Thanks for the reviews! You guys made my day when I got em'. Here's Chapter two!
Recap
She told him he deserved to be loved by someone, everyone did. It was that day they made a pack to be best friends forever. Harry just didn't know forever would end the day the Grangers moved.
Chapter 2: A Friend Returns
Five Years Later
"Boy! Get down here and polish the floors! Marge is coming over for the weekend and house better be just spiffy when she gets her or I'll…" Harry ignored the rest of Vernon's ramblings. He already knew the routine. He headed downstairs and started polishing the floors before he got no food for a few days.
Harry Potter just turned twelve years old two days ago. He hadn't changed that much over the years he was still relatively small for his age, with messy black hair, brilliant green eyes covered by round glasses, but the most noticeable thing was his lightening bolt scar. Over the years Harry had given up on ever seeing Hermione again, but he never forgot about her... ever. But he did find out something special about himself. He was a wizard. Not just any wizard; he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. It turns out his parents didn't die in a car crash. They died protecting him from an evil wizard named Voldemort. Last year on his birthday he was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was really famous. He hated the fame because he couldn't tell what people were true to him. By the time school started, he had plenty of people that wanted to be his friend, but in the end he only had one friend, named Ron Weasley. Ron was a red headed boy with freckles with a family of seven children. Harry thought they were good friends but he knew it was not like him and his first friend. Ron would get mad when new articles came out about Harry, but they would eventually make up. He missed his new home.
"Boy if I say it one more time" Vernon started ,but was startled to see Harry was already standing there putting away the rags. "You're not allowed to do any of your freaky business outside of school. You used it to polish the floors"
"No Uncle Vernon. It's finished from years of experience." Harry replied sarcastically.
"Don't get smart with me BOY! Now go to the garden and pick the weeds. Then shower! Marge will be here in 30 minutes. Now GO!"
Harry picked the weeds with record speed, while pricking his hand a few hundred times. He rushed to take a shower, and was ready just in time to answer the door for Aunt Marge. "Oh. You're looking uglier than usual. Get my bags boy and put my things away in the guest room drawers" As Harry walked away, heading towards the stairs, Marge yelled "AND DON"T TOUCH MY THONGS". It was then he knew he wouldn't sleep at all that night, out of fear of closing his eyes and seeing a hippo in a thong.
At dinner Vernon was actually away from the table. He couldn't remember a time ever seeing Uncle Vernon late for a meal. As Harry served the food he kept looking at Vernon's chair wondering where he was. It was unlike him to miss dinner. Or anything that has to do with food for that matter. Marge must have noticed him missing too because she got up and yelled "Vernon! Dinner is being served by HIM and we won't be able to watch your food forever."
Vernon wobbled in the room; Harry thought was his attempt to run. Petunia asked "What kept you dear?"
"I was looking out the window at the new neighbors. And I must say they look like very respectable people. They are moving next door in number three. Just them and their daughter. She's a looker Dudders! My boy will have her as a girl in no time!" Dudley was drooling. Is it from the thought of a girlfriend or the six steaks in front of him? Harry smirked at his thoughts.
"What are you smirking at boy? Does my nephew Diddykins getting a girlfriend make you happy? Maybe one day you can buy yourself a whore and experience what Duddy will when the girl meets and fall for our Dudders. Now, we will introduce ourselves tomorrow, and boy you will be introduced as the servant. We want my brother to look higher in authority don't we? Good. Now eat the scraps and go to bed boy."
Before Harry could grab the scraps from the table, Marge fed it to her dog. "You should have been faster to my offer. Now, BED!"
Harry nodded and walked up stairs. When he got to his new room he punched a hole in the wall out of anger. Oh no. I'll have to fix that before uncle Vernon sees it. Why does she have to come here! I hate her and I want to leave this hell that's supposed to be home. Harry tried to go to sleep but the disturbing hippo kept popping into his head. He decided to sneak out and take a walk.
Harry slipped on some of Dudley's old sweat pants and set out for the front door. Before he got there he realized it was midnight and he didn't have anywhere to go. So he went out to the back garden to his favorite spot under the tree. Harry sat and let the real events of his first year at Hogwarts sink in. His first day was horrible.
Harry stepped onto the platform and couldn't find Platform 9¾. He searched all around until he saw a red-headed family disappear through the wall. Harry thought that looked like magic so he closed his eyes and ran through the wall waiting for pain. When he realized he was fine he walked, in awe, onto the train. A few days before he found out that he was a half-blood because his mum was muggle; he also found out what muggle was. What shocked him the most was when Hagrid said " Arry yeh mum and yeh da' died savin' ya from the Dark Lord, You-Know-Who. Yer the only one ter ever survive the killing curse, and you killed You-Know-Who. People love ya; yer a celebrity!" Every since then Harry has been sort of upset. Him being a celebrity means he wouldn't have any true friends who like him for him. They all want the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry walked into an empty compartment and set Hedwig, his pet owl, in the seat next to him while storing his trunk. 20 minutes later he met Ron Weasley.
