Chapter IV - Platform 9 and three nightmares

"I don’t see your ghost girl Harry, how is she again?" Ron was trying to help his best friend on finding the one thing that made him less grumpy for the last month.

Harry was with his quartz stone around his neck, holding it, "she's tall, dark, has a great smile..." "-has you completely STUPID, excuse me" Ginny told them while she passed them by. She was seeing her dream of being close to Harry further and further away.

But Harry had only one thing in his mind.

"I know! It's her first time here, she won't know how to pass the platform Harry!" Ron said while grabbing his friend and going through the door.

***

Maggie was now officially frustrated, she had no idea how to get to that silly platform, no idea what were the visions she'd been having since she held her mom's wand and she hadn't been able to check on Harry since his birthday. It wasn't fair... The whole deal wasn't fair...

Chris was holding their wands, was carrying the parcels, the luggage, his owl and Maggie's black cat... But he could only think of Ginny. She was so hurt by Potter... He did nothing but hurting her... He wouldn’t let Harry do the same to his sister... He wanted to be with Ginny, she was older yes, but just one year, that wouldn’t be much of a difference in the real world, not this magic-wannabies world, with people dressed stupidly, holding wands and casting silly spells.

Why couldn’t they just stay in San Francisco and have tutors? He then thought once again in Ginny's hair, how it'd feel to hold her, to kiss her, to absorb every inch of her...

Maggie made him come back from his nonsense asking him if he remembered the whole story. "Yes I do, don’t treat me like a 10 year old Mag- Marie! You are supposed to be around 25, you studied in Salem, went to Romania, got the degree on dragons, then got to be an auror and now you teach... Busy life, ha? I cant believe uncle A can come out with such a big amount of crap, honestly"

Chris didn’t wanna be there, and neither did she, not under those conditions. "Look, I hate this as much as you, I wanted to be a Gryffindor, I was a 7th Year Student until 3 weeks ago, I hate having to be a teacher, but I have no choice, Uncle Albus didn’t give me any choice, so you better learn that crappy story and make it realistic, all right?"

She looked up and saw Harry coming her way with his lovely smile, and the quartz around his neck. Chris saw him and wanted to threw him under the train, but nothing had made his sister smile like that in years. "Ok, just avoid questions until we get to Hogwarts, forget the whole thing until we have no choice... please???" she was begging now.

"Ok, I wont mention our last names, no age, no Remus, no mentioning our parents... They happened to die one day in a car crash or something... Enjoy your trip with the bastard, sis" he smiled at her and walked to say hi to Ron, who was obviously Ginny's sister. All four of them were close from each other, nodding & being introduced.

"Morning Miss Matthews, how are you today?" and he smiled at her and kissed her hand. She giggled "I'm better now that you've come to the rescue Mr. Potter". Their obvious chemistry made Ron a bit sad, thinking of his sister, still he was happy for his friend, it was obvious that the american liked him.

Chris got their luggage again and headed to the gates of the platform "Excuse me, I'm gonna be sick."

Maggie gave her brother a piercing look "He has a thing with trains I dunno, It's so good to see you Harry, Hi Ron", Ron didn’t like her attitude... He started wondering who they really were, where were they parents... Very much like his girlfriend Hermione.

All three of them headed to the gates, Ron a bit forward so they could have some privacy. "I was having a pretty bad day... bad week really when we met and I just couldn’t stop thinking of you ever since" Harry was blushing oddly and looking straight into her eyes from time to time.

Wow... You don’t waist any time, do you? Now... Think Maggie, think... "Well Harry, I've been thinking a lot about you too" and she smiled. She just wanted to tell him the whole truth and run away... with him of course. People could see miles away they had something going on, they were closer and closer from one another. Unfortunately, red haired boy came their way and, after apologizing for the interruption, reminded them the train was punctual and about to leave in 5 minutes.

Maggie went back to her moody self "So what? We just blink inside". Both Harry and Ron chorus "you WHAT?" With an come on expression, very Hermione-like she held Harry tight with one arm and vanished, leaving blue stars that disappeared behind them.

They were all alone in a compartment. Again, Harry and Maggie felt a cold chill through their spines, he had her close from him, too close to be true.

"You disappeared after my birthday" said while caressing her face really slowly, touching her lips with this thumb. "Oh boy... Well (she coughed) my place in Hogwarts... There was a problem with it and I had to take care of it, but is all good now" and she smiled at him. She found herself with both of her arms around him, not wanting to go anywhere...

They were in the middle of a great silence before a great kiss.

Ron found Hermione and passed on his worries to her. "Who IS she? Where are they? We have to find them Ron, I don’t trust her, and I just saw her once! And that american accent, lord!", they were about to split and look for them. "I don’t know what's going on Herm, but she... I dunno... I don’t like her." Hermione knew exactly how Ron felt. She had always known that Harry and Ginny together weren’t a good idea, not because they didn’t match, but because of Ron. One was his best friend, the other his sister... He wouldn’t know how to take sides if they ever broke it up, like Harry did.

"Darling, Harry is our friend, you should dislike her because she took your friend and disappear afterwards but not because your friend is attracted to her. You know... He's been having a rough year, a rough life Ron... Just look at the last 5 months... He almost looses everything, he's lost and we have to help him" Ron felt upset and ashamed.

"Hermione, you NEVER get it! You think I'm like this because of Ginny!? Hell no! He is vulnerable, and she IS acting suspicious, I even noticed it! You know me less and less" and he walked away...

Things between them weren't as happy as they seemed, but right now she had to find her friend, didn’t have time to think of her own problems.

Hermione opened the compartment's door and found Harry with Maggie in his arms, but they weren't kissing... close enough though. "Oh, Harry sorry, I was worried. We are 2 compartments away, Hi... Marie, right? I'm Hermione, Ron's girlfriend" and she nodded. "Well Harry, I have to look for Chris, I'll see you later, bye Hermione, nice to meet you" and she almost run through the door.

Once again, she escaped. Harry was more confused & upset than before. "Let's go get a drink" he said.