Harry Potter and the Forgotten Secrets

Harry's POV

We stared wide-eyed at the buildings in front of us. It wasn't as large as Hogwarts, but still intimidating. Older people walked passed us, pushing carts full of boxes and luggage. I sighed. "Well, I guess this is it. Should we get our books or go find our rooms?" Hermione and Ron looked between each other.

"Let's go check in and find our rooms. We'll get our books later," Hermione said. Ron and I nodded and we walked towards the front, sliding glass door. Others ahead of us checked off their names and keys were handed out. Hermione stepped up to the table. "Hermione Granger. And this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," she said to the boy with the clipboard.

He nodded, making marks on his paper. "Okay, Ms. Granger, you'll be in 118B. It's the first floor up the stairs, inside section over-looking the courtyard. If you go across the courtyard and through that door, go to your left, stay with the inside hall and you'll find your room." Hermione took her key from him and stepped back for me and Ron to get ours. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, you're in room 118A. It's the same area as Ms. Granger, just on the outside hallway." We were given our keys and I turned to Ron and Hermione.

"Well, that was fun," Ron said, wrapping his key around his wrist. "Let's go find those rooms, eh?" Hermione and I nodded and the three of us headed out the door into the square courtyard. "Look at this," Ron said, pointing to a stone wall with funny looking half-moon pieces screwed in in various places just outside the door. "What is that for?"

Hermione sighed. "Ron, don't you watch muggle TV?" she asked. Ron chuckled. "Oh, right, you didn't have a TV. It's a rock climbing wall, Ron. Not that either of you would care about that." She huffed and headed across the court yard and up the stairs. Ron and I grinned at each other and hurried to catch up.

"Well," Hermione said, stopping at room 118B. "Here's mine, let's see if my roommate is here." She slipped the key into the lock and turned the knob. The door opened to reveal two small beds, two closets, two desks, and two wall shelving units. One side of the room was vacant, the other side had blankets, a muggle TV, and a lamp, and the open closet door revealed a full wardrobe. "Looks like I have a roommate, she's just not here right now." She sighed and turned back for the hall. "Okay, let's go find your room."

We headed back to the corner of the hall. "Hey, what room are you looking for?" somebody said behind us. We all turned to face a young man. "Hi. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm Mike, I'm the RA. This is my room right here." I followed his gaze to the door down the hall from Hermione's room. "What room are you looking for?"

Hermione smiled at him. What was this? I rolled my eyes, realizing she was about to start flirting with him. "Well, I found my room," she said, grinning even bigger. Oh come on, Hermione. "Just looking for theirs. Uh....118A?"

Mike nodded, motioning for us to follow. He rounded the corner and tapped at the names on the wall beside the first door. "Right here. Harry and Ron?" We nodded at him and he nodded back. "Okay, there you go. If either of you need anything, don't hesitate to come. I'll be by sometime tonight to have you sign some papers." The three of us looked at each other.

"Well, let's go in," Ron said, sliding the key into the lock. "It seems so pointless to have a key when we could just use our -"

Hermione gave Ron a swift swipe against his arm and he jumped. "Watch it Ron. Remember, we know nothing of magic. We graduated from prep school in England. Right?" Hermione said sternly. Ron nodded, curling his nose. I swear, those two made me sick sometimes. If they would just get together already.

Ron opened the door and we walked inside. It was a bit different from Hermione's room. There was one bed on the wall which turned into a sofa. Hermione had that in her room, too, but her roommate already had that bed. The other bed was leaning up against the wall. Two desks, two closets, two shelving boxes on the walls. The sun shone brightly through the window. "Hey, I've got a great idea. Pull the drapes and shut the door." I blinked at Ron. What was he up to now? I nodded and shut the door as Hermione ran the drapes over the window. I looked worriedly as Ron grinned and pulled out his wand.

Hermione ran over to him. "What are you doing!? You can't use that now!"

Ron shook his head. "No one can see us. It's safe." Hermione growled and I chuckled. What Ron was up to I didn't know. I just liked watching Hermione squirm. "Now, Harry. Which bed do you want?" He walked over to the bed leaning against the wall. What kind of question was that? Did he think I was stupid? The other bed was attached to the wall, and had a nicer mattress. Who would want to sleep on a mattress on a noisy spring frame? I had enough of torture with my aunt and uncle, the ugly brutes.

