1Ok, so I am SOOOOOOO sorry to all of you who have added me as a favorite author, and have been disappointed while I haven't been writing. Let me just say this in defense of myself:

I utterly and completely suck.

That being said, let me just introduce this new project. I am not in the best of moods while I am starting this, so I apologize if I come across as kurt. I decided that I wanted to undergo a lighthearted project, because most of my stuff winds up dark and deep. I want this one to remain kind of upbeat, but, of course, there will be parts that aren't quite so perky. Please, enjoy it for what it is intended to be: a mostly happy-go-lucky story of teenaged love. This story, and it's plot lines, will be mine, though the characters will not. The facts, such as birthdays and what have you, may not be properly timed. The setting will be completely different from that of the 7th book. They may not match the actual Harry Potter stories. This is probably due to the fact that I AM NOT ROWLING, AND I DO NOT OWN THE STORIES! That disclaimer being exclaimed, I shall begin.

Chapter 1: The Sweets of Summer

Packing always takes forever for a teenager. One needs to be sure that one has collected everything one will ever need for the time away, and then pack more, just in case. And packing is made no easier when said teenager is a complete perfectionist. When that's the case, they usually end up over packing, and don't really need half the things that they intend to bring. In theory, they would run out of room in whatever they're luggage of choice was, because they simply packed too much. This would have been the case for Hermione Granger, except for one simple fact: She was a 17-year-old witch. Due to her age, she was legally allowed to cast any spell she pleased, which came in handy, because her trunk really needed to be Extended. In Hermione's enchanted trunk, one could fall inside and keep falling for years. But, hey, she was a teenaged girl. She needed all the room she could get.

Hermione ran frantically around her room. She left for Platform 9 3/4 in two days, and this was cause for her to rush around trying to make sure that she had packed everything. Of course, being the orderly girl that she was, she already had everything she needed stored neatly in the trunk, waiting to be toted to Hogwarts. Still, though she could not have been more thoroughly and neatly packed, Hermione searched for things she felt she had forgotten.

"Accio, dress robes!" She cried, sure she hadn't yet packed them. And yet, out of the Extended trunk they zoomed, landing neatly at her feet.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. She refolded them and sent them gently soaring back into her trunk. She rose her wand, just about to cast another spell, when a voice came floating up the stairs.

"Hermione, dear," Her mother called, "Andrew's on the line for you!"

Slowly, a grin spread across Hermione's face. She seemed to light from within, emanating a natural kind of glow. Andrew, you see, had been Hermione's steady boyfriend for two years. They were neighbors, and had grown up together. As such, not only were they boyfriend and girlfriend, but they were also best friends. Hermione knew everything about Andrew, and vice versa, except for one small fact: Hermione's status as a Muggle-born witch. She had never quite had the heart to tell Andrew where exactly she went for the year. She couldn't figure out how to break it to him that she, his childhood sweetheart, was capable of sending him flying with one swish of her wand. She seemed to, briefly, think of this fact: that she had never been able to tell him her one, biggest secret. Her smile faltered slightly as this thought crossed her mind. However, she brightened up soon after, and skipped across her room to pick up the extremely worn portable phone her parents had gifted her when she was nine.

"Hello?" Her voice came out as a chime.

"Hey, gorgeous." His bass voice replied. "What are you up to?"

"Just finishing up with my packing." She replied, waving her wand over her trunk to lock it. He chuckled.

"Ever the apple-polisher. I thought you didn't leave for two days?" Though his voice was light, she could hear the saddened undertones. She understood how he felt: She disliked leaving him as much as he disliked being left.

"I don't, and that's lucky for you, isn't it?" She replied, keeping the conversation light. Again, he chuckled.

"And why is that lucky for me, Herms?" He purred.

"Well, it's clear, isn't it?" She smiled quite broadly, though he couldn't see it. "You get two more whole days of the wonderful and glorious me." This time, his chuckled became an outright laugh.

"Well, now, don't be too modest, Herms!" There was a slight pause while they both acknowledged the fact that she was always modest: whenever she boasted, it was purely in jest. She would never dream to think herself wonderful or glorious, though she very well was. Then, he added, "Are you done with your packing, then?"

This time, Hermione chuckled. "I thought you knew me, Andrew. I'm NEVER done with my packing."

He laughed. "True. Well, could I convince you to take a short break?"

She smiled again. "And for what reason?" she replied, although she very well knew what the reason was.

"I was wondering if you might want a night out on the town with me. You know, just to, sort of...say..." His voice trailed off. He could never seem to find the courage to say this one word, though he could say so much.

"Goodbye?" She finished sadly, not really wanting to say it, either. "You know I'd love to."

"Great!" His tone seemed to have brightened again. "I'll be around to pick you up then." This made Hermione laugh. After all, they did live right down the street from each other! They had all their lives.

"Great. So the drive should be, what, about 30 seconds, if traffic's bad?"

"Very funny, Herms. Be seeing you?"

