The following morning after Dumbledore’s funeral, students were on the train ride back to King’s Cross. Always accompanied by Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna, Harry was grateful that he was alone in the Hogwarts Express compartment. Harry sat next to the window with a blank stare on his face. After staring out the window for quite some time, Harry said aloud, I wonder if I made the right decision?


“You might have done the easiest thing Harry,” spoke a dreamy voice that could only belong to one person.


Stunned by her sudden appearance, Harry shouted, “Hi Luna!” He noticed she was wearing her signature butterbeer cap necklace, but was missing her radish earrings. Harry also noticed that her wand was still behind her left ear for safe keeping. He was glad Moody wasn’t on-board to reprimand her for the placement of her wand. Done with taking in Luna’s appearance, Harry asked, “Sorry about shouting, but how long were you standing at the doorway?”


Luna remaining at the doorway responded, “Long enough to hear you ask yourself if you made the right decision.” Because of Harry’s immediate silence, Luna wondered if a wrackspurt was floating by. In Luna’s mind, wrackspurts had a funny way of making the brain go all fuzzy when someone sat in silence. Cutting to the chase, Luna spoke frankly, “I know about the break-up with Ginny.”


Harry turned away and continued to stare out the window. He knew full well that Ginny must have told her, but it didn’t bother him.


“She told Ron, Hermione, Neville, and me everything you two said to each other at Dumbledore’s funeral.” A bit unlike her to tell us all, she thought out loud. Luna went on saying, “Anyways Harry, I hope you realize she meant no harm in telling us this.”


A slight smile came across Harry’s face, then he responded with, “Thank you for your sincerity, Luna. I greatly appreciate it. Yeah, that is a bit unlike Ginny to do so because she usually tells only Hermione about these kind of things. I suppose Ginny would have told you sooner or later since the six of us have grown a little closer.” Now that Ron knows about the break-up, Harry wondered how he was going to react to it. He had an idea of how, but hoped that would not be the reaction.


Luna was about to respond to the Hermione comment, but chose not to when she realized that it was Hermione herself that had chosen her to help guard Snape’s office only three days ago. This realization and Harry’s last words brought tears to her eyes because she knew that Hermione trusted her as did Harry.


“Luna, are you alright? What did I say wrong?” said a concerned Harry. He hated it when he made a girl cry.


“Oh! I’m sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean to cry. Don’t worry, you said nothing wrong. You only made me realize something,” stated Luna while wiping tears away.


“Okay,” mumbled Harry. Slightly disappointed, but unwilling to push this subject anymore, Harry decided to ask Luna the question he‘s been wanting to ask for quite some time. “Why are you so willing not to question me or my sanity?” posed Harry. Finally, I can breathe a sigh of relief and hope that Luna will respond to my question, thought Harry. He wanted to ask this question approximately a year and a half ago, but felt uncomfortable at the time to ask it.


“Harry, I do not think any more or less of you. I see you as a normal boy, who’s just looked at as being weird. Kind of reminds you of me, doesn’t it?“ Luna could see Harry soundlessly mouth the word, WOW. At that moment she knew for sure a wrackspurt was in the compartment. She continued, “I knew I found a friend who truly saw me for who I was. I’m not stupid. I knew that you were told by several people to look out for ‘Loony’ Lovegood, but because of your humbleness, you accepted me regardless of what people thought. I only hope that you see I did the same for you.”


After Luna answered Harry’s question she turned away and was already outside in the corridor when Harry hollered, “Wait!”


“Yes, Harry?” she said serenely as she stepped back into the compartment.


“What happened to your earrings?“


She shrugged and answered, “I think someone stole them.”


“Will you replace them?” he asked out of curiosity.


Looking towards the ground, Luna replied, “Don’t know if I will. These days I don’t care what happens to my belongings. There are more important things to worry about. Have a nice holiday, Harry. I hope to see you at Hogwarts in September.” With that said, she walked out into the corridor and retreated back to Ginny’s compartment.


Little did Luna know, Harry was not going back. He was thankful for his chat with Luna. He thought to himself, I have to get her a pairing of earrings because she doesn’t look like herself without them. Once Hermione and Ron did their prefect duties on the train, they would soon come and talk to him. Until then, Harry sat there in peace.





Bursting into Harry‘s compartment an hour later was Ron. In an agitated voice Ron asked, “Hey mate, where do you come off dumping my sister because of our mission?”


