"Who's there?" Harry screamed as he woke up to Hermione's sweet pretty face as he stared into her beautiful brown eyes and weaved his fingers into her curly brown hair. "Hello Harry, good morning."

"Oh, er... hi Hermione." said Harry while stroking his own messed up hair. "Sleep well?"

"Oh yes, like a log, and I wish I could say the same for you." she replied, "you were moaning in your sleep... Don't, noooo, noooo, not you! I could hear you from the girls dormitory."

"It's alright your awake now, and I'm here, and Ron's just gone down to the great hall to get some breakfast." she said. Hermione stood up and walked over to Harry's bed and hugged him tightly, and then she sat on the end of his bed. "

"I'm sorry if I woke you. I have been having bad dreams of Voldemort killing my parents alot lately, Snape killing Dumbledore, and of not seeing Sirius ever again, every night." harry replied.

"How many times must I say it? Please don't use his name," she hurriedly said.

"I'm not scared of him Hermione! And neither is Dumble..." Harry stopped mid-sentence as if he had forgotten Dumbledore had died a week earlier by a killing curse Avada Kedavra sent by his old potions teacher Professor Snape, whom Dumbledore trusted with his life.

"Yes Harry, he was the only wizard You-Know-Who ever feared, but Dumbledore is not here at the moment, is he? Harry, he is not coming back!" Hermione said as though she picked her words up and threw them at Harry.

"I know! But things won't ever be the same anymore around here without Dumbledore." he cried out from the deepest part of his heart.

"Let's change the subject, and go down to the common room. No one is down there at the moment. I already checked on my up here to wake you. So we can talk, if you wanted to." she slowed her talking down a bit and turned pink in the cheeks.

"Well Ron should be back in a bit. So let's go talk for a while until he shows up, and then we can go to Hagrid's new hut. I hear he finished re-building it after those death-eaters set it on fire." Harry said, "He'll want us there for emotional support, and to go with him into the forbidden forest for Fang's burial. Two stunning spells right to the chest, that was just one too many for old Fang."

"So what are you going to do now? Surely you aren't going back to the Dursley's are you?" she asked. "You could go stay with Ron over the summer. Or I could ask my mum, she might say it is alright for you to stay at my house in London. She has never met you before. She knows very little about the wizarding world, since she is a muggle," she said.

"I have already promised Dumble... I have promised him that I would go back to the Dursley's until I am 17, of course then the Dursley's will no longer be a safe place for me to go, and then I will either go searching for Horcruxes or come back to Hogwarts." Harry stated.

The door to the dormitory opened and Ron had walked through it.

"Swinging..," Hermione said.

"Ouch, Bloody Hell," The door had come back and hit Ron right in the forehead.

"Door." Harry finished for her.

"Thanks for the advice." Ron said sarcastically," A little late, but thanks."

"Moron" Hermione said under her breath so that only Harry could hear her. Harry giggled at this comment from Hermione.

"Hey Ron, Hermione and I are about to go to Hagrid's do you want to join us?" Harry asked.

"Sure," Ron said before pulling Harry aside to talk, "but what is the deal between you and Hermione? Ever since she broke up with Krummy, you have been following her a lot and getting closer with her a lot. She is always talking about you. Do you have a crush on her or what?"

"Can we talk about this later?" Harry said to Ron.

"Right mate. We wouldn't want her to hear us." Ron said back to Harry.

"Right. I'll tell you later tonight." Harry said.

"Tell him what?" Hermione said as she was still giggling over Ron and the swinging door.

"Oh, nothing" said Harry.

So the three headed off to the grounds and then made their way to Hagrid's. Hagrid indeed had built himself a new hut. It was just like his old one except it had no windows in it this time since

Hagrid liked to keep illegal creatures with him as pets. So now he wouldn't get caught. He preferred dragons but there weren't any nearby that he could get that were still babies. They knocked on Hagrid's door.

"Ur, who iz it?" a booming sad voice said.

"It's Harry, Ron, and Hermione now open up." they whispered through the door.

"Whar ir yu doin here? Don't you three get caught comin ter see me now! Well that wouldn't happen if you had me class an more." Hagrid had a tear in his eye.

"Hagrid we just had other classes we needed to take, were offly sorry... any ways..." all three, Ron, Harry, and Hermione had made excuses for not having Hagrid's class of Care Of Magical Creatures.

"Oi all right, well shall we go to the lass remains of me dear frend Fang?" he started to cry.

"Oh Hagrid it will be alright. Once we bury him and when I end up going to find the Horcruxes, I will personally repay the death-eaters for Fang," Harry said aloud.

"Hagrid, let's go bury Fang," Hermione said to Hagrid.

The four of them seemed to walk for about an hour until they reached a hole big enough to fit all of them in. Ron accidentally didn't see it and walked right into it, and fell into the 8-foot deep hole and started to laugh hysterically. Fang's body was already lying next to a nearby tree. Hagrid walked over to pluck Ron out of the hole. He then picked up Fang carefully and started whispering in his ear, slowly walking him over towards his grave.

"Fang old buddy, I'm goin ter miss ya." Hagrid said quickly so that only he could hear. "Anyone wan ter say anythin for him?" He then said aloud.

"Even though we only knew him for six years, he brought joy to all of us that knew him. He even helped protect us at some points. He will be remembered throughout our lives. May he rest in peace." Hermione squealed even though Harry and Ron both knew she was only trying to make Hagrid feel better.

Hagrid was too weary to say anything else, so he started to carry Fang over to the hole. He put him in the dirt and started to fill the hole in. Once he was finished he started to cry, even harder this time. So Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran up and hugged him as tight as they could, it took all three of them to reach all the way around him.

"Harry we'd better go back to the castle before Filch catches us in the forest." Hermione said.