"You mean, you're letting me choose first?" I asked a bit in surprise. Ron nodded. "I want that one of course," I said, pointing to the sofa bed.

"Good," Ron said, sliding the other bed behind me and resting it on the door. "I was hoping you'd say that." I looked at Ron, confused. What was he up to? Hermione moved over and stood beside me, resting her arm on my shoulder. I shifted to brace her. Was she getting heavier? I smiled a bit at my thought. She'd kill me for that. I turned my attention back to Ron who was sliding the shelving unit on his side of the room as close to the window as possible. He mumbled a few things to himself, none of which I cared to hear, and he readied his wand. He took a few steps back and gave his wand a flick, a solid wood bunk frame appearing. He had just made himself a loft bed on the wall. He turned and motioned for us to move out of the way, which we did. "Wingardium leviosa," he said, flicking his wand at the bed spring and mattress. It rose up slowly and made its way for the loft frame, setting down easily on the top, which was almost all the way to the ceiling. "There," he said, sliding his desk under his bed. "Now we have room to put a big TV.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh Ron, who said you'd have enough money to get one?" I looked at Hermione. Why did she have to be so sensible? It really drove me crazy.

"He won't, but I do," I told her. Somehow she always seemed to forget that I still had quite a bit of money from my parents. Sure I would have to go back to Gringotts to get it when I needed it, but I would save a lot of money being able to apparate to get there. Ron glared at me. "What?" It was a rather unnecessary question for me to ask really. I knew exactly what he was going to say. He would cross his arms over his chest and say, 'I told you I was going in on half of it.'

"I told you I was going in on half of it." Ron crossed his arms in front of him and shifted on his feet. I knew him like a book. He was my best friend after all.

"Well, we'll discuss who's buying what later," Hermione said. She reached into the small bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out a piece of parchment and a muggle qui - uh, pen. "Now, we need to make a list of things we need." I rolled my eyes, sitting down on my new bed.

"What's the point in going to the store when we can summon everything we need?" I asked. I really wasn't looking forward to every aspect of this. She sighed and rolled her eyes, making herself comfortable at my desk.

"Harry, our assignment from Dumbledore is to do this the muggle way." She looked at Ron who had been mimicking her. "Don't think I don't see you, freckle boy." Ron laughed. "Now, let me see. Twin size blankets - three sets, three pillows, three lamps, one TV, three new book bags, three coats, some extra hangers, and our school books and supplies. There, that ought to be enough, and if there's something I forgot, we'll get it later on." I watched her in amazement. This was the lifestyle I was trying to forget, and she just came right back into it.

"Whatever you say, Hermione." Ron rubbed his stomach. "I'm hungry."

Hermione sighed. "Is food all you think about?" Ron nodded and I laughed. "Fine, open the curtains. Let's get out of here."

* * *

"Well, I think we have everything. Did you remember to change over your money at Gringotts?" Hermione asked me as we stood in the middle of a store. We now had three cart-full of items Hermione insisted we needed. Ron continued to complain about it all, and I told him I would explain it all later.

"Yes, Hermione, I changed my money to pounds and then changed it at customs to..." Oh, what was the stinking currency around here? Hermione looked me in the eyes.

"Dollars I hope?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's it." I looked at Ron, who was staring at the frames on some weird contraption displaying large pictures of people who were supposed to be famous and pictures that looked like kids' drawings. He seemed to be staring at a picture of a girl. I couldn't figure it out, especially after experiencing wizard pictures. What was so fascinating about their pictures? They never moved. "Ron, why are you so fascinated with that?"

Ron grinned. "She's hot. Much better looking than Hermione." Hermione dropped her jaw and slapped Ron across his arm. I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, I'm done. Let's go." He grabbed the cart that contained his stuff and took off down the walk. Hermione glared at his back side.

"Oh, get over it, Hermione," I said, taking my cart and following Ron. We headed towards the front of the store and managed to pay for our stuff like we knew what we were doing. Ron was fascinated with the muggle candy and he managed to take three of each kind, one for each of us. What I didn't know until after the total for my items came through was that he had put most of it in my cart. I yelled at him for it later, but I decided to wait until we got back to our room.

