Chapter 2: The Secret Truth
It was Mr. Weasley who drove Ron, Ginny and Harry to the train station. Fred and George had bought Mr. Weasley a new car, which, at the request of Mrs. Weasley, Hermione had performed a rather complicated DisEnchantment charm on before she left for Bulgaria. Now Mr. Weasley couldn’t “alter” his car in any magical way “ although it did mean it had the dimensions of a regular Muggle car, and with all their luggage, it was a tight fit. The car ride was filled with Ginny’s excited chatter about seeing Dean again. Mr. Weasley had found out about Dean from an “accidental” slip of the tongue from Ron, which to Ron’s surprise (and disappointment) didn’t upset him at all. In fact, Arthur was actually excited at the thought of another Muggle-born being connected with his family. He had already planned to attend a West Ham football game with Dean and Ginny so he could learn more about the popular Muggle sport (“Running along the ground with a Quaffle and kicking it into a goal, the things these Muggles come up with!” “It’s called a football, dad.”) and he happily joined Ginny in conversation about her new boyfriend on the way to King’s Cross “ much to Ron’s disapproval.
Arriving at King’s Cross, Mr. Weasley quickly helped them get their things out of the car and then left for work. The Ministry had been really busy “ the new Minister of Magic Amelia Bones was working them hard since the public had now excepted You-Know-Who’s return, and Mr. Weasley had been promoted to a much higher position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement under the new department head, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The Ministry had undergone many changes since Fudge’s removal.
After passing through the platform, Dean Thomas appeared to them suddenly as though he had apparated.
“Hey, Harry, Ron...”
He seemed nervous to be greeting Ron, and Ron’s rigid response didn’t help very much. Harry, however, greeted his fellow Gryffindor sixth year warmly, and pointed Ginny out to him. He said bye and went to assist her with her things.
Just then, Harry spotted Hermione coming through the platform with her Dad. He was helping her with her trunk, when she spotted Harry and Ron and pointed them out to him, he smiled; they began walking towards the two. Harry felt an odd sense that he had experienced this before, when all of a sudden he realized something.
“It was Hermione...”
“What’s that?” Ron asked.
“Hermione, in my dream. You were marrying Hermione.”
Ron looked stunned for a moment. Then he laughed nervously. Just then Hermione reached them. Her father shook Harry and Ron’s hands and said it was nice to see them again and to have a good year, then he kissed Hermione’s cheek and said goodbye.
Hermione turned to them and gave them each an enthusiastic hug.
“It’s great to see you both. We have so much to talk about, it’s been quite a summer. It wasn’t any quieter in Bulgaria with Voldemort’s return (Ron shuddered at the name). But right now Ron and I need to get to the Prefect’s car, so we’ll talk later Harry, alright?”
She hugged Harry again, then grabbed Ron’s hand and gave it a tug, “C’mon.”
She and Ron walked off with their trunks, Ron looking slightly abashed. Harry called after them, laughing slightly “It’s great to see you, too Hermione.”
He then boarded the Hogwart’s Express and took a seat in a compartment with Dean, Seamus and Neville. It was Ginny’s fifth year, and much to Mrs. Weasley’s delight, she had been made a prefect, so she had gone to the Prefect car to get her directions along with Ron and Hermione.
“Howya Harry?” Seamus greeted him. “It’s been quite a summer, hope you’ve done alright, nice to see you in one piece.”
“Yeah, it’s been rough alright, but I’m fine. Neville, good to see you again.”
Neville, who Harry had seen earlier that month in Diagon Alley, smiled. Everyone remained pretty quiet for a moment or two. Now that they were back at school, the current situation of the wizarding world seemed even more pressing. Dean broke the silence.
“So how’re Ron and Hermione?”
“They’re fine. Pretty much the same... you know how they are.”
“They’re still avoiding the truth, eh?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean...”
“No, I don’t,” Harry replied, feeling quite bewildered. Ron and Hermione had definitely accepted that Voldemort was back, what other truth could they be avoiding? By the looks on Seamus and Neville’s faces, they too were as clueless as Harry.
“Well, I didn’t notice it myself until Ginny started talking about it, but- ”
He was cut off as Ginny and Hermione entered. The room became silent.
“What’s going on?” Ginny asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Neville, Seamus, Dean and Harry all replied rather quickly, but casually enough so that nobody pressed the issue. Ginny sat down next to Dean, while Hermione, still eyeing them suspiciously, turned to Harry.
“Harry, I found us an empty compartment, Ron’s there now. Since the three of us hadn’t spent anytime together this summer, I thought it would be nice to just talk alone for a while,” she said rather quickly. She seemed to be talking rather quickly a lot recently.
“If you don’t mind, of course,” she said to the others.
“Not at all,” Seamus and Neville replied. Dean and Ginny had already forgotten that the rest of the world existed, and were deep in conversation. Ginny looked up at Harry and giggled, and Harry had the feeling that Dean was filling her in on the conversation that had just taken place.
“Let’s go,” Harry said to Hermione and they turned and went to meet Ron.
“So what was really going on in there?”
“Dean was just talking about something, the rest of us were a little lost, I think he was just about to tell us when you and Ginny walked in...”
“It was probably something about him and Ginny. Of course you, Seamus, and Neville were lost: you’re boys.”
She grinned, and Harry said she was probably right, even though he knew that was a lie. He was glad they had reached the compartment with Ron waiting inside; he wanted to get off the subject until he could talk to Dean again.