The Protagonist System

90 Train Troubles

Luna and I weren't interrupted for almost half an hour, which was kind of a record for a snogging session. I whispered that to Luna as Hermione entered the compartment and dragged her clearly heavy trunk behind her. Luna blushed and looked proud, so she understood what I meant about her being the first girl I've done that with.

“I assume you lost or broke the multiple compartment trunk I gave you.” I commented as I put on my Harry Potter disguise with the fake glasses and changed my hair back to black and morphed my forehead to show the trademarked lightning bolt scar.

Hermione shook her head. “My mother saw the different compartments inside and claimed it for the family to travel with.” She said and dropped the end of her normal trunk with a loud thump. “I hadn't realized how much I had stored inside and it took us several days to empty it and restock it for our trip to Greece.”

I gave her a pointed look. “...and you didn't owl me to bring you another one because...”

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, paused with her hand half-raised, and sighed. “I'm an idiot.”

Luna laughed pretty loudly and I joined her, mostly because her laugh was infectious.

“Oh, shut it.” Hermione griped and waved at her trunk.

I waved my hand at it as well and floated it up onto the luggage rack. Luna didn't react to that at all.

Hermione sat beside me and looked at the tiny blonde under my arm. “It's nice to finally meet you, Luna.”

That Luna did react to with surprise and her eyes went to my face.

“I've already warned her I was waiting for a couple of first years.” I said.

Luna's eyes made one long slow blink. “Ginny won't be here until the train is about to leave.”

Hermione huffed and held a hand out to me. “I think that's a Weasley curse.”

I took a new book out of my expanded pocket and handed it to her.

“Perpetual lateness if it's important?” Luna asked.

“You got it.” I said as Hermione moved to the other wall and kicked off her shoes before she put her feet up on my lap. “I stopped counting how many classes Ron was late for after the first month.”

“He's never late for meals, though. Not even breakfast.” Hermione said with her face as close to the pages of the book as possible without actually touching it.

“I swear he either has a ridiculous metabolism or he's been cursed with a bottomless stomach.” I said with a laugh.

Luna tilted her head as she looked at me. “Something like that is possible after all of the things Fred and George have made him eat all these years. I suppose an unintended interaction between ingredients might have given Ron a gibbersnack in his gut.”

I caught my breath as I looked into her eyes. “Luna, do you think that happened?”

“It's highly possible.” Luna said and beamed a smile at me for not calling her crazy or making fun of her.

“Harry? What are you two talking about?” Hermione asked and lifted her head from her book.

I thought about the best way to describe it. “In muggle terms, it would be called a magical tapeworm.”

Hermione gasped and stared at me.

“If it's true, Ron's eating so much because he's not getting enough nutrients from the food.” I said and thought about what he looked like. “It would also explain why he's so lanky and doesn't have a drop of fat anywhere on his body.”

Luna nodded in agreement.

Hermione bit her bottom lip. “Harry, we have to get him to Madam Pomfrey. If he's been suffering from it for years, there's no telling how big the thing is inside of him or how long he'll live if it's not taken care of.”

I patted her shin and smiled. “Don't worry, Hermione. I'll check him as soon as he's close enough and then we'll know for sure if he's a walking black hole by choice or because of a gibbersnack.”

Hermione nodded and went back to her book.

After a few quiet seconds, Luna kissed my cheek and leaned her head back against my shoulder to whisper in my ear. “Thank you, Harry.”

I nodded slightly instead of trying to whisper back. I turned my head just enough to look into her eyes and then glanced at her lips. Luna smiled slightly and then puckered them as she closed her eyes. She didn't mind trying to break our recently set record of the longest snog.

We were close to that when it was time for the train to leave and the Weasley family showed up. Luna pouted and looked really cute, so I had to promise we could make another attempt later when we were at school.

As most of the Weasleys slowly passed by our compartment looking for their friends, I cast a quick diagnostic spell on Ron and looked specifically at his stomach and intestines. I actually did detect something there and nodded at Luna. She nodded back and I quickly went to the door and opened it.

“EEP!” Ginny squeaked and dropped her trunk.

“Go on in. Luna's already here.” I said to her and she nodded several times and darted past me and slammed the compartment door shut.

All of her brothers chuckled at her reaction, even Percy.

“She finally meets her childhood hero and instead of telling him how much she loves him...” Fred started to say.

“...she acts like a scared little mouse and squeaked and hid.” George finished.

“It's all right. I expected it.” I said with my own chuckle. “Luna's here to act as a buffer for her, so she'll relax around me eventually.”

The twins nodded and started to walk off with Percy.

I reached out and grabbed Ron's arm. “Hey, you.”

