbology kit since she didn't want to go to the world cup." Neville said, Harry nodded in understanding.
"YOU DIDN'T GO! OH MY GOD IT WAS…" Ron started, but Hermione cut him off.
"Shh! Listen!" she said, everyone was quiet and they could now hear the familiar drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.
". . Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do. . ."
Hermione then shut the compartment door, she looked rather angry, and Harry had to admit, she looked hot when she was angry… well when she wasn't angry at him of course.
"I wish he went to Durmstrang!" she growled softy. "Would have made our lives a hell of a lot more peaceful".
"Isn't Durmstrang another wizarding school?" Ron asked.
"Yes…" Harry said. Hermione then decided to explain more.
"There are three main schools Ron; Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. From what I read there has always been a lot of rivalry between the three schools, each saying their school was better. Of course there are other schools, but they're smaller ones. Like in the States there are about forty different schools, but each one is nowhere near as big as Hogwarts." Hermione said, slipping into her teacher tone.
"So what country are Durmstrang and Beauxbatons in?" Ron asked.
"Well of course no one actually knows." Hermione pointed out, Ron just looked confused.
"Honestly, haven't you ever wondered why no muggles haven't happened to 'walk' into Hogwarts?" Hermione asked exasperated, Ron still just looked confused.
"There are wards around the castles Ronald." Hermione said in a slow voice like she was talking to a three year old, "God, anyone who had read Hogwarts; A History would know that."
"Only you then." Ron pointed out, Hermione growled.
"Hey, I have read it." Harry said jumping into the conversation. Ron and Hermione just looked at him in shock. "What? There's some interesting stuff." Harry defended himself.
Ron seemed to nod, "Yeah I guess, well at least you don't read it over and over again." Ron said, looking at Hermione.
"She doesn't Ron." Ron just looked at Harry weirdly, then started to say something but Harry continued, "The book has some kind of enchantment on it, it updates so to speak." Harry said, Hermione looked at him, the look of pride shinning in her eyes.
"Umm… Harry… did you know that your…" Hermione started softly.
"That my parents are mentioned in there?" Harry finished, Hermione nodded softly. "Yes I do and I'm not at all angry that you didn't tell me." Hermione let out a sigh of relief but it was then that their compartment door was thrown open. Draco Malfoy stood in the entrance, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.
"Potty, his Mudblood and his pet Weasel…" Draco started but then caught a look at the dress robes Ron had.
"Good god Weasel what the hell are these!" Malfoy said, grabbing the robes and holding them up. "We're not in the seventeenth century anymore."
"Shut it Malfoy." Ron growled under his breath, Malfoy just smirked.
"What are you going to do abou…" Malfoy taunted, Ron quickly drew his wand, Harry watching, was quite pleased at how fast he drew it. Before Malfoy had time to react Ron cast a spell.
"Furnunculus!" the spell hit Malfoy directly in the face, which then proceeded to rapidly break out in boils. Malfoy dropped to the ground and Crabbe and Goyle started to move forward but stopped when they found that both Hermione and Harry now had their wands facing them.
They both let out a weird grunt before picking up Malfoy and leaving. Ron sat down, a large grin plastered on his face. "I have been wanting to do that since you taught us that spell Harry." Ron said happily. Harry chuckled at this, Hermione who was trying not to also laughed softy.
"Umm… Ron… if you had Sirius's money, why did you buy…those?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Mum seemed to have forgotten and bought these… when I pointed it out she said that she had bought these and there was no sense in wasting money." Ron said. Harry could see the fear that Ron felt of having to actually wear the things.
"Mate, if you want I could lend you some cash for some new ones… you could pay me back some other time." Harry offered, Ron just looked at him a large smile on his face.
"You're a life saver mate… I was not looking forward to wearing these." he said, throwing them into this trunk. Harry was amazed that Ron even took the money, but put it down to him actually having the money to pay him back some day.
The rest of the train ride went without disturbance, they played chess and talked about a number of different things and before they knew it they were on the carriages making their way to the castle.
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AN: Well I thought I would be nice and post this before I went to work :P, God I spoil you guys :) hope you all like it!