Hermione let out a very unladylike snort. "Ugh, I should have guessed. Well, I'm not waiting for him. We still have a few minutes left to grab a quick bite from the Great Hall. Let's go."
Harry and Hermione just rounded the corner to the carriages when they both stopped. Standing before them were no longer the horseless carriages they remembered, but ones that were being pulled by dark, winged horses. They looked thin, almost skeletal, and at the same time not quite solid- they seemed to shimmer and shift as if they were only a little more than frozen smoke. "Hermione, are you seeing what's in front of the carriages?" whispered Harry.
Hermione nodded, but also took note that Neville didn't seem to see anything odd at all. "I don't think anyone else can see them, though. Maybe we should just keep quiet about it for now. I'll look them up next time I can go to the library."
Getting on the carriage with Neville when they spotted Ron, dragging his old trunk behind him as fast as he could. Hermione was watching with an amused look on her face. "Shame he doesn't remember his first year charms," she said quietly.
"Hey guys!" huffed Ron, breathing heavily. "Why... didn't you wait... for me?"
"We didn't want to be late for the train, Ron." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"And we did need to get a bite to eat before we left," Harry added.
"I did wake you," Neville said. "You waved me off, saying you'd be ready in time, so I left."
Harry looked at Neville. "Really? You tried to wake him too? He was still asleep when I got back to the room to pack my trunk."
All three of them turned to glare at Ron, who shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. He quietly muttered, "Well... you guys could have helped me with the trunk, at least..."
Hermione replied dryly, "Don't tell me you've forgotten how to cast Wingardium Leviosa already, Ron."
Ron looked sheepish, but declined to comment. When it was clear he had nothing more to say, Neville spoke up. "Where were you this morning, Harry? I thought you packed early because you were already out of bed, but you weren't at breakfast with everyone else this morning."
Harry gasped quietly when he realized what he almost let slip. Looking at Hermione, he decided to go with what had become his standard excuse. "I was getting some last minute notes on Runes from Hermione. I probably won't see her again for a month, and she's been helping me catch up with third year runes so I can switch over to the course next year."
Neville was amazed. "Wow, that's impressive, Harry. I have to admit, Runes is pretty useful, even though it's such a tough course that I'd never take it myself. What course are you dropping?"
Ron answered for Harry. "Divination. I still think he's barmy for doing that. You can practically guarantee yourself an A on the OWL just by making things up. Why would you throw away such an easy chance at an OWL, I don't know."
"Passing all your tests isn't the point of school, Ron!" Harry and Neville were rather surprised that it was Hermione who said that.
"Oh yeah? I never thought I'd hear that coming from you, Miss Know-It-All!" Ron shouted back.
"Ron, don't you dare talk like that to Hermione! She's your friend!" Harry rushed to Hermione's defense. "Yeah, she gets good grades, but more importantly, all the things she knows are actually useful!" He said that with a knowing smile, looking at Hermione.
The carriages had arrived at the Hogsmeade station, and they made their way onto the train in silence. They made their way into a cabin, whereupon Hermione immediately began removing some blank sandstones from her trunk, as well as a few notes and carving tools. Neville looked interested at the sight, while Ron just goggled. "We should get started right away, Harry. This should take us a few hours, and the train ride should be the perfect amount of time for us to finish it."
Ron looked at Harry, and said, "Wait, you're serious, mate? You're actually doing runes?"
Harry looked at Ron in disbelief. "Err... yeah, Ron. I've told you a dozen times this past week."
"But... don't you see how crazy that is? I've been trying to convince you not to! You'll fail the course!"
Harry felt that this was the last straw. "Convince me? You just called me barmy every time I told you. That's your idea of convincing me not to take the course? Look, if you can't accept the fact that I'll be taking Runes, don't ask again, because I'm not changing my answer. Hermione and I will be practicing the entire train trip back, because it's the last time she can help me before summer vacation."
Ron turned to Harry, then Hermione, then back again. Shaking his head and muttering, he left the cabin. Neville, who had backed away from the trio during the spat, spoke up. "You guys don't mind if I stay, do you?"
Hermione gave him a warm smile, saying, "Of course not, Neville. I mean, we won't be very talkative, but we certainly don't mind if you watch."
They settled down into their seats, and Hermione began instructing Harry on how to use the tools and carve the runes. She got set, carving all the most intricate runes while Harry took the simplest ones, which were mostly made up of straight lines. Neville watched with rapt attention, but he was too shy to interrupt their work. About three hours later, just past the midway point in the train ride, they were finally done. Seeing that they were finished, Neville finally spoke up. "So... could you tell me what all this stuff means? It looks awfully confusing."
Harry thought for a moment. "Um... it is pretty confusing, actually. But I'm sorry, Neville. If it doesn't work, we can't explain it to you. If it does work... well, we won't be able to explain it to you."
Picking up one set of runes, which were arranged and merged into one large cluster, he held it against his chest. Hermione did the same. Both of them brought out their wands, holding them against the cluster of runes, and murmured the activation sequence. The runes glowed as Harry and Hermione forced more and more magic into their runes, until it ended with a sudden flash.
Harry suddenly found himself laying down instead of sitting, and jerked his head upwards in disorientation. His mouth smacked into Hermione's. Hermione woke immediately, once again clutching her mouth.
Sweet Morgana, did he have to do that to me again? thought Hermione, as she looked at her fingers. Yep, my lip's bleeding again. The nerve of him! Couldn't he just wake me up properly?
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