The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 34: Reunion

"Where have you two been?!"

Harry looked up and smiled at a visibly irate Hermione.  "Hi Hermione," he said brightly.  "It's good to see you!"

Hermione crossed her arms and looked at him with as much irritation as he she could muster.  "What are you doing here at school already?!  Why weren't you on the train?"

Harry shrugged sheepishly while Ron's attention was focused completely on him taping his wand.  "Something kind of happened," Harry said lamely.

"Clearly."  She sat down beside Harry, arms still crossed and eyes still glaring.

"No hug?" he asked meekly.

She resisted the urge.  "Not until you explain yourself."  She poked him in the side.

"Ow!  Alright, okay.  Well we got to King's Cross and Ron and I were the last ones to cross through the barrier at Platform 9 and 3/4s.  Except we couldn't.  The barrier wouldn't let us through."

"It wouldn't let you through?" Hermione repeated incredulously.

"Nope.  It was solid stone.  We pushed on it, prodded it, did everything we could but it would not let us through."

She stared at him.  "What did you do?"

"Ron suggested we take the car because it can go invisible and fly but I didn't think that was a good idea.  I didn't want to get the Weasleys in trouble after everything they did for me."

She glared at Ron who was still looking at his wand.  As if he could feel her gaze he shrugged.  "What, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"At least one of you has some sense," she said sharply and returned Ron's glare.  "So what did you do?"

"I wrote a note and gave it to Hedwig.  It said we were trapped on the Muggle side and that we needed help."

"Oh that was smart."  She relaxed a little and was gratified to see Harry grin.

"That was also Ron's idea."

"That was well thought Ronald," she said in what she hoped it was a gracious manner.  By the way Harry snorted and how Ron rolled his eyes she knew she failed.

"Anyways, we waited for a while but finally Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed up.  They tried to get through the other way and couldn't and found us.  We proved it was blocked our end too.  They talked to a couple of people that help maintain the Express to send a message along and then they took us to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo'd with us here."  Harry shrugged.  "We put our things away and changed and came here to the Great Hall."

"Speaking of, what happened to Ron's wand?" Hermione asked.

Harry snickered.  "He pushed his way through the Floo and fell on his arse and broke his wand."

"It's your fault," Ron groused.  "If you hadn't stood there like an idiot I wouldn't have run into you now would I?"

"I was trying to not track soot all over Professor McGonagall's office," Harry retorted.  "You could have waited until I was clear like she said."

Hermione finally smiled, shaking her head at their bickering.  "Well I'm glad it wasn't over something serious.  I was really concerned on the train when I couldn't find either of you.  I wasn't the only one either."

Before she could explain more students had been walking into the Great Hall, and a trio of red heads saw them and came running over.

"See?  I told you they'd be here," Fred said airily.