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Author: Mistral Story: Just Plain Harry Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 143,689
When Hermione came back, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but with her hair still in the braid, Harry told his friends about the conversation with Mad-Eye Moody. Hermione looked uplifted at the thought of more school-work, especially the practical applications, and Ron tried really hard not to seem impressed that he would be tutored by Dumbledore. "I wonder what about, exactly," he said. "I mean, I doubt You-Know-Who will ever challenge me to a chess game." Harry had to laugh at that thought, but Hermione took his question seriously. "Being good at chess might mean you could become a general," she said. "If you're one of those people who can figure out the best places to put our assets, the best battles to fight, that would be a great help to our side." Ron couldn't think of anything to say to that other than, "Wow!" but Hermione wasn't done yet. "I wonder who the other students will be. Ginny, I would think, and most likely Fred and George, too, but who else? Guys? What's wrong?" Harry and Ron were both staring at her as though she had grown two heads. "Ginny? Why would she need this training? It's too dangerous," Ron said. "Oh, honestly," Hermione said. "Ron, you've got to get over babying Ginny. You, too, Harry. She's got just as much right to be involved as you do, she's just as smart as you are, and she's a Weasley, so she's in as much danger, if not more. Besides, she's the only person besides Harry who has come in direct contact with Voldemort." Ron flinched when she said Voldemort's name, but Harry thought about what she said. He supposed she was right, but that didn't mean he liked it. Somehow the thought of Ginny involved with all this made him uncomfortable, especially if she only had to be involved because of him. "Did you tell Harry about Ginny's dream?" Hermione asked Ron, who was still sitting wide-eyed. "What? Oh, yeah..." he said. "Hmm, maybe Ginny does belong...I mean, how else would she have had that dream...I mean, she couldn't have known about all that, could she?" "All what?" Harry asked. "Oh. Well, she dreamed about you, probably pretty common, truthfully-" "Ron!" "Anyway, you were in the forest, in a clearing. At first, she was sure it was you, but after a bit, she wasn't so sure...she said it was like flickering...first, it was you and then it was someone else who looked like you. And she was there, but it was the same thing, first it was her and then it was someone else with red hair. You were dancing with her - and, by the way, if you ever dance with my sister in the middle of the forest, you'll regret it - okay, Hermione, I'm telling it. While you were dancing, three animals came out of the forest to circle around you...a wolf, a dog, and a rat. Ginny said that she knew she should be scared, but she wasn't, not at all. Then the rat ran away, but the dog went after him and brought him back in his mouth. She couldn't see if it was alive or dead. She said the dream ended after that, but I'm not so sure, because she stopped telling it pretty quick, and she blushed like crazy. All right, Hermione, I'm done." "Well," Harry said, but then stopped. "Yeah, there's really only one interpretation of that dream," Hermione said. "I mean the main part, the wolf, dog and rat circling around the two of you. The flickering between you and your dad, and Ginny and your mum, I'm not sure about. But the rest of it could only be Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail, and there's absolutely no way Ginny could know about them. It's weird." Harry thought it was weird, too. He didn't know what the flickering people meant, either, and he wasn't really sure he wanted to know. But one thing was certain. He wasn't going to be the only one trained as a Seer. If that dream was any indication, then Ginny would be, too. They couldn't talk about it any more just then, though, because Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner. The next morning, before they could start talking about it again, they were all taken to Diagon Alley to get their school things. Seeing Diagon Alley shocked Harry. The Weasleys had all been so cheerful, even Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Percy, who were all exhausted by the time they finally got home the night before, that Harry had almost allowed himself to forget the cloud that hung over the wizarding world. He couldn't forget it in Diagon Alley. Usually, in the week before the start of the Hogwarts term, Diagon Alley was filled with laughing, chattering students getting all their school things and meeting friends that they hadn't seen all summer. The students were still there, but all of them were accompanied by their parents, and no one was laughing. Harry pulled on Ron and Hermione's arms so that they fell behind the others. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad? What's been going on?" Ron just shook his head, but Hermione said, "But nothing's been going on. The Ministry is still denying Voldemort's return, and there haven't been any attacks." She saw Harry's look of disbelief. "There haven't been, Harry, really." "Yeah," Ron said. "Dumbledore reckons both sides are gathering strength, Dad says. Probably want to make sure the first attacks actually succeed and are meaningful." Right after he said that, he looked like he wanted to take it back. "Well, it certainly looks like people believed Dumbledore when he said Voldemort had returned." "Stop saying the name, Hermione!" Ron said. "Oh, Ron, don't be ridiculous. You're going to have to get over this. The first thing out of Professor Moody's mouth in our apprentice Auror classes is probably going to be-" "Constant vigilance," Harry muttered. The other two turned and stared at