Teaching the Dark by BittersweetLove
Chapter Notes: I, surprisingly, wrote this pre-HBP but I couldn't submit it because I wasn't 13. I really liked my idea for this story, so I didn't want to change it with the 6th book. So here comes my writing from when I was 12...Please be as honest as humanly possible. Criticism is always welcome.
“Ron, if you don’t hurry up, we’re going to miss the train!” Hermione called up the stairs.
“I’m coming, I’m coming. Don’t get your knickers in a knot,” Ron said as he heaved his heavy trunk down the stairs. Every time the trunk went down a step, a loud clunk echoed around the dark stairwell of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
“You are way too eager to get to school,” Ron finally said when he had reached the bottom of the steps. “Just because you’re Head Girl doesn’t mean you have to get to the station before the rest of us. We have never missed the train because we were late. Anyways, why are you hurrying me? Ginny’s still not here,”
“I’ve been here for fifteen minutes,” called Ginny from the hallway.
“What about Harry? I don’t see him here,” stated Ron.
“He’s in the kitchen with Mum. At the moment, he’s having the breakfast that you were supposed to eat but were too late to get!” exclaimed Ginny.
“Damn it!! Why do I always have to lose?”
Hermione rolled her eyes. She glanced for the tenth time that morning at the shiny Head Girl badge that she had been holding. She had gotten it during the summer and the Weasleys, being the gracious family that they were, threw her a party. She smiled as she thought of all the good times they had had and, still grinning, headed towards the kitchen to tell the rest of the Weasley family, Harry and the guard, that Ron had finally decided to make an appearance and they could leave.
As she walked down the dark, musty corridors of the Black House, her mind wandered off to the coming year. The last year at Hogwarts. Maybe the last year that she would see Harry and Ron. That thought made her stop dead in her tracks. They had been friends for nearly seven years. The happiest seven years of her life. How could she lose them now?
‘You won’t lose them. Just because you’re leaving behind Hogwarts doesn’t mean your leaving your friends,’ This sensible voice in her head calmed her. They had been friends this long. After all they had been through, after all good and bad, they had survived. Their loving friendship could survive anything now. They would be together forever, like in those ‘70s love songs her parents adored.
It was this thought, more than any, that made her happy, made her glow. She could light up the entire Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Even though she was surrounded by all kinds of mysterious Dark objects, she was cheerful. She could charge down all the evil in the world with that thought that they would be friends. Forever.
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“Oh great! You’re back!” Harry said as Ron and Hermione entered Harry’s compartment on the Hogwarts Express, “I thought maybe you forgot about us,” Harry joked sadly, gesturing at the compartment in which sat Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. “Anyways, who’s the Head Boy? And why did you take so long? I need my questions answered!”
“Actually, I think Ronald would like to answer that first question,” Hermione said as she sat down, a small smile on her face.
Ron looked down at his large feet and mumbled, “I’m Head Boy.”
“You’re WHAT!” Harry, Ginny and Neville yelled. Ginny and Neville had just come in after the prefects.
“Head Boy.”
“And the reason the meeting took so long,” Hermione said her smile widening, “was because everyone was laughing so hard.”
“How could you not tell me about this? I’m supposed to be your best mate!” Harry said in shocked surprise.
“Well, I knew if I told you, everyone else would know and laugh. Especially Fred and George,” Ron said, a little bit louder but still staring at his second-hand shoes.
The entire compartment was laughing whole-heartedly and Ron said these very words.
“You still should have told me,” Harry said, a serious look back on his face, “I’m very proud of you.”
Again the compartment filled with derisive laughter. But it died down as Ron settled into a seat across from Harry.
“Anyways, how was your summer, Neville?” Hermione asked the small boy, trying to save Ron from even more embarrassment.
Still laughing, he replied, “It was pretty quiet actually. My Great uncle Algie came over for the first time since I started school. It was the first time in my life he didn’t try to throw me out of a window. He was really proud of me after what had happened in the Department of Myster…” he trailed off, watching Harry’s face as it went pale. Although it had been a little more than a year since the incident at the Department of Mysteries where Sirius had died, Harry was still sensitive to the subject.
“It was pretty quiet,” Neville finished lamely.
At the words ‘Department of Mysteries’, a small girl emerged from the shadows. She had long, dirty blonde hair, large blue eyes and a long necklace that seemed to be made of garlic and forget-me-knots.
“Hello there, Luna. Hope you had an interesting summer?” Hermione asked only out of politeness.
Luna then began telling all of them about her summer hunting Snargnuggets with her father. As Hermione leaned back into her seat and looked around the full compartment, she knew she was home.
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