“Technically it is my mission to do alone. Thank you very much. Anyways, I ended the relationship to protect her against Voldemort. I cannot bare to see her hurt by him again.” He could see that Ron grimaced as he said that name, but continued on, “Get over it! You act like the name is cursed. Aren’t you forgetting that he already cursed me?” After asking Ron this, Harry point to his scar.


“Don’t you go off the subject mate, “ said a hurt Ron. At that moment he knew he was being silly, but knew full well saying the name wasn‘t so bad.


“I agree with Harry, Ron,” chimed in Hermione. “Get over it! You can’t fear that name forever. Well, I will leave you boys alone. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot to discuss about the Ginny situation. I’m returning to her compartment, where Luna and Neville are trying their best to comfort her.”


After that Hermione was gone. It pained Harry to know that the break-up was really affecting Ginny. He was naïve to think that she was truly okay with their situation. He didn’t know what to do at that time to make her feel better, but Harry would have to deal with that later. Turning away from the doorway that Hermione had just left through, Harry looked up to see that Ron was eyeing him with disgust. “Sit down or if you continue to just stand there, I’ll take it as a threat,” said an angry Harry. Harry had a firm grip on his wand, which was at his side and he was ready to strike if necessary.


“Sorry mate,” Ron began saying ruefully as he sat down across from Harry, “but I’m not entirely happy with you.”


“No kidding!” said Harry sarcastically. “I sort of got that impression once you busted into my compartment.”


Ignoring Harry’s remark, Ron asked, “Why even bother with the relationship with Ginny, if you knew that you would eventually do this to her?”


“Because I honestly didn’t know this would be the outcome when we began to date. It pains me to know that she isn’t taking this very well. I kind of feel like Professor Lupin when he told Tonks that he couldn’t be with her. Anyways, it took me a long time to realize what was in front of me. She loved me from the very first moment she saw me six years ago at King’s Cross. Ginny waited six long years for me to realize that something more than a friendship could happen between us. Ron, when I finally came to that realization, I kept it in for fear of what you might do to me for liking your little sister.” Finished with his answer, Harry instinctively turned his head to the corridor hoping that Ginny would be standing there. But she wasn’t. Disappointed, he turned to face Ron again.


Ron replied, “Do you remember our conversation last year on our ride back to King’s Cross?”


“No.”


“I’ll ignore that answer because I know you remember our conversation. Ginny had told us that she was no longer dating that Michael Corner bloke because he ran off to comfort Cho. After that I told her to choose a better person. Once I said that Harry, I turned around to look at you. Hoping that maybe you’d get the idea that I meant you.”


Harry stated sincerely, “Yeah, I forgot about that. I didn‘t know that I had feelings for her then.”


“Well, when the two of you started dating, I was in awe that it was finally happening. I’m still a little surprised about it, but that’s changed since Ginny told me about the break-up.”


“As I stated earlier Ron, I care about Ginny and I don’t want to see her get hurt again.” This whole conversation with Ron was not cheering him up in the least bit. It was only bringing tears to his eyes.


“I know you do mate. Give her another chance. What if our task backfires and Voldemort kills you first? Return as a ghost and tell Ginny you’re sorry for breaking up with her? Don’t you think you’re hurting her more now?”


Harry chuckled at the thought of returning as a ghost, but was surprised that Ron finally said Voldemort’s name without pausing beforehand. Seconds later he frowned because he knew that Ron was right for change. Ron understood from the frown that Harry got the point.






No longer consoling Ginny, Hermione patrolled the corridors and stopped at the compartment in which Harry and Ron remained. She peered inside and saw that Harry was looking down at his trainers and Ron was staring out the window. Hopeless, Hermione thought. With a grin on her face, she remembered back to their first encounter with one another on the Hogwarts Express. At least this time she chose not to barge in on them. Hermione decided they needed the time alone to talk and think about things. She continued looking in, but was staring only at Ron. In a whisper to herself, she said, “Oh Ron, I loved you since our first year at Hogwarts. It wasn’t love at first sight of course, but later that year I started to fall in love with you. I’d just wish you would realize that.”


“Maybe he’ll finally take notice now after all these years. It took Harry long enough to notice me,” stated a sadden Ginny.


A blushing Hermione asked, “Ginny, what are you doing here?”


“Coming to take a look at Harry. Why else would I be here?”


“Oh.”


“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me, but if I were you, you’re better off just telling him that.”


An inquisitive Hermione asked, “How so?”


“Hmm, are you as thick as Ron is or what? My brother will never figure that out on his own. Although, I am pretty sure Harry’s tried to help him realize this.”


