This one-shot was written for: Hogwarts Winter Games [A COMPETITION]
Cross-Country Skiing - Sprint – In the Sprint, competitors are to write about the Golden Trio (I really hate that term, but we'll go with it).
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, all rights go to J.K. Rowling.
For so long we have been friends
"Magic, Mione. Why don't we just use magic?" the redhead, Ron whined and the girl shot her a warning glance which made him continue his work without a word.
"You forget that she is the same girl who freaked out, because we needed a fire and she couldn't find wood," the third one, a boy with dark hair and glasses, Harry stated with a grin and they all started laughing even the girl, Hermione, but she blushed furiously too.
"I was twelve and we were in a serious and dangerous situation," she defended herself, but the boys just looked at each other and started laughing again.
"Looking back it was a piece of a cake," Ron said and Harry picked up a pillow he found on the top of one of the boxes and hit his best friend with it.
"You git, you were nearly killed by a chess piece," he told the redhead who just shrugged.
"Well, if we compare it to any other of our little adventures... It seems kind of funny, don't you think?" he asked and his friends looked at him like he was crazy.
"Really, Ronald? Funny? Merlin, I'm marrying you... I must have hit my head too many times," she said dramatically and Ron flushed while Harry started laughing uncontrollably.
"You've got it from me." Harry smiled when he looked in one of the boxes and got the book out of it.
"And you are surprised, mate? There have been a few birthdays, Christmases and other celebrations since we become friends," Ron snorted and Hermione nodded with a smile on her face.
"You know as much as I wanted to forget that evening for a long time now I'm happy that I've met that troll," Hermione said quietly and the two boys looked at her with a solemn expression for a second.
"We wouldn't have survived even first year, without you," Harry said with a small smile playing on his lips. Ron nodded with a grin.
"At that time I had a problem with admitting it, but we always needed you, Mione. We will always need you, you know," he said causally, but his tone was sincere and they all knew it. She reached out and gave a hug to both boys.
"The Golden Trio," Harry said with the same pompous voice and strange expression the reporters always said the nickname which stuck with them. The three of them burst into laughter.
"I always hated that stupid name," Hermione said as she continued packing. She stopped though when she noticed a piece of parchment with a date on it, it was a letter she has written to her parents in her first year she soon realized. When she finished the letter she looked up to the boys who were hitting each other with the pillow Harry used before.
Harry looked at her and let Ron hit him hard with the pillow.
"You okay, Hermione?" he asked as he noticed that a tear escaped her eyes. Ron stopped hitting his best friend too and stared at her with an odd look. She sat down next to her and pulled her closer to him while wiping her tears off.
"Is everything alright?" She nodded, but didn't meet the eyes of either of the boys for a moment.
"It's stupid... It really is. I just... In one of the boxes I've found a letter I wrote to my parents in our first year back when we were still on bad terms. My letter, it seemed so fake even to me I'm sure my parents realized too how lonely I was. It's just... While reading it I felt like I was eleven once again without friends and I thought about it for a second, what if I didn't meet the troll that day? What if I never became your friends?" she asked miserably and Ron brushed a piece of hair out of her face and forced her to look at him.
"Sooner or later we would have realized that you are the most precious person in the whole school. In every stupid alternative reality we would end up as friends, you know why? Because that's how it was meant to be, we were meant to be friends; that's a fact, isn't it Harry?" Ron asked and the other boy nodded.
"And I'm really happy that I can agree with you, because I couldn't ask for better friends. You guys are the best and I'm not sure I can ever really thank you for being with me," he stated and Hermione jumped up and gave him a bone-crashing hug.
"Hey, why does he get one and not me?" Ron questioned her and she turned to him. First she hugged him tightly too and then she pecked him on his lips.
"Should I kiss Harry too?" she teased him and with a horrified look Ron shook his head.
"For so long we have been friends... and I hope that we are going to be friends for so much longer," she said and the two boys grinned. Harry picked up the glasses filled with pumpkin juice and raised his after he gave the other two to his friends.
"To us!" he said cheerfully.
"For our friendship!" Hermione nodded.
"For our everlasting friendship!" Ron winked at Hermione and the three of them laughed out.
"You are the best," Hermione said after they stopped laughing, but Harry shook his head and fixed his green eyes on her brown ones.
"No, we are the best," he said eventually.