Ron gave me a blank look. “It's been a year, Harry. My name is Ron. R.O.N.”

“Sorry, it doesn't ring a bell.” I said and paralyzed him. “I just need to check on something for a second.” I told him and cast specific healing on him.

Ron glowed softly for several seconds and he seemed to fill out in front of my eyes. His own eyes went wide, probably because the gnawing hunger in his belly was suddenly gone and he was healthy.

“A brief memory edit should fix your overeating habit before it makes you into a beached whale.” I said and took out my wand. “Obliviate.”

Ron's face went blank again.

“You finally realized you've been compensating with food instead of making friends. Work on your table manners and people will start liking you.” I said and made sure to remove his compulsion to eat and removed this conversation.

Ron blinked his eyes at me when I was done. “What were we talking about again?”

“I asked about your summer and you said it was okay.” I said with a smile and he nodded. “It's nice seeing you again, whoever you are.”

Ron gave me a blank look. “It's been a year, Harry. My name is Ron. R.O.N.”

“Sorry, it doesn't ring a bell.” I said and patted his shoulder. “See you around.”

Ron sighed and walked away with his trunk dragging behind him, even though it was featherlight.

I slowly opened the compartment door and peeked in. I saw Ginny and Luna huddled in the corner and fiercely whispering, so I sat down across from Hermione. She briefly looked up at me and I nodded and made a wiggly snake motion with one finger and a pair of scissors with the other, then snipped at my fingertip.

Hermione nodded in understanding and went back to her book with a relieved look on her face.

I sat there and waited patiently for Luna and Ginny to finish whatever they were discussing. I thought about taking out a book or something to read, then mentally shrugged. I didn't want them to think they would be interrupting me if they wanted to talk, so I relaxed and looked out the window.

After about twenty minutes, a blushing redhead stood up and took a step towards me. Ginny's mouth opened and closed a few times, probably trying to ask me if we could talk. Instead of saying anything like asking her what she wanted, I patted the spot right beside me and then held my arm up as if I would hug her when she sat.

Ginny's blush completely covered her face and she turned around and tried to sit, not realizing she was about a foot away from the bench seat. I reached for her when she started to lose her balance and scooped her up into my arms and sat down with her on my lap.

“Are you okay? You almost fell.” I whispered and held her tenderly.

Ginny looked completely stunned and stared at me. She also wasn't breathing. I had to use a specific healing spell to stop her from making herself pass out from lack of oxygen. She relaxed enough to sigh and started breathing again, to my relief.

“How was your summer?” I asked.

“I LOVED YOUR NEW BOOK!” Ginny yelled, looked really embarrassed, and fainted.

Hermione snorted and muffled her laugh with her book and Luna seemed to be caught between amusement and embarrassment.

“On my lap was too much, I guess.” I said with a sigh.

“No, she wants this more than anything.” Luna said and walked over to us to reach into Ginny's top and pulled out the necklace I had given her at new years. “She's strong and brave like a Griffindor and had planned how to meet you in person for years. Her problem is she can't get over the fact that you're being nice to her and not keeping her at arms length like you do with your other obsessive fans.”

I nodded and Luna slipped the necklace back into Ginny's top. “I knew I had to take things slow.”

“Glacial.” Hermione commented without looking up from her book. “Or you risk blowing her mind.”

I glanced at Ginny's unconscious face and had to agree. “Right. No snogging sessions for a while.”

“That would be for the best.” Luna agreed and sat beside us and patted her lap. “Do you want me to take her for a while?”

I gave Luna a searching look. “Do you think she's going to do something when she wakes up?”

Luna gave me a dreamy smile. “Why ever would you think that, Harry?”

I had to chuckle at her evading the question. “It's just a feeling.” I said and carefully handed the unconscious Ginny over to her and Luna cradled her in the exact same way I had.

After about five minutes, Ginny came back to consciousness with a gasp. “I LOVE YOU!” She yelled, wrapped her arms around Luna's neck, and slammed their lips together. They stayed like that for a good thirty seconds before Ginny broke the kiss and realized it wasn't my lap she was on. “LUNA!”

Luna giggled and kept that dreamy smile on her face. “Just like old times.”

Hermione barked a laugh, probably because Luna was 14 and her old times wasn't that long ago. “You were lucky to have someone to practice with, Luna. I played the 'kissing the prince' game with my pillow.”

“You don't have to play pretend anymore.” I commented and didn't specify who I was talking to. All three girls looked happy about that.

The compartment door opened and Angelina Johnson walked in, saw me sitting there, and dragged me to my feet to give me a good snogging. She stepped back when she was done and smiled smugly at my surprised look, gave my cheek a light caress, and turned to leave.