Once we paid for everything, we decided to go find something to eat. Hermione's dad had thankfully taught me how to drive before we left London, and once we arrived here, we bought a used muggle car for the three of us to share. After stuffing all the bags in the boot, we drove around. "Let's just hope we don't get lost," Ron added from the back seat. I smiled as I pulled into a restaurant nearby.

We spent about an hour and a half at dinner, going over what classes we had and at what times. Hermione had decided to join the nursing program. She had trained to be a healer at St. Mungos and decided a bit of muggle training would help her. "It's something I wanted to do before I got accepted to Hogwarts anyway."

Ron and I chose to look into what they called entre...entrepre...entrepreneur or some big word like that. Something to do with what people wanted to buy and how much it cost to make it and how to choose it. "I'll take back whatever is in those classes and steal Fred and George's joke shop." He shrugged, shoving three of his rings of some sorts. I watched him as he made out like it was hot.

"What are those things?"

Hermione chuckled. "Didn't you hear him order? They're onion rings." I nodded, remembering seeing my cousin with some once.

We finished our meal and headed back to our dorms. It was odd going to dorms like those and using keys instead of passwords. This whole muggle thing was a pain anyway; it was something I was trying to forget.

I was so caught up in my thoughts I hadn't even realized we had pulled into the school lot. Hermione yawned and stretched as she got out of the car. "Well, come on. We have a lot to do, and I'm tired." She opened the boot of the car and grabbed as many of the bags as she could. Ron and I followed her and we went up to our rooms. "Okay, let's go to your room and I'll show you what to do with all of this," Hermione whispered to Ron.

"Yeah, and show me how to play these tapes," Ron said, holding up a cassette tape. Hermione chuckled.

I was the only one with a free hand so I was appointed to unlocking the door. We had already put all of our clothes in our rooms. Hermione had made us shrink our trunks and turn them into a gadget box to put on our desks. "People will think it's weird to have a trunk," she had said. We agreed, but reluctantly. She helped us make our beds, though Ron tried to use his wand to make it, like he usually did. "Not here!" Hermione had scolded, which Ron gave her a salute. I had laughed.

The 'funny looking vase' (which is the way Ron had described it), Hermione explained to Ron, was a lamp. "Once plugged into the outlet in the wall, it can be used as another source of light, instead of the light on the ceiling."

"This whole electricity thing seems a bit of a waste," Ron said as he turned the light on and off. "I mean, isn't it easier to just use candles and lanterns?" I chuckled.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I asked. Hermione looked at me, shocked. I smiled at her and turned back to Ron. "I mean, normal people don't know how good we got it." Ron and I laughed as we both received a glare from Hermione.

She crossed her arms and headed for the door. "Need I remind you that this is part of my world? This is how I lived for the first ten years of my life." Did she forget that I had too? "Now, I will see you in the morning. And you both better be up and ready by seven or I'm going to curse the both of you." She stormed out and rounded the corner for her room. I smiled.

* * *

I moaned as the sun broke in through the opened curtains. Ron, flat-headed, air-headed Ron, left the curtains open. "Aw, man. Ron, I could kill you for that!" I jumped when the door opened and Ron walked in.

"Kill me for what?" I rolled over and found my glasses, sliding them on. Ron was already dressed and was drying his head with a towel. He looked like he had been up all night, and surprisingly, his bed was already made like he had never slept in it.

"You're up surprisingly early," I told him, forcing myself out of bed. Ron blushed. What had he been up to?

"Well, you went to sleep early, and I was bored." I just stared at him. So? What was his point? "Okay, if you must know, I stayed in Hermione's room last night." I widened my eyes.

"You what?!" I couldn't believe him, and I didn't believe that she would have allowed it.

"It's not what you are thinking. I merely went over there to ask Hermione how to set up this clock. Her roommate never came in and we borrowed her TV. Next thing we knew it was six o'clock." I nodded at him. Surprisingly I believed him.

"So, what time is it then?" I asked, looking at my wristwatch. A quarter to seven. "Well, I guess I better jump in the shower and get dressed." Ron nodded and sat to turn on the TV.