"Yeah, Andrew. Be seeing you." Hermione put down the phone, then quickly realized that she needed to change. After all, she was wearing a Weird Sister's shirt! What was she supposed to tell Andrew, that it was an indie band, and that's why he'd never heard of it? He'd never believe her: Hermione wasn't quite an indie kind of girl. She rushed to her closet, trying to find something semi-normal to wear. She settled on a pink button down sweater that her mother had gotten her, with a lacy white camisole underneath, and a simpler pair of jeans. 'There." she said. "That's Muggle enough." Soon, she heard a honking coming from her driveway and looked out the window to see Andrew's blue mini-Cooper with the white stripes that she so adored.

She threw on a pair of brown flip-flops, ran down the stairs, yelled a quick "Mom, I'm going out with Andrew!" over her shoulder, and flew out the door. His windows were down, and he was playing one of his rap songs that Hermione could never recognize. To her, his only flaws were his taste, or lack there of, in music. She walked to the passenger door and opened it.

"Hey, handsome." She cooed, leaning across to peck him on the cheek.

"Hey, handsome." He mimicked back to her in something very similar to her own coo, laughing as always as he caressed her cheek with his hand. His voice got more serious as he said, "You look stunning as always."

Hermione, who was used to his change in tones and could tell that he was no longer joking, blushed a deep scarlet. She smiled, and tucked a flyaway piece of hair behind her ear. All of these years, and she had never once learned to smooth out her hair. Andrew never seemed to mind. He loved her crazy curls. "Where are we off to?" She quietly said.

"Where we always go." He replied with a dazzling smile. She smiled broadly back at him, and settled back into her seat. She slipped off her sandals and rested her feet on the dashboard in front of her. He chuckled. "Always make yourself comfortable, don't you?" She simply smiled in reply, then slyly reached to change the station. He caught her hand.

"Tsk, tsk." He knew what station she wanted. "None of that in my car." She groaned, as always. The only thing she didn't love about him was his taste in music.

"Please?" she pleaded. "I leave in two days. Maybe just this once...?" Her question remained unfinished.

"Hermione, in my car, we listen to my music. Now, maybe when YOU get a car..." She wished she could tell him all of the reasons that she would never need a car. She could Apparate, she could fly on a broomstick, or on a Thestral, for that matter. But these excuses would be lost on him.

"Rest assured, Andrew, I'll never need a car." She stated. It was truthful enough.

"You seem so sure. I wish you would tell me why that was." Even though she never told him, she sometimes had the feeling that Andrew knew that something was not as it seemed. This feeling usually came in the form of a wrench in her gut.

"Well, it's clearly because I'll be riding around in your wonderful mini-Cooper for the rest of my life!" She tried to lighten the mood again. He smiled slightly, so she had slightly succeeded, but they fell into a thought-filled silence anyway. They drove for a few more minutes, then pulled up in front of the restaurant where they had their first date. Smiling, he pulled into a parking spot, then walked around to her door and opened it for her. As she stepped out, he pulled her into his arms, where she relished in his sweet embrace. Then, they let go of each other and walked to the door, holding hands the entire way. They opened the door, and a very small child ran out, followed quickly by his frantic mother.

"Anthony...Anthony Mellone, come back here!!...I swear, you'll be grounded from the telly!..." But the mother's words were lost on the slightly insane little boy's ears. He seemed to be too fast for a boy whose legs were so small. He stopped in the parking lot, and gazed upwards. Hermione could swear that, as he pointed at the sky he had made a star or two change color to a bright, glowing purple. Hermione smiled, recognizing the magic of a wizard to be. She silently wished him the best of luck.

Gently, Andrew squeezed her hand, pulling her out of her reverie. He looked at her curiously, and she responded with a look of her own, which clearly stated "Someday, I'll explain." This seemed enough, for they walked forward into the restaurant. They were greeted with the sight of a giant jungle gym, multiple arcade games, and tiny children running around barefoot everywhere. Hermione smiled at the thought of their first date...it had been on her 15th birthday. Andrew had taken her here, where they had first met. However, she had been turning four then. She loved that, even though they were teens, he still took her to a tiny child's restaurant. It spoke volumes about the child he was at heart, the child she had loved from the moment they met. They had come here many times since then, because it was a special place to them, despite the fact that they were years too old for it. It had been the wonderful thought behind it that made it great. She looked at Andrew, and he smiled at her. He pulled her to the booth that they always shared and, when the waiter came up, they ordered the pizza that they always ordered.

Hours later, they came out of the restaurant laughing, and walked down the strip that the restaurant was on. They ordered two ice creams, and wandered around aimlessly, eating ice cream, laughing, and holding hands. When midnight rolled around, Andrew figured it was time to get Hermione home before her father skinned him alive. They got back into his care and rolled the windows down, letting the summer breeze blow their hair back from their faces. Once they had reached Hermione's driveway, she turned to face Andrew.

"Thank you," she said "for the lovely time, as always."

He lovingly cupped her face in his hands. "Thank you for coming out with me." He planted a sweet, warm kiss on her lips. His was a kiss that she never got sick of. Gentlemanly as always, he kept the kiss relatively chaste. "Goodnight, Hermione. You know I love you, right?"

"You'd be crazy not to." She responded with a smile. "But, of course, I love you, too."

She got out of the car and walked up to her door. As she walked inside, she turned around to blow him a kiss. Mockingly, he pretended to catch it. She just laughed, and walked inside.

Shutting the door behind her, she sighed. The one thing she always missed when she went to Hogwarts was him.