“No, I don’t think he has.”



“What do you mean?”


“Harry wouldn’t do that. The reason being because I never told him that I liked Ron. Harry never told us he liked you. This past year, I sort of realized that he was beginning to like you back.”


Ginny astonished by this information answered, “Really? He never told you? Wow, that’s hard to believe. He’s always telling you two how he feels about things.”


“I know, but I can’t blame him for not telling us. I think we would have made the situation more embarrassing.”


“Well, Harry does know that you like Ron.”


“What!?” Hermione said in a voice a little louder than she wanted to. Her cheeks were beginning to turn red again.


“He told me one afternoon about the row you and Ron had the night of the Yule Ball. Harry figured it out when you told Ron that he should have asked you to the ball as soon as we heard about it. Oh yeah and that he shouldn’t have waited to the last minute to ask you to the ball, but Harry wanted Ron to work that one out for himself. My guess is that Ron probably thinks you still have a thing for Viktor Krum.”


A tearful Hermione spoke, “You’re probably right. Ginny, I was very flattered when Krum asked me to go to the ball with him. Someone finally asked me out so how could I refuse to go? As much as Ron wants to believe that I liked Viktor, I never did fancy him. But as for these two (pointing at Ron and Harry), they never noticed how blatantly we were being with our feelings towards them. Well, I take that back. At least Harry was finally starting to notice you.”


“Yeah well look at where Harry and me are now. I finally got the one thing I’ve wanted for years and he’s the one who wanted to end it,” spoke a very tearful and hurt Ginny.


“Just give him some time. I bet he’ll come back around. We should return to our compartment. We really shouldn’t leave Neville and Luna alone for too long.”


“What about these two?”


“Leave them here to talk. We’ll see them when we arrive at King‘s Cross.”


Once the girls finished checking up on the boys and returned to their compartment, where Neville and Luna were waiting, it took approximately an hour more before finally arriving at King’s Cross. When they arrived, Harry hurriedly got his things and was off the train before Ron even realized where they were. Harry didn’t even bother to wait for the others before he went through the barrier at Platform 9 ¾ to get to King‘s Cross. On the other side was something he had not expected, which stopped him in his tracks.

Ron crossed through the barrier and saw Harry just standing there with his back toward him. He walked up to Harry‘s left and turned to face him. Then asked, “Hey mate, what’s going on here?”


He turned to face his best mate and noticed that Hermione was now standing next to Ron wearing a look of concern before asking, “Is everything alright Harry?”


That all-to-familiar flower scent was floating by and he knew Ginny was standing next to him on his right. But Harry refused to look at her because it would pain him to see the hurt in her eyes.


Turning away from Ron and Hermione, Harry focused his attention on the unexpected surprise and stuttered the words, “Umm…umm… umm…Aunt Petunia!”

“Hello Harry,” said Aunt Petunia.

At the moment so many things were occupying his mind that all he could muster up to say was a simple “hello” in return. Harry did notice that his aunt seemed a bit more fearful than the last time he had seen her. He knew it was not because she was surrounded by a group of wizards. She feared something that was beyond her control. His train of thought was broken when his Aunt Petunia spoke.

“Don’t just stand there boy, do something. For example, introduce me to your friends and make it quick. We have loads to discuss when we arrive back home,” Petunia demanded.

“Where’s Uncle Ver…home? What home?” yelled Harry. That caught everyone‘s attention, muggles included. “I hope you don’t mean Number Four, Privet Drive. As far as I know, it was never my home. Hogwarts and the Burrow are my home. Good thing I only have to stay there until I turn seventeen.”

“Fine by me. Since you don’t want to introduce me to your friends, can we please hurry it along,” responded Aunt Petunia. She knew that she would get more of this when she finally told Harry all she knows.

“Harry, don‘t you think you should introduce us to her? Don’t be mean to her. HARRY…,” said Ginny while tugging on his shirt to get his attention. Ginny was beginning to get frustrated. “Do you even hear me?”

He was so angry at the moment that he didn’t hear what Ginny was saying, but turned to her and screamed, “For Merlin sakes. What do you want?”

“Excuse me, but don’t get nasty with me. Especially after what happened between us yesterday. I’d like to think that you would have more respect for your former girlfriend,” retorted Ginny. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she said, “I don’t need this, Harry. Goodbye.”