We met Hermione at her room fifteen minutes later and decided to go into the next building to the dining hall and see what they were serving. Ron was learning that he couldn't eat as much or he wouldn't have money left. After breakfast, we went downstairs to see if the book store was open. We had our schedules in our pockets and our new student ids, which we had gotten yesterday, just in case we needed them. Once we arrived downstairs at the bookstore, Hermione told us how to find our books, as if we didn't know, but we played along anyway.

"Look, this is how you do it," she said, unfolding her class schedule and walking up to one of the bookshelves. "Here, my first class is Biology 221, Section 03, Instructor Banes. So you go to these slips under the books and find the matching items." Hermione pulled her first book off the shelf. "Just that simple." Ron and I glanced at each other and shrugged, trying to play stupid.

I didn't totally understand it though. Back at Hogwarts buying our books was easy. They actually told us the book titles that we needed. But, I guess that if they did that here it would get a bit complicated and useless. Within twenty minutes I had five books in my arms, one for each of my classes. I found Ron at the front counter.

He shook his head at me. "Seems a bit pointless, doesn't it?" he asked me, dropping all of his books on the counter. "I mean, it's ridiculous. All this paper wasted on all these books." I smiled as Hermione came up, seven books in her arms.

"Why on earth do you have so many books?" I asked her.

She gave me a cold glance. "I needed them. I have six classes, and one class requires two books." I rolled my eyes. Over achiever, she was. "Now remember," she whispered to us as the worker began scanning Ron's books, "Dumbledore is paying for our schooling, including our books."

"Since when?" I asked. This was news to me.

"Since I got a post from him the other day." Ron and I looked at each other and turned our attention to the store worker as she scanned Ron's last book.

"Your total is 350," she said. Ron widened his eyes.

"350! Merlin that's a lot!" I tugged at Ron. How many times have we told him not to use that word?! The worker looked at him confused. Hermione gave Ron a quick, quiet growl.

"We're not from the country," Hermione told her and she dropped her books on the counter next to mine. "And we're paying together." Hermione pulled out a square piece of plastic from her pocket and handed it to the girl behind the counter. She scanned mine and Hermione's books.

"What is that?" I asked quietly, trying to not let myself be heard by muggles. Hermione shushed me. Okay, fine, don't tell me. I'm tired of this whole bit anyway, being forced back into the muggle world when I was seriously trying to ignore it. After getting our books, we made our way back to our rooms. Hermione left us and went to her room, noticing her roommate back and went to meet her. Ron and I made our way to our room, throwing our books on our desks. "I can't believe that."

Ron looked at me. "Can't believe what?"

"How much those books cost. A thousand dollars for books?" I plopped down on my bed and rubbed my eyes under my glasses. Classes hadn't even started yet and already I was stressed. I just wanted to go back to my auror training. Why did Dumbledore insist on us taking this assignment? We weren't even his students anymore. I heard footsteps coming down the hall and Hermione made her appearance in the doorway.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet my roommate. Lara, this is Harry and Ron's the red-headed one hiding on his bed up there. Guys, this is Lara." Hermione walked over and plopped on the sofa bed beside me.

I stared at Lara. She looked different from any of the girls I had seen, even at Hogwarts. She had this red hair that fell across her shoulders and these amazing green eyes. She walked closer to me and extended her hand. For some reason, my stomach felt like it was going to be sick. I slowly took her hand and she smiled. "Hi, Harry?" I nodded and she turned to Ron. Ron had suddenly noticed her, I think, because he came off of his bed quicker than normal. "Hi. So, you're Ron?" Lara said. Ron nodded, his cheeks reddening slightly and they connected hands. I glared at Ron. How dare he touch her! Wait, where did that come from?

"Harry, are you okay?" I heard Hermione say, but it seemed so distant. "Harry?" I shook my head and drew my attention back to Hermione.

"Yes, I...I'm fine."

Hermione smiled and leapt up. "Good. I'm going to cancel dinner with you guys. Lara is going to show me around. Right, Lara?" Lara turned and took a glance at me before looking at Hermione.

She nodded. "Sure, but why don't the guys come too?" she said. My heart jumped. Stupid thing, what was happening? "I mean, once school starts we won't get much time for anything else." She had a point. Hermione sighed.

"You have a point. Okay, so we'll all go to dinner." Lara nodded and made eye contact with me. There was an awkward silence, but somehow it didn't seem to bother me. Okay, so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea that Dumbledore had.