I wonder if Ron's going to be the same as last time, thought Harry. Well, I'm giving him a second chance and let him have breakfast, too. Let's see how he takes it this time. Quickly glancing at Hermione before answering, he replied, "I was studying Runes with Hermione, since we won't be seeing each other very much over the summer. Divination's useless, so I'm dropping it in favour of Runes."
"Wow, that's pretty tough," said Neville. "I have to agree that it is pretty useless, though. My Gran never spoke highly of it. Maybe I should have taken Muggle Studies instead."
"Oh, don't bother with it. I have a hard time deciding which is more useless, Muggle Studies or Divination," said Hermione. She was glad to steer the conversation away from Runes as quickly as possible, to avoid another spat with Ron and another fifteen minute carriage ride sitting awkwardly to avoid eye contact with him.
"But that's only because you're muggleborn, Hermione!" said Ron. "Wizards don't know a thing about muggles!"
"And they still won't know a thing even after taking the course. All the stuff they have is at least fifty years out of date," said Hermione. "And that's just the technology. Let's not even talk about muggle fashion. That seems to change every decade or so. Your best bet for knowing what's going on in the muggle world is to get to know some muggles."
The rest of the carriage ride consisted of Hermione passionately explaining the great advances in human rights and equality that were made in the muggle world to Neville and Ron.
Entering the cabin on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione whispered to Harry, "I think we should make the Return Clusters again. Just in case of an emergency, you know? It could be a handy method of escape, especially since we can't apparate."
Harry nodded. "Is that what we're calling them now? I agree, in any case. How should we deal with Ron?"
"Well, if he handles it better this time around, I'm willing to forgive him, but I'm not going out of my way to stop him from opening that reckless mouth of his," Hermione said firmly, and brought out the blank sandstones once again.
"Wow, you two. You really are studying up to the last minute, aren't you?" Neville asked, surprised.
"What's with you two? It's summer vacation! You should be celebrating, not working!" Ron shouted.
"My summer 'vacations' are work," growled Harry. "I'd take studying with Hermione over the Dursleys any day. In fact, I love studying with Hermione. She always knows how to explain things to help me understand. " His expression softened, as he looked into Hermione's eyes with a sense of understanding, "...And she loves teaching me. You've never noticed how happy she becomes whenever she has the chance to share her knowledge with someone. I don't think I've appreciated her enough. I'm sorry, Hermione, for not noticing before. I could even give up Quidditch for you, Hermione."
Hermione was watching Harry with rapt attention as he made his little impromptu speech, with absolute joy filling her face as he finished. She was just about to say something in return when Ron shouted out loud, "WHAT? Give up Quidditch? For a girl? There's no way you could do that. Quidditch is the greatest game in the world! In fact, the next World Cup is going to be held here in Britain! You should come over to the Burrow and listen to the game on the Wireless, you'll never think about dumping Quidditch again!"
Harry only nodded as he and Hermione began to work on their set of runes. Ron turned to Neville to satisfy his Quidditch fever for the next few hours. Just as they finished, the tiniest owl they had ever seen came flying in the window, with a letter from Sirius. The excitement of the last two weeks made Harry nearly forget about his new godfather, but now he had written a letter stating that he was doing fine (for an escaped prisoner), that the Firebolt Harry received was a present from him, and for Ron to keep the owl. Ron was quite excited to have his own owl, especially after losing his "pet" rat.
As they arrived at the station, Harry gave Hermione a long goodbye hug before the Dursleys started to scream at him to get in the car. Waving goodbye from the window, he realized it was going to be one of the longest summers ever.
XXXX
Two days. It had only been two days since arriving home that Harry felt the urge to write a letter. He didn't have anything in particular to talk about, but there were enough interesting developments at home that he managed to eke out a short letter to Hermione.
Dear Hermione,
I know this is pretty quick, but I just wanted you to know how things are at my home. The Dursleys are actually a little nicer to be these days. By "nicer" I mean they all seem to be too miserable to bother me as much as they used to. For once, we're all eating the same amount of food! No, they'd never dare to give me a proper meal, but apparently somebody has noticed that Dudley has difficulty seeing his toes, and forget about touching them. The school nurse said he needed to eat less and move more. When uncle Vernon went to school to complain about it and demanded to see a doctor, they brought one in and he said both of them had to go on a diet! Now they constantly complain about not getting enough food, but they can't blame me for it, and Dudley's too tired to chase me around with his gang.
Besides the chores, I'm going to try studying. When I said I enjoyed studying with you on the train, Hermione, I meant it. I know the Dursleys would never stand to have you visit, but could you send me your notes and textbook for Ancient Runes? I'd like to learn as much as I can.
.
.
.
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