him, then looked away quickly. "No," Hermione said, keeping her eyes straight ahead of her. "No, he's going to say that we need to say Voldemort instead of You-Know-Who. It's crazy that everyone's so scared of a name." "Bet you he doesn't," Ron said. Hermione sighed. "All right. What do you want to bet?" Ron just stared at her for a moment, since Hermione never gambled, but then a wicked gleam came into his eyes. "If he doesn't say that, you have to go to the ball that Mum's been hinting at with me." Harry and Hermione stared at him. Harry thought for second that Hermione would burst into tears, but she pulled herself together. "All right," she said again. "But what do I get if he does say it?" "Whatever you want," Ron said, waving his hand in the air. "I'll study all day in the library with you, or I'll let you practice charms on me, or-" "I get the picture," Hermione said. "Okay, it's a deal." They shook hands gravely, while Harry watched in amazement. Hermione then resumed the interrupted conversation. "I've never seen so many tense parents. They probably can't wait for September 1st any more than we can," Hermione said, still looking around at everybody. "Hey, speak for yourself," Ron said, which made Hermione make a face at him, which made him make a face back, which made Harry say, "Knock it off, you two!" Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let any of them out of her sight, not even Fred and George. So the shop they ended up spending the most time in wasn't the joke shop, or Quality Quidditch Supplies, or even Flourish and Blotts. It was Madam Malkin's. Mrs. Weasley decreed that all of them needed new robes, including dress robes, because, "You never know." Harry, remembering the Yule Ball the year before, and the fight Ron and Hermione had had right after it, didn't look at his two friends. He hoped that wouldn't happen again this year. He hoped Ron would ask Hermione to the next ball, even if he lost that silly bet, before anyone else did. And he really hoped that when he asked Cho Chang this time, she would say yes. Everyone grumbled a bit at Mrs. Weasley, but there was no denying that everyone needed new robes. Fred and George had finally grown a little - they were still short and stocky like Charlie, but they had grown some. And Ron, Harry had noticed the night before, was taller than Bill by this time. Even Harry had grown a couple of inches over the past year. Hermione needed new robes, too, and Mrs. Weasley said she had brought Ginny's measurements. That made Ron look puzzled. "Why does Ginny need new robes?" he asked. "She hasn't grown any - she's going to be shorter than Harry here." "There's other ways to grow than up," Mrs. Weasley said. "Well, she hasn't gotten fat, either," Ron said. "Unless all that Muggle food has gotten to her in the last couple of weeks." "Oh, Ron," was all Mrs. Weasley had to say to him. Harry had been confused at first, too, but after seeing Hermione trying desperately not to laugh, and hearing Fred and George not even trying, he caught on quick enough. Hermione hadn't been the only one to change over the summer, apparently. Ron still didn't get it, saying, "What is it? How has she grown?" to Hermione so many times that she finally lost control and went off into mad giggles. Ron just stared at her and gave up. Then he thought of something else, and turned to his mother. "Why are we here, though? Usually...usually, we go to second-hand stores..." His ears turned pink, and Harry didn't think he would want anybody listening in on this conversation, so he went to the fabric counter with Hermione. But he could still hear, and he could tell that Hermione was listening, too. "Well, your father is getting paid for two jobs, thanks to your help, dear, isn't he?" Mrs. Weasley said. "Really? Dumbledore's paying him?" Ron said. "I mean...reckon Dad would've done it without being paid, y'know." Mrs. Weasley smiled at him. "Of course he would have. But Dumbledore insisted, so now I can get my children the clothes I have always wanted to." "Not maroon," Ron said, which made Harry and Hermione start snickering. They knew how much Ron hated maroon, and how much his mum liked to dress him in it. Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Not maroon." "All right," Ron said, bounding over to the fabric counter. He shocked everybody by entering enthusiastically into the decision-making process. He picked out navy blue dress robes for himself, dark green for Harry, and insisted on lavender for Hermione. She wanted to get robes identical in color and fabric to the ones she had worn last year, but Ron wouldn't hear of it, and she finally gave in, so bemused by his even caring that she didn't fight as much as she could have. Fred and George were the only ones who withstood this new Ron - he wanted them to get deep, deep purple, but they insisted on electric blue. Harry was still laughing at the sight of the twins, flaming-haired and identical to the last freckle, in those shocking robes, when Ron asked him what color he thought Ginny looked best in. To his utter surprise, he blushed. "Oh, I don't know...blue?" he said, trying not to show how silly he felt. "I don't even remember what she wore last year." "Honestly, Harry, Ginny looked like an angel in white," Hermione said, glaring at him. "Boys never notice anything like that." "Hey! I noticed that she wore white," Ron said. "Not that Ginny ever looked like an angel." "Oh, yeah?" Hermione said. "Well then, what exactly was I wearing?" Ron's ears got really red at that. He obviously didn't want to think about last year, so Harry stepped in. "Don't you think a light blue would look good on Ginny?" he asked. Ron turned gratefully to him, but Hermione glared. Harry sighed. This was gong to be a long year if the two of them didn't cut it out soon.
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