Hey there! It's been pretty much a year since I've submitted anything which is just a pathetic fact of mine. But, hopefully, I can do a years worth of stuff this summer because I can tell already Senior year won't be giving me a lot of writing time. Anyway, this is a FRIENDSHIP story of Hermione and Dean. I realized that though their whole year have spent years together, they don't seem to interact much except for with their BFFs. I found that a little strange so wanted to write a little something with these two, especially since they're the only Gryffindor muggleborns you'd think they'd share something in common... or that could just be me. It usually is.

So read, if possible enjoy, and no matter what, review. Thank you.

Uh-oh, thought Dean at the base of the Boys' Dormitory steps.

It was midnight at Hogwarts' Gryffindor Tower and young Dean Thomas had just remembered his much-hated Astronomy homework that had been left undone. The young wizard had been hoping to scribble down an end to his essay in the quiet Common Room before he realized that there was someone already there. A someone he wasn't too keen about getting to know.

Hermione Granger hadn't made a fantastic first impression on any of the Gryffindor boys in their first year batch. She hadn't made much of a positive one on the girls either. Actually, make that their whole entire year. But the teachers seemed to like her though. Her overwhelming brainpower and goody-two-shoes manner made her a dream to her professors, a pain to her peers.

Before Dean could quietly retreat back to his room unseen Hermione chose that moment to look up from her books at him. So much for a quiet getaway.

"Hello," said Hermione with a curious expression on her face. With his parchment, quill and Astronomy textbook in hand Dean couldn't think of a plausible excuse to leave without making it obvious he was avoiding her. Just because he didn't like her didn't mean he wanted to be rude.

"Hey," he managed with a fleeting smile as she turned back to her textbooks. I might as well get this work done while I'm here, thought Dean. Besides, Harry Potter and that Ronald Weasley guy had been able to befriend the obnoxious witch after the Halloween Troll incident. Maybe she wasn't totally intolerable.

Trying to keep his footsteps quiet, he made his way toward the comfortable couch Hermione was sitting on and took his seat on the floor on the other side of it. Dean spread out his Astronomy homework on the table and instantly fell bored with it. It was his worst subject so far and he wasn't getting any better at it. He took to drawing doodles at the corner of his parchment as if the work would complete itself in do time.

"Do you need any help?" Dean jumped slightly at the voice he hadn't realized was so close to him. He looked up and found a jungle of brown hair blocking his vision. Hermione had craned her neck over his homework and her raised brow indicated she wasn't very impressed. "I've already finished my homework," she clarified. "It's really rather simple."

And here we go, Dean internally sighed. "Sure Hermione... Thanks."

But she had already collected Dean's parchment and began crossing out major sections of his flawed work.

Dean frowned slightly. He wasn't sure if he should be annoyed with Hermione for butting in, or thankful that she was doing his work for him... or at least making some serious rectifications.

After a few minutes, the parchment was so filled with giant black inkblots of correction it was obvious Dean would need to rewrite it again. "Gosh Hermione, was there anything I did right?" he asked as he peered over at the remains of his essay on her lap.

Hermione frowned slightly a she crossed out another section. "Well you spelled your name right, if that counts. Other than that, you seem to be completely lost on the topic... You do know what the essay topic is on Orion's Belt, right?"

Dean glared at the bushy-haired girl as she looked at him as if he were 3-year-olds. "Yes," he replied through gritted teeth. "I do know the essay is on Orion's Belt. I just don't... get it."

"Well that's obvious," Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

Before Dean could think of a clever retort, Hermione had taken a more comfortable position on the floor next to him and was rummaging through their Astronomy textbook for assistance. Dean was beginning to wish he had stayed in bed that night.

It wasn't that Hermione was a bad person or anything. It was just that the know-it-all air about herself made it difficult to see her more positive traits. Really difficult; difficult like trying to keep Neville on a broom, difficult.

"All right, here's what you need to do," said the clever witch as she opened the book to correct chapter. For a solid hour the two worked continuously on Dean's essay. This mostly meant Hermione dictated as Dean wrote but he was still able to make the foot length requirement and actually had a chance of passing the next test they had on the subject.

"Wow," breathed Dean in relief as he finished up his paper. "Thanks a lot, Hermione. I couldn't have done this without you."

"I know Dean, but you're welcome," she replied as she watched him pack his things for bed. It hadn't occurred to her that once she was done helping him he would leave.

"I bet I wouldn't have to worry about this Astronomy stuff in a form one class," Dean muttered, rolling up his parchment. "You know, stuff like this make me wonder how life could have been like if I just went to secondary school like a normal kid."

Hermione gave a nod and looked down at her lap. "I think about that sometimes, too," she said quietly.

Dean froze to give Hermione a look of confusion. It took him a few seconds to understand. "Oh yeah!" he said with realization, "I forgot you were a muggleborn too…." The young boy stared at Hermione as if she were a new person; a person he might actually had something in common with.

"I was supposed to attend Putney High School for Girls this fall, you know," she said, though her voice sounded a little strange. "It's supposed to be very selective and I was quite fortunate get in but obviously I declined… you?"

Dean thought back to his former plans during the summer. It seemed like forever ago instead of five months. "I think it was… Salesian College. It was in London. All my old mates are there now. They kept asking me why I wasn't going with them and all I could think to say was… well, to this day I still don't have a good excuse to give them," he said with a small chuckle in his voice. Dean wondered for a moment if his old primary school friends ever missed him. Did they even remember him?

Hermione's voice had changed from bossy to tiny, a little sad even. "I don't think my friends remember me. I never had that many and the ones I did, I don't think they liked me very much." Dean didn't know what he was supposed to say to that so just watched Hermione flip aimlessly through her books. "Still, I can't help but think about how it could have been like if I'd stayed. It would have been nothing like Hogwarts of course, but I still think it could have been… nice."

Dean's eyebrows knitted together. He had to admit, sometimes he thought the same thing. "Yeah, it certainly could have been. But I like to think there was a reason we got to be muggleborns. I like to think we were meant to be wizards and come to Hogwarts and enter this world of magic and Qudditch and trolls and all that. If we didn't, I can imagine our lives would have ended up being a real bore compared to all this. Don't you think so?"

Hermione looked up from her book and gave Dean a real smile. "Attacking trolls? I don't know how I would survive without one of those every once in a while."

Dean grinned right back. "Salesian and Putney High don't know what they're missing."

With that, Gryffindor's two first year muggleborns laughed themselves to their dormitory beds, glad they'd missed their opportunity at normal lives.