"Yeah, I need to pack and get ready to go back to the Dursley's." Harry said.

So the three headed back to the castle but not after saying bye to there friend Hagrid. They entered the castle doors and then they discovered Draco Malfoy standing next to the great staircase. He was talking with Crabbe & Goyle about his plans for the summer and how Voldemort was a personal friend of his; not that Voldemort has any friends, because he never wanted any. As soon as Harry walked up with Ron and Hermione, Malfoy made a few harsh comments about Hermione.

"Speak of the filthy mud-bloods, here one comes now!" Malfoy yelled, "Ha Ha Ha"

Harry and Ron both ran in front of Hermione and pulled their wands from their robes and Harry pointed his wand at Malfoy, while Ron noticed Crabbe and Goyle going for their wands. Ron shouted Expelliarmus at them and they flew 10 feet backwards. Malfoy quickly seized his own wand and pointed back. Before he could do anything, Harry had disarmed him.

"What is it with you Malfoy, why do you always have to be such a pain in the ass?" Harry said.

"Can't let Granger fight her own battles now, you have to stick up for her. She is too weak to fight her own battles. So are you two going out now? Or was Ginny too much of a heart-breaker to you and you just need a shoulder to cry on?" Malfoy said.

At that same moment, Hermione had sneaked around to the side of Harry and told Malfoy to shutup. She was so upset that she started crying as she ran off to the staircase.

"I'm not through with you yet you filthy little mud-blood," Malfoy said as he turned and stunned her with a spell.

"Petrificus Totalis," He screamed.

Hermione dropped so hard you heard a thump from when she hit the ground.

Just then he turned to Harry and sent a spell his way.

"Tarantallegra," Malfoy screamed.

The spell had missed Harry and hit Ron who started to wobble uncontrollably, he lost his balance and ran into one of the nearby suits of armor and smashed it to bits.

Harry had to think fast if he wanted to get away unharmed.

"Silencio," Harry screamed.

Malfoy was hit and acted as if though he had the wind knocked out of him, he kept trying to curse Harry but nothing came out of his mouth.

"Malfoy you should have never been allowed back into this school after what you have been doing this past year. If it were up to me you would probably be dead by now. It was only Dumbledore's orders that kept you here at Hogwarts. He made Professor McGonagall promise to let you come back even though you had become a death-eater. He knew he couldn't have let you be killed on his watch, so he offered you protection from Voldemort, and you still tried to kill him, you bastard. You will die sooner or later Malfoy. It will be me that will kill you too. You just wait. I will have my revenge on you sooner or later." Harry screamed at Malfoy.

Harry walked over to Malfoy and told him that next time to be expecting more of a fight and to piss off and to never mess with them again. He then walked over to help Ron up as the spell faded. After that he walked over to the unconscious Hermione and picked her up and carried her back to the dormitory common room since he couldn't take her to her bed cause boys aren't allowed up there. He just took her to his bed and tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

"Alright Ron now we can talk," Harry exclaimed, "You asked earlier if I liked Hermione, and the answer is yes, but I'm just not ready to ask her yet. After what will come during the summer when I hunt for Voldemort, I'm don't want to drag you guys into this. I'm pretty sure you will come any ways. But I love Hermione, and you are my best friend, and I'm not ready to get you guys killed."

"I never knew you thought about it that way mate, but I'm still coming whether you like it or not," Ron said, "and I'm sure Hermione feels the same way!"

"Well I still need to find 4 more Horcruxes, so I could use some help. Dumbledore has already destroyed a ring from Gaunt. I destroyed Tom's Diary. The day I went with Dumbledore to find a third one, the locket of Salazar Slytherin, it had been replaced with a note saying:

(To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcruxe and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more. R.A.B.) And then I had a memory flashback of when Sirius had been talking about his relatives. He said something about Regulus Black. I'm not sure of his middle name though, I think he had found it and died before he could destroy it. So therefore, it must still be at 12 Grimmuald Place. Then Dumbledore took me into his pensieve and mentioned the possibilities of 3 other Horcruxes. One of them was a teacup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. Another one had to be either something from Rowena Ravenclaw or Godric Gryffindor, which the only known possession of Gryffindor, is the Sword." Harry said, "Which all of these only leaves me two more to find. Dumbledore thinks the sixth one is Voldemort's snake Nagini. And that leaves the last one to be inside of Voldemort himself. I have a long journey ahead of me."

"Er… okay. I'm gonna get some shuteye Harry. Good night." Ron yawned as he was stretching.

"Alright Ron, I'll see you in the morning," Harry also yawned. Since he had Hermione in his bed, he decided to go down to the common room and make a cot on the couch.

All three of them went to sleep. Harry woke up on the floor in the morning with a bruise on his head and his glasses had been smashed, probably when he fell out of bed during a bad dream. Hermione had already gone to take a shower with Ginny; they all had to get ready for the Hogwart's Express that evening. So Harry decided to go pack his bags and then he helped Ron pack his bag. After that Hermione had come back and he helped her carry her bags to the common room.

"Thanks for sticking up for me Harry she muttered so only he could hear her," Hermione said as she turned red in the face from blushing just like Ginny used to do.

"Er… no problem Hermione. Hey um… Hermione… Er… Do you want to…" He paused as Ron rushed in and yelled, "The Train is leaving in 5 minutes, we have got to hurry," Ron said.

"What Harry?" Hermione asked, "Sorry I didn't hear you."

"Um… nevermind," He said.

Harry just lost his confidence at that moment. How could this happen? He had fought off Voldemort 6 times now and he had fought off dementors and other creatures like spiders, but he couldn't talk to one girl, let alone his best friend.

"Hogwarts express is leaving now!" A booming voice that could be none other than Hagrid said.

"Let's hurry so we can get dibs on the best cars of the train," Ron said.