Just Off The Platform II

JUST OFF THE PLATFORM -- PART II

"What's that gathering all about?" Mr. Lovegood asked his daughter.

Luna gazed languidly in the direction her father was so interested in and took in the sight. "Some of Harry's friends are seeing to it those Muggles don't mistreat him this summer, from the looks of things."

"Really!" Lovegood's eye's widened in glee.

"No, Daddy," Luna said, very firmly for her.

"What do you mean 'no,' honey?" he asked, confused.

"Harry deserves privacy after all that's happened to him. It was awful."

Mr. Lovegood stood there a second, amazed. "You mean you really know him? That girl didn't just use you to plant that story?"

"Hermione and I did that for Harry," Luna stated simply. "And after what we all just went through, he doesn't need any more publicity."

Lovegood's amazement moved towards shock. "You . . . you were one of the students at the Ministry?" The students' names, other than Harry's, hadn't been released.

"Yes, Daddy."

"Will you . . . could you. . . ."

Luna paused for a moment. "I want to tell my Daddy, but not the editor of The Quibbler."

"I . . . I think I understand. Can you at least tell me if he has a girlfriend?"

"He doesn't yet, Daddy," Luna stated simply. "Daddy? Instead of us going to Sweden first class, may I have a post owl?"

Mr. Lovegood saw his daughter watching Harry and his Muggle guardians depart, and saw the look on her face. "Yes, sweetheart, you may have a post owl," he said gently. "We can go first class anyway."

"Thank you, Daddy," Luna replied, back to her usual dreamy voice, her eyes never leaving Harry.

***

"Who do they think they are?" Vernon Dursley ranted softly. "Freaks and troublemakers! That's all they are!"

"Harry," Petunia asked nervously, ignoring Vernon for once, "did something . . . bad just happen?"

"There was a big battle just over two weeks ago," Harry answered numbly. "Everyone saw that the Dark Wizard who killed my parents has returned. Even though He lost the battle, and some of His most important followers were captured, He escaped. A new war will be starting soon." Harry closed his eyes for a second so he wouldn't cry. "And Sirius was killed."

"That godfather you were always threatening us with!" Vernon said, with a hint of glee in his voice.

"Yes," Harry spat. "That's another reason they're going to be keeping a close eye on you, not just on me."

Vernon looked like he was going to hit Harry right there, in the parking lot, and hope both that nobody would notice and that he could think of how to get away with it over the next three days before the freaks showed up to check on the Boy.

"No, Vernon," Petunia said. She turned to Harry. "I had a letter from your Headmaster. You're to stick close to the house this summer. In the mornings, you'll read or do your summer assignments. At 11:30, you will come down stairs and fix lunch for the three of us, the four of us on weekends. In the afternoons, you will work in our garden or Mrs. Figg's. You are not to go further away than that! If you feel you need more exercise, you may jog around the blocks between us and Mrs. Figg's. You will be home every evening by 5:30, to help me with dinner. We bought Dudley a new telly, and you may watch the news, or whatever, on his old one, but the tellys for both of you go off at 11:00."

"Mummy!" Dudley started to protest.

"11:00!" she said firmly. "Midnight on Friday and Saturday, Dudley."

Dudley grumbled quietly.

"Do YOU understand?" she asked Harry.

"Yes, ma'am."

"And try to arrange any bloody owls to come after dark!" Vernon told him.

"Yes, sir."

***

"We didn't hear much from you this year, dear," Hermione's mother said.

"Well, it was a busy year," Hermione said, "all those tests."

"Nothing . . . bad this year?" her father asked, nervously.

"No," Hermione said, nothing in her voice or body language betraying the lie, "not really, not like those other years. There has been some nasty political in-fighting about the Dark Lord's return, but that is finally turning out alright. There was a pitched fight a few weeks ago, which is what turned the tide of opinion, but the good guys won."

Hermione's face turned sad. "Harry's godfather was killed, though."

"That poor boy! At least no one tried to kill him this year, right?" her mother said.

"Hopefully, now that everything is out in the open, he'll be safe," Hermione said, wishing it were true.

"So," her father asked in a jovial tone, "how many hearts did you break this year?"

Hermione and her mother both rolled their eyes.

***

"What are you still doing here?" Mrs. Longbottom demanded. "Why didn't you come meet me at the fireplaces?"

"Sorry, Gram," Neville said. "I was just thinking."

Mrs. Longbottom stared at Neville, instead of reprimanding him as usual. "Albus Dumbledore told me what you did, Neville," she said quietly after a few moments of thought. "I have never been more proud of any member of the family. No, not even of your father."

Neville looked at her, stunned.

Mrs. Longbottom levitated Neville's trunk. "Come along now. We just have time to visit your parents, and you can tell us all about it from your point of view. Then, tomorrow, we shall go to Diagon Alley. It is time you had a wand of your own."

"Yes, Gram!"

"And stop calling me that!"

"Sorry, Grandmother."

***

Narcissa Malfoy quietly approached the still train, trailed by the even more nervous Mrs. Crabbe and Mrs. Goyle. With all their husbands under arrest, and Narcissa herself facing inquiries from the Ministry, they were all treading much more lightly than usual.

Mrs. Malfoy found the well-hexed blobs that were her son and his followers. "Oh, drat!" she spat. "Not again!"

It took Narcissa several minutes to quiet the frightened Mrs. Crabbe. Looking closely, the three nervous women decided that this was too much for them to deal with. They levitated the blobs and flooed with them to St. Mungo's.

"Fourth floor," the bored Welcome Witch told them, with no change in her voice.