“Thank you.” I said and she waved at me over her shoulder as she left.

Lavender, Parvati, and Padma came in and saw me standing there. Lavender gave me a quick kiss, then Parvai did, then Padma looked embarrassed and kissed me, too. Even after months of sneaking off to have fun, and we had a lot of fun, Padma was still nervous about having a relationship with me. When they sat down, there was no space left for me to sit.

Not surprisingly, the three girls quickly started a conversation about what they did during the summer and successfully drew in Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. I opened my mouth to say something and paused as I remembered what Hermione had told me before. She was happy that I didn't try to interfere in their lives or demanded that they sit around and make time for me.

With that thought in my head, I stepped out of the compartment and silenced the door as I closed it. I took a deep breath and let it out, then picked left as the direction to go and started walking. A few compartments had their doors opened and a few people said hello, so I said it back and stopped to talk for a few minutes.

I moved on and this continued until I came to what was considered the Hufflepuff section, since most of them hung out together, no matter their year. It was eerily quiet as I moved through the train car where most of them had gathered. None of them had ever apologized for their behavior or even pretended to try.

“Harry.” A soft voice said and I stopped walking and turned around to look into the compartment I just passed. Inside was Hannah, Susan, Ernie, Justin, and Neville.

“Hey, Neville. How are the new cuttings from Floppy's greenhouses working out for you?” I asked.

Neville's face flushed red. “Th-they're doing great.” He said and looked up at my face. “I still can't figure out where you're getting magical plants and fruit seeds that no one's ever heard of.”

I had to smile at that. “You must have brought some to Professor Sprout.”

Neville nodded. “She almost tore my hands off when I gave her that weird apple peach thing and told her it came from a twisted vine instead of a tree.”

I held in my laugh at that image. “Did you tell her how to properly prepare and cultivate the seeds?”

“She had me take over the project and watched me like a hawk.” Neville grumped.

I couldn't hold my laugh anymore and let it out. “Hahahaha! You poor bloke! Having to do all of that work twice!”

Neville groaned and sighed, then he smiled. “She marked me with a passing grade without having to take the end of year exam.”

“Good for you.” I said and leaned against the doorframe as I crossed my arms. “How's your mother, Alice? Is she still as cute as a button as she keeps your dad in line?”

Neville blushed and had to look away. “Unfortunately.”

“Heh. She always was a little spitfire. Five foot nothing and she has Frank wrapped around her little finger.” I said with a smile. I had kept an eye on the Longbottoms over the years and nothing else had happened since that night.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, Neville turned his head back to look at me. “I never told anyone I saw what you did that night.”

That made me smile. “Were you worried no one would believe you or were you proud that you shared a secret with the savior of the wizarding world?”

Neville straightened his back and no longer slouched. “I was proud I knew something that no one else did.”

“Until now.” I said and Neville stilled. “I sincerely doubt Hannah won't hound you endlessly to hear about the secret.”

Neville closed his eyes and sighed.

“It's all right, Neville. Just swear her to secrecy as your wife and everything will be fine.” I said and basked in their reactions.

Hannah squealed like a stuck pig, Susan's face paled, Ernie looked shocked, and Justin looked devastated. Neville's was the best, though. He looked catatonic and stared at me without blinking.

While they were like that, I quickly cast a spell on them to never speak of the secret, because I didn't want anyone in authority knowing what I did.

“See you later, Neville.” I said and turned to walk away.

“Harry, wait!” Susan nearly shouted, so I turned back and gave her an expectant look. She looked embarrassed and reluctant to speak, which was funny, because she had gained my attention specifically to speak.

“Are you still becoming an Auror?” I asked and she nodded. “Then whatever you might have expected to happen between us is never going to happen. You know my ex chucked me aside for her career last year and there's no way you're not going to do the same.”

Susan looked devastated and sighed with resignation.

I stood there and waited for her to apologize, about anything, and she stayed quiet. “Yeah, I knew it was true. Thanks for the confirmation.” I said and stepped out of the compartment. “Also, thanks for the apology on Hufflepuff's behalf.”

“What?” Susan asked, confused. “I never said...”

“I was being sarcastic.” I said to cut her off and started to walk away. “Buh-bye.”

“Harry, wait!” Susan nearly shouted again.

I ignored her, mostly because all of the Hufflepuffs around had been eagerly listening to our conversation. I cast the same spell on them to keep quiet about Neville's secret and walked on down the train. I reached Angelina's compartment and Alicia and Katie were there.

“Is this the compartment that Heaven was assigned? Because all I can see in here are angels.” I said with a huge grin on my face.

The three girls laughed and pulled me in as the door slammed shut and locked behind me.

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