Harry Potter and the Violet Chain

Chapter Five

Harry felt his feet touching the ground and tried to control his landing but failed. He swerved and flopped sideways onto the ground. Mr. Weasley was standing next to him, outstretching his hand for Harry to pull himself up.

'Hurry, Harry,' urged Mr. Weasley, glancing to his right and left.

Harry quickly got up and followed Mr. Weasley's strides. They were in a dark alley and there was no one in sight. Harry glanced uneasily around him. This does not look anything like King's Cross, he thought. But he kept his doubt to himself as Mr. Weasley seemed to know where he was going.

Mr. Weasley stopped suddenly in front of a paper recycling bin, which was placed awkwardly on its own against a barren wall. 'Hmm... this must be it... has to be...' Mr. Weasley mumbled to himself.

Harry's eyes widen as Mr. Weasley pushed and shoved the bin aside. 'What are you doing, Mr. Weasley?' asked Harry uncertainly.

'We are going to the platform, Harry!' said Mr. Weasley happily.

Mr. Weasley then grabbed Harry's hand and together, they walked through the wall that the bin was leaning against.

'Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry!' chirped Mr. Weasley.

Indeed it was. The scarlet body of Hogwart's Express gleamed in front of Harry. Harry looked contently at the train and could not help feeling that everything would be back to normal soon.

'Thanks, Mr. Weasley,' said Harry, giving Mr. Weasley a smile of gladness.

'My pleasure, Harry!' said Mr. Weasley. He suddenly looked seriously at Harry and said, 'Harry, I know you are old enough now, and you should know things that you did not need to know last time... It has to be time for you to know, after all that had happened and may happen... But I can't really tell you... Harry, do not trust anyone. No one at all...promise me...'

'What?' asked Harry confused. Was that what he should know all those time? He already knew that, ages ago. Since Dudley was old enough to bully, Harry knew not to trust anyone.

'Harry!'

Harry turned around and saw the Weasleys swarming at him.

'Dad!'

'Are you two ok?' asked Mrs. Weasley worriedly, eyeing them from head to toe. 'There were a lot of Ministry Wizards at the muggle platform out there, I thought they were waiting or there was a warning....'

'We are fine, Molly,' assured Mr. Weasley. 'It was just a diversion, part of Dumbledore's plan.'

Mrs. Weasley's face eased and nodded. Ron went to stand next to Harry, looking lost and awkward. Harry noticed that Ron kept touching his ears, which was burning red now. Before Harry could say anything to Ron, Hermione appeared next to him.

'Harry!' squealed Hermione and gave Harry a long hug. 'I'm so glad to see you!'

Me too Hermione, thought Harry.

Hermione let go Harry to have a good look at him. Harry had a good look at Hermione too and realized that she did not have a badge on her robe. Harry stared at her robe, where the prefect's badge supposed to be, just above the Gryffindor's coat of arms, maybe a bit longer than he should.

'What?' Hermione eyed Harry uneasily, and looked at Ron.

Ron's prefect's badge was gleaming under the sunlight; so, naturally, it was Hermione's turn to stare at Ron's robe.

Harry wanted to say sorry to Hermione for not being called to be a prefect, but he was not supposed to. It should be 'congratulations' to those who got called and not 'sorry' to those who did not. Harry himself would be receiving lots if that was the case. Ron seemed to be in the same state of confusion as Harry, if not worse.

'Oh, so, you are a prefect, Ron!' said Hermione cheerfully, breaking the silence and awkwardness mounting between them. 'Congratulations!' beamed Hermione.

Ron's face broke into a huge grin. 'Thanks, Hermione!' blushed Ron. He still looked uneasily at Hermione. 'You sure you okay with this... I mean...'

'What? Don't be silly! You will make a wonderful prefect!' assured Hermione. Ron blushed further.

'Prefects! On board carriage One!' the new Head Boy, Mark Canon from Ravenclaw called out.

'I'll see you guys at Hogwarts then,' said Ron, his eyes gleaming in excitement, though his face showed uncertainty.

'Enjoy yourself, Ron, and don't worry about us,' said Hermione, giving Ron a squeeze on his shoulder. Harry nodded in agreement.

They saw Ron on board the first carriage and quickly went up the train themselves as it was about to go off. They found an empty carriage near the end of the train and settled themselves there. Harry stuck out his head from his carriage and looked for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and saw them nearby.

'Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Weasley!' shouted Harry, waving to them. 'I really appreciate all that you had done for me!'

'Our pleasure, Harry,' shouted Mr. Weasley. Harry could see Mrs. Weasley dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, but she was laughing and waving at him. When Harry could not see them anymore, as Hogwarts Express pulled off, he turned to look at Hermione.

'You all right, Hermione?' asked Harry, eyeing Hermione suspiciously.

'What? Of course I am!' exclaimed Hermione. 'What's wrong with me?'

'Erm... you know... Ron is a prefect, but...'

'Oh, you are as silly as Ron! You don't think I will be jealous, do you?' asked Hermione.

