Second Chances

Chapter 3

The next morning, he packed up his things and made his way to King's Cross. Harry soon stood in front of platform nine and three quarters. Suddenly he was feeling a bit nervous. He had learned so much and there was so much he had to do, so many things to fix in this new timeline, it was overwhelming, daunting even. How was he going to keep his composure around Dumbledore, Snape and-

"— packed with Muggles, of course —" Came a familiar voice. Harry froze at the sound of it.

"Now, what's the platform number?"

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped Ginny, "Mom, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

He clenched his fists, feeling so much anger it took everything in him not to start yelling at them right then and there.

Great, he thought to himself. If this is how I react around them, how on earth am I supposed to control myself when I see Dumbledore again?

Harry took a deep breath, and then ignoring the family of redheads, he pushed his cart through the barrier, quickly getting through to the other side.

Immediately he began searching the crowd in hopes of finding Hermione. Just when he was about to give up looking, he saw her. Suddenly she turned and their eyes met. Did it work? Did she remember? He looked for any sign of recognition in her expression and felt a wave of relief when he saw that she did.

He lifted his hand up to wave, letting her know that he knew her. Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile at this and she ran up to him, throwing her arms around him. "Hermione" He breathed, hugging her back.

"You died," She said, sounding close to tears. "Hagrid carried your body back to us."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Next thing I knew I collapsed and was taken to the underworld where I met Death. He explained everything to me. It's so good to see you again!"

"C'mon, let's board the train and we can talk more once we get a compartment" He said, reluctantly pulling away. Hermione agreed to this and together they wheeled their trunks onto the train and into an empty compartment.

Once they were seated, Harry related his own experience with Death. "I still can't believe it—the Weasleys and Dumbledore, everyone we thought we could trust—" Hermione said sadly when he had finished.

"I know," He replied. "But at least we have each other."

"We should go after the horcruxes as soon as possible," Harry was saying as they spent the train ride discussing their plans. "That way as soon as Voldemort resurrects I can kill him again, this time for good, before he has a chance to even do anything."

"It's going to be rather hard, don't you think? We're children again, the trace is on us and we'll be stuck at Hogwarts most of the year" Hermione pointed out.

"That does seem to be a bit of a flaw in Death's decision to send us back to first year. But I guess he wanted to give us as much time as possible to accomplish what we need to. He did say I could become emancipated once I turn fifteen. Perhaps in the meantime we can train hard while we're at school so we're more prepared this time."

"I think that's a great idea, I'm glad you're willing to take your schooling more seriously this time."

"Well it helps that I have you to be a good influence on me and no Ron to be a bad one" He grinned at her and she blushed.

"What should we do about Ron?" She asked next.

"I don't know," He admitted. "Being friends with him means being close to his family which includes Molly. I've got enough to worry about without having to deal with love potions on top of things."