***

"Really!?" George said. "That was awfully sporting of Flitwick!"

"Yes," Ginny said sardonically, "you both achieved the immortality you always wanted at Hogwarts." The four were sitting in the back of a Ministry limo, while their parents sat in front and Moody drove, sound-proof glass supposedly keeping them apart.

"Wish we'd made the battle, though," Fred said.

"No, you don't," Ron stated simply.

"Yes, we do," George retorted. "Not because we wish we'd had to face . . . those people, but because if we'd been there, too, then maybe . . . maybe. . . ."

"Sirius wouldn't have been killed," Ginny finished for them.

"We really liked him," Fred said simply. "It sucks that he's gone."

"It does," Ginny agreed, "but think about how Harry feels. He was tricked into getting us there, and because of that Sirius died. And as much as we liked Sirius, Harry almost thought of him as his father. Just think how we would have felt if Dad had. . . ."

She teared up, and George pulled her into a hug.

"Harry always get the shit-end of the deal, doesn't he," Fred said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Sometimes I envy him the glory, but then I remember all the crap that goes with it. I wouldn't wish that part of it on Snape."

"How about Umbridge?" Fred asked with a grin.

"On her, I wish worse!" Ron snarled.

"Enough of this!" Fred declared. "Tell us, Ron, are you snogging Hermione yet?"

Ron blushed, but said, "Why don't you ask Ginny what she's up to?"

Fred turned to Ginny obediently, "So, Ginny, are you snogging Hermione yet? Or Harry?"

Ron and George glared at Fred, while Ginny giggled. "No!" Ron managed to almost shout, "she's going to chase Dean!"

"Better Dean than Seamus," George pointed out.

"Dean, or Seamus, or Neville, or Ernie, or. . . ." Ginny teased her brothers.

"Neville? Anyone not in Slytherin would be better than Neville!" Fred stated.

Ron and Ginny nailed him with anger. "Don't pick on Neville, ever!" Ginny snarled.

"He and Luna really turned out to be excellent fighters," Ron told his confused brothers. "They really outdid us, as much as I hate to say it."

"Neville?" George said.

"Loony?" Fred said.

Ron nodded, but Ginny told them, "I don't know if Harry thinks of her as more than a friend or not, but I do know he really likes her as a friend at the very least. The next person that calls her 'Loony' will face Harry's wrath."

"I don't know what happened in the Atrium," Ron said slowly, "that was after Sirius died and Harry chased Bellatrix, but I saw part of Harry's fight in the Department of Mysteries, and Neville told me more about it. I'd rather face any Death Eater in a duel than Harry if he was really after me."

"He's a lot more powerful than anyone I've ever seen, except Dumbledore, and maybe Riddle," Ginny said.

Fred and George looked at each other for a moment. "Enough of Loony, err, Luna," George finally said.

"Yes, let's talk about you snogging all the boys," Fred added with a leer.

***

Tonks and Lupin stood outside #12 Grimmauld Place. "I hate the idea of owning this place even more than the old hag does," Tonks said. "And what do we do about that creature Kreacher? In less than three months, the Elf House Mourning ritual will be over, and he won't serve me, even if I wanted him. He'll go straight to Aunt Narcissa and tell everything he can."

"Maybe we'll restrain him in the basement on the next full moon," Remus snarled, letting his anger show for once. "Then, I'll have a playmate!"

Tonks looked at him sadly. "You don't mean that."

"I do," Remus said, "but I know I couldn't go through with it."

***

"Hi Mum, Dad," Neville said, "I have a lot to tell you."

***

Luna looked around her room in the small flat her father kept above the offices of The Quibbler. Hogwarts had felt more like home than either here or their little cottage near Ottery St. Catchpole for the very first time. She knew that was because of Harry. She wasn't sure what that meant -- it could mean any number of things. Despite what Professor Trelawney often pretended, having the Sight was not a constant guide. All the possibilities she could See, she had decided weeks before the horrible events at the Ministry, were for the greater good and she still felt that was so. But what was her relationship with Harry to be? She had rarely had to examine her feelings, but knew she should do so now.

She hoped she had at least given Harry some comfort in his loss. She wondered if she should write to him. She wondered if she would see him that summer. As much as it was against her nature to worry, she even worried about how Harry would face the summer. Then, she wondered if they could finally find a Crumpled-Horn Snorkack.

***

Hermione laid in the dental chair, her parents looking for any signs of bad dental hygiene. She wondered how Harry was doing. She worried about her O.W.L.s (surely they would grade the Astronomy practical on a curve, with all that disturbance!). She wondered about her and Ron, and if Ginny had been serious about serial dating. She worried about Luna and Neville and Remus. Mostly, she worried about how Harry would face the summer.

***

Remus Lupin stood in front of the Black family tapestry, slowly trying to destroy it -- he would go thread by thread if he had to -- while Tonks restrained Kreacher in another room. If he could figure out a way to do it, Mrs. Black was next.

***

The twins were talking to each other about the shop, leaving Ron and Ginny to look out the windows. So much had happened in the last year, and so much of it was bad. A new war was starting; how much worse would life get?

***

Draco Malfoy slowly woke up, and realized he was in agony. He couldn't shout, because at the moment he had no mouth. Six healers were trying to undo the hexes he and his followers had been subjected to in such a way as to prevent any permanent damage.

Draco felt his neck grow back, and then grow too long.

***

Harry Potter stood in front of #4 Privet Drive yet again -- his prison for the next two months. 'Maybe I deserve at least two months of prison,' he decided.

***

It was going to feel like an even longer summer this year than last year.