With that said, the girl that he loved so much walked away. Hermione gave him such a look of disapproval. Without a word to the boys, she followed suit and walked away. Hermione was now standing a few feet away with her parents, Ginny, and the Weasleys too. Minus Percy of course. Harry was left there dumbfounded. He was on his way to apologize to Ginny, when Ron stepped in front of him and calmly said, “Hey mate, there was no need for that. Your anger got the best of you. You know what you must do the next time you see my sister?”

“I know,” Harry replied. “I’m sorry Ron.”

“Well, I better catch up to those two. I’ll see you in about a month and a half. I hope the muggles feed you well, Harry. Well, see you later,” said Ron.

A moment later, Harry heard a muggle whisper to another, “Poor boy looks like he’s just been through a lot. His mother should have been a little nicer to him.”

“That isn’t his mother and it‘s very rude of you to be nosy,” Luna stated frankly.

“Thanks Luna.”

“Sure thing Harry. Have a good holiday.”

“You too Luna.”

“Are you done now?” questioned Aunt Petunia.

“Yes,” answered Harry.

“Okay, lets go. The cab has been waiting for us for quite some time.”

Once in the cab Harry asked, “Aunt Petunia, where’s Uncle Vernon and Dudley?”

“Your uncle is still at work and Dudley’s at school.”

Although he knew his aunt was scared for some reason, he was surprised at how calmly she replied back. He then asked, “Oh, but how did you know to come to King’s Cross a day earlier?”

“An owl was sent this morning.”

“But I thought you hated when the owls would come to the house.”

“Yes I know, but this one was different. I just knew it was not for you since you were not home yet.”

“Who was it from?”

“Dear boy, you ask too many questions. If you must know, it was from your new headmistress Professor McGonagall. Harry, why don’t you relax the rest of the ride home.”

“I could sure use some relaxation,” Harry responded before he made himself comfortable for the ride back to Privet Drive.


Meanwhile back at King’s Cross, Ron was trying to tell Hermione something before they said goodbye. “Hermione, I wanted to tell you something,” Ron said with a hint of nervousness.

“Oh Ron, I’m sorry, but my parents are ready to leave now. Can it wait until Bill and Fleur’s wedding?” Hermione responded.

A hurt Ron replied, “Sure, I suppose so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Are you coming to their wedding alone?” asked Ron.

“No. I…I’ve asked an old friend to come with me.” I can feel my face start to flush. Oh dear, Ron’s gonna hate me for that, but who cares. I’m a big girl now. I can go with anyone I want to. Anyways, it’s my decision. Maybe he won’t figure out that I mean Viktor Krum, thought Hermione.

“You mean that you’re coming with Krum.”

Her temper was on the rise, but as calmly as she could she said, “ And what if I am?”

“Come on Hermione, you know how I feel about him.”

“Yes, I do seem to remember. You thought Krum only wanted me for one thing.”

“You know he did,” Ron fired back.

“He might’ve Ron, but you seem to forget that we were never a couple. Viktor and me, that is.”

“Oh well, you know that I still don’t trust him.”

“Yes Ronald, I know and now is not the time to argue with one another about this. Please, I’m here with my parents. I don’t want them to…”

“Hermione dear, say goodbye. It’s time to go,” spoke Hermione’s mum.

“Yes mum. I haven’t said my goodbyes to Ron and Ginny.”

“Okay dear.”

Hermione turned back around to face Ron and Ginny, but was only staring at Ron. She looked a bit flustered Ron thought, but he had to snap her back to reality. Ron reminded her where she left off, “You don’t want them to what, Hermione.”

“Oh! Umm, I don’t want them to dislike you before they get the chance to really meet you.” Hermione continued, “ I have to go Ron. Write to me until I arrive for Bill’s wedding.”

“Okay, but what do you mean by…”

“Ron, I must really go now. Ginny, please write to me too. Well, I have to go. Bye Ron and Ginny.”

“Bye Hermione,” Ron and Ginny said in unison.

After Ron and Ginny said their goodbyes to her, Hermione wondered if he got the little hint that she wants to introduce him as not Ron, her best friend, but Ron, her boyfriend. To herself she said, I’m asking to for too much. It doesn’t hurt to hope.

Once Hermione was gone, Ron turned to Ginny and asked, “What did Hermione mean by that comment about her parents disliking me before they really get to know me?”

Ginny’s mind was elsewhere, but she simply sighed before saying, “I know what she meant, but I’m not at liberty to spill the beans. Believe me Ron, you’ll need the next few days to think it through for yourself.”

“Oh,” Ron stated sadly. “Then I guess we can leave now.”