Me and You // Ronarry {Discontinued}

Part 17

Summary: Everyone wants a glimpse of the Chosen One; Harry just wants his Wheezy

Hundreds of eyes followed Harry as he was escorted through the barrier, many of them shifting to Sirius as he stepped through after him.

"Have a safe term, okay?" he said, gripping Harry's shoulder. "And be careful around Malfoy."

"I will," said Harry. Sirius had promised to bring the matter up to the Order, so he felt a little better knowing someone was taking it seriously.

He got onto the train and found Ginny chatting with some friends.

"Hey, Ginny," he said, ignoring everybody else. "Fancy trying to find a compartment?"

"Sure." She shot a sidelong glance at the people whose faces were squashed against the glass. "A bit strange, isn't it?"

"Oh, I'll get used to it. Not that I have a choice." He did, after all, manage to tolerate it when the attention was negative.

None of that prepared him for a fourth-year girl to push the compartment door open, her friends peering over her shoulder.

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said, pushing her long black hair back. "Why don't you join us in our compartment for a bit?" In a stage whisper, she added, "You'll be back before Weasley gets here."

The confidence in her voice made Harry bristle. "Not interested," he said coldly.

"Oh." Romilda looked taken aback. "Oh. Okay." And she and her friends retreated.

"If only they could see you and Ron sleeping together," said Neville, who had joined them moments earlier with Luna. "Honestly, I don't think I could even stick a quill between you."

Harry felt his cheeks warm up. "Are we that bad?"

Neville shrugged, grinning a little. "It's kinda cute, actually. Especially compared to Seamus and Dean."

Harry and Ginny laughed.

The next thing that happened was Harry and Neville being invited to compartment C by Professor Slughorn.

They both left their compartment and headed through the train, past the staring and whispering, and into compartment C, where they found a few other students.

"Harry, m'boy!" Slughorn said warmly. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville nodded, exchanging a wary glance with Harry. They sat down opposite of each other.

"Now, do you know everyone?" Slughorn asked. "Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course —"

Zabini did not make any indication he recognized Harry or Neville.

"This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other —? No?"

Harry looked at the large, wiry-haired boy and nodded politely.

"— and this is Marcus Belby, I don't know whether —?"

Harry thought he may have seen his face before, but only briefly.

The lunch went just as Harry had suspected: Slughorn had brought in those connected with famous people. Harry because of... well, everything with him and Neville because his parents had been Aurors.

"I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?" Slughorn said to McLaggen.

"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was." McLaggen spoke in a confident tone not unlike Romilda Vane. "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour — this was before he became Minister, obviously —"