"Do you mind if I sit here? All the others are full." Ron asked timidly
"Yeah you can sit"
"Thanks! My name's Ron Weasley, What house do you want to be in? I want to be Gryffindor like the rest of my family"
"Um, I don't really know I'll just wait and see" The rest of the ride was quiet. Harry didn't think he had much in common with Ron. When he arrived at Hogwarts many people were talking about him. It reminded him of the first day of Muggle School, except they were happy to see the famous boy. The sorting hat put Harry in Gryffindor. He wasn't surprised that everyone in Gryffindor yelled "We've got Potter, we've got Potter. We're gonna win the House Cup for sure!"
Throughout the beginning, life was bad for Harry. He had a professor called Snape that hated him; he had no friends because people didn't find him as cool as they imagined; and Harry kept getting pains in his scar. The one good thing was he got to be the seeker for the quidditch team. That eventually lead to more pain when he found himself in the hospital wing.
When Halloween arrived that changed every thing
Professor Quirrell burst in the door during meal time "There's a a aa troll in ttthe school heading towards the boys bathroom!" And he promptly fainted. How can Defence against the Dark Arts teacher faint? Isn't he supposed to be a bit braver?
Harry remembered seeing Ron leave from the rest of their doormats to go to the restroom. As everyone else were sent to the common rooms Harry went to the restrooms to get Ron. He may not have been his friend, but he wouldn't sit back and do nothing. When he got there, Ron was crying in a corner saying "please m...mister troll don't eat me" Harry would have laughed if the situation was so serious. When Ron noticed him Harry signaled him not to say anything. Harry aimed his wand ant the trolls club and yelled "Wingardium Leviosa!" The troll turned around startled and confused, grunting what Harry thought was troll curses. Then Harry released the spell and the club thunked the troll in the head knocking it out cold.
Ron looked up in awe and said "Wicked"
Ron and Harry had detention for a month but they gained a friendship in the process. They mostly talked about quidditch and how much they hated class, but it was friendship-non the less.
Things got better or worse depending on how you look at it. On one hand Gryffindor won the House Cup. On the other hand Harry met the thing that killed his parents. He suspected Snape was trying to get something out of the bowels of the school so he got Ron and followed Snape. At least they thought they were following Snape. Harry and Ron first encountered the Devils Snare. Lucky for them Harry read about the Snare and sunlight; with enough power he was able to free him and Ron. Then, according to Dumbledore, Ron played the best game of wizard's chess ever! Ron sacrificed himself and his piece in the game so Harry can "catch that ugly Snape, he gives the worst homework". When Harry got to the room he found a mirror with professor Quirrell standing there. To say Harry was shocked would be an understatement.
"Get the boy over here". Harry was startled because he didn't see where the voice came from. Quirrell grabbed Harry and made him stand in front of the mirror. When Harry looked up he saw his parents standing over each shoulder.
Quirrell got impatient and yelled "What do you see!"
Harry said "I see my parents. They must not have been killed by that stupid Voldemort!"
"Reveal me to the boy." Quirrell took off his turban and revealed Lord Voldemort. "Are you saying I'm stupid Harry?"
Harry was absolutely terrified, but in the mirror his parents were calming him down. His father put a red stone in his pocket and the real Harry felt his pocket bulge; when he put his hand in his pocket he felt the stone. Voldemort was still rambling. When Quirrell realized Harry wasn't listening to his master, he reached out to choke Harry. Harry was prepared for the pain that Uncle Vernon put on him many times before when he saw Quirrell writhing away in pain. A light bulb went off in his head and he reached out to touch him again. Quirrell disappeared after being turned into ashes. Voldemort flew away in pain and Harry fainted.
What a year. Harry was shook out of his thoughts by a squeaking noise coming from the back yard of number 3. Harry ducked and slowly walked over to the wooden fence and peaked through the hole in the old fence. He saw a girl sitting on a swing with her head down. Her hair was brown ant thick but that was about all he could make out with her head down. Harry was so wrapped up in trying to see the girl that the Dursley's wanted to introduce to Dudley, that he didn't realize that he was moving forward. He tripped over a twig and successfully completed the tack of knocking down the fence. "I'm so sorry I… I just was curious and I guess I wasn't careful, and I promise to fix that…" Harry said this out of pure fear that the new neighbors would think he was a snoop on their daughter, not to mention the trouble he would get in with the Dursley's for making a bad first impression.
When Harry looked up to the girl he can see in her face that she was clearly startled. But something looked really familiar about her. Her brown eyes. The light sprinkle of freckles on her nose. The look of realization on her face… wait she looks like…
"Hermione?"
"Harry?"