Harry's face turned red with embarrassment. He only managed to smile weakly at Hermione. He would like to comment that Ron said that she would, but thought better of it.

The rest of the journey, Harry and Hermione talked about their holidays, and Hermione's was a lot more interesting than Harry's. Hermione went to Holland with her parents and met Viktor Krum there, who was having holiday there as well. It seemed like they had a great time together, judging by all the details Hermione filled him in and the excitement in her voice. Harry listened with deep interest, as he had never been to Holland, and Krum seemed to be an interesting character as Hermione described him. She also showed him some photos they took. Harry could not help but felt glad that Hermione had a great holiday. Harry would like to ask Hermione about her feelings for Krum, or Viktor, as Hermione kept called him, but he did not want to be called 'silly' twice in a day.

They had a couple of visitors to their carriage, as usual. Ginny came with Neville Longbottom (and Trevor) to say hi, and eventually ended up playing exploding snap. Halfway, they were joined by Seamus Finnigan, Fred, George and Lee Jordan, the twin's best friend.

'So, Dean's a prefect too!' exclaimed Harry, when he was told by Seamus about his best friend, Dean Thomas. 'Good for him!'

'Yeah, I heard Malfoy is one too,' sighed Seamus.

'Backstabbing about me?'

All of them in the carriage turned to look at the door in unison. Draco Malfoy, Harry's nemesis, was standing at the door, arms folded on his chest, which was protruding a prefect's badge. He was, as usual, being flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, to Harry's relief, did not have prefect's badges on their robes.

'How come you are here, Malfoy? Thought you should be in the prefect's carriage,' said Hermione coolly.

'We just finished being debriefed. I saw good-for-nothing Weasley was there,' smirked Malfoy.

Fred and George stood up angrily at the same time. Malfoy showed no signs of fear. 'Just a warning to all of you,' said Malfoy, still smirking, 'better watch your steps. I don't practise goodwill. Especially you,' Malfoy turned to look at Harry. 'Don't think that you can get out of rule-breaking easily now. I know about all your secrets.' Malfoy motioned Crabbe and Goyle to follow him and they left.

Just as Malfoy and gang disappeared, Ron and Dean Thomas appeared at the doorway.

'What happened?' asked Ron, sensing something was missing - noise.

'Malfoy was here,' said Hermione, eyeing Harry edgily.

'Oh, that good-for-nothing,' said Ron angrily.

'Hey, that's what he said about you!' cried Neville.

'Really? Wait till I get hold of him...' and Ron ventured to say a lot of things not fit for Ginny to hear.

'Ron!' cried Harry and Hermione. 'You are a prefect now, Ron! Honestly!' said Hermione.

'Sorry,' said Ron sheepishly.

They continued with their game, and forgot about what happened earlier. One by one, they left for their own carriages as the train was approaching Hogwarts. Ron was the last to leave for the prefect's carriage.

'See you two at the great hall,' said Ron, with a twinkle in his eyes.

'He seemed to be excited over being a prefect,' commented Hermione, when Ron had left.

'Really?' said Harry, not very surprised. 'I honestly don't know how he feels. He was pretty negative yesterday about this, but he seemed pretty excited today,' he shrugged. 'Don't tell him, but I saw him kept glancing at his robe yesterday night, as if checking if his badge was still there. I think he still could not believe that he is a prefect.'

They both giggled. They could not believe it either. Out of three of them, Ron was the most passive, and the only thing he was famous for, was for being Harry's best friend. But they were both happy for him. Ron needed the post more than them, to prove himself.

The train halted and everyone alighted from the train. Harry glanced around the platform, looking for Hagrid, who was always there every year to usher the first years. But he was no where in sight. Hermione seemed to sensed the oddity as well, and looked uneasily at Harry.

'First years! Over here!' Harry's heart lifted a bit; but hold on, it was not Hagrid's voice, and it was not even male. Harry then saw McGonagall striding towards him, with a lamp on her hand and a stream of first years following behind. Next to her was Harry's 'favourite' teacher, Severus Snape.

'Harry Potter!' called out McGonagall.

Harry heard murmurs among the first years and ignored the stares he got from them. He did not even bother to flatten his hair to cover his scar on his forehead. Let them gawk at it, he thought.

'Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape,' said Harry, nodding at his two teachers.

'Harry, you are to follow Professor Snape back to Hogwarts. Just some safety precautions,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Hermione may go with you,' she added.

Harry nodded thankfully at Professor McGonagall.

'Come with me,' said Professor Snape, looking as grim as he had always looked.

Harry and Hermione followed Professor Snape to an empty carriage, which will bring them to Hogwarts, ignoring glares from fellow school mates. They sat opposite Professor Snape who took out his wand as soon as they were inside. Harry kept glancing at Hermione, who was very quiet. But she gave Harry a smile of assurance that she was all right. Harry kept feeling for his wand, just in case it was needed.

'Watch out Harry!' shrieked Hermione.

Harry did not know what that was about, but he quickly seized his wand. Hermione was still sitting next to him, so he turned to look at the seat opposite him.

Professor Snape was sprawling on the carriage floor.