Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters, But the plot is all mine evil laugh
Chapter 1: New Year, New Friend
Harry and Sirius had just arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4. Sirius was pushing Harry's trolley, his brown hair blowing lightly in the wind. Harry's jet black locks, as usual stuck up in all directions. They had just one through the barrier, and Harry heard someone screaming his name excitedly. his emerald eyes surveyed the platform, and before he could find where the voice was coming from, he found himself blinded by a blanket of long, straight perfect black hair. One of his best friends, Cho Chang, was hugging him, and he couldn't see anything.
"Oh, Harry! I missed you!" she exclaimed, and Sirius was attempting to keep a straight face, which made Harry blush
"You too, Cho, it's good to see you again" Harry said, and as she withdrew from his arms, he looked her up and down. her deep, warm dark eyes were glittering in the sunlight, and her cheeks were glowing red, with excitement. She was wearing a light pink singlet top, that showed her dark skinned arms, liberous amounts of chest, and some of her stomach. she was also in a light blue pair of super skinny jeans, that looked great on her and pink Vans skate shoes. She'd grown about an inch and a half over the summer, and her chest had certainly fulled out a bit, but he tried not to linger on that part of her body.
"You look great Cho" he said, and it was her turn to blush.
"You too Harry" she grinned back at him, showing him her perfect, straight white teeth. He'd also grown over the summer, which was lucky, he was still taller than Cho. He'd gotten some new muggle clothes to wear under his robes, and at the present he was in loose black jeans, black Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and a black and white striped shirt over a white t-shirt. Cho couldn't help but think of him as handsome, and she held his hand tightly while Sirius put Harry's trunk into the compartment Cho had picked out.
"We have to go to the prefect carriage first anyway" Cho reminded him. Harry and Cho had both been picked for Gryffindor 5th year prefects, much to the dismay of Ron, whom received days of silence from his mother when the badge hadn't arrived. Ron was sitting in the compartment, and Harry and Ron shook hands. Ron had also grown, about three inches, and his freckly face was solemn. His sister, Ginny, was sitting across from him.
"Oh, Heya Harry!" said Ginny, very enthusiastically. She was gorgeous, and very popular, in fact currently she was going out with Micheal Corner, whom she had meet at the Yule Ball the previous year, not that anyone else in the compartment knew.
"Hey Ginny, How was your summer?" Harry asked, smiling at her.
"Oh, you know, the usual. This is Luna, Luna Lovegood" she introduced Harry to the blonde haired girl next to her. She had the essence of insanity, her ears were peirced, and the earrings closely resembled carrots. Harry nodded politely, and Cho just gave her the 'OMFG what a loser' look, that Cho had certainly perfected.
"Hey Harry! Mind if I share your compartment?" Neville Longbottom asked from behind him. Neville was round and jolly, and had a big smile on his face.
"Sure Neville, But me and Cho have to go to the prefect carriage as soon the train starts to leave" Harry replied, he rather liked Neville, but Cho thought he was fat, which didn't surprise him, Cho was quite narrow-minded, but had known each other nearly all of their lives, and were gradually drawn together.
"Harry!!" Sirius yelled through the compartment door, he was out on the platform, waiting to say goodbye to Harry.
"Oh, yeah. Well, you'll be heading off then" Harry said, looking at his shoes. Sometimes he felt uncomfortable around his godfather, whom he had gone to live with through the summer, as Dumbledore had finally let him leave the Dursleys. Sirius was a convicted murderer, but had managed to catch Peter Pettigrew, the real murderer, 2 years ago, and Sirius' name was cleared. Sirius grinned at Harry, and then, on a total whim, and to the utter surprise of the two of them, Sirius pulled Harry into a loose, manly, fatherly hug.
"I'm going to miss having you around mate" Sirius said, and he roughly kissed the boy in his hair, and Harry felt tears in his eyes, but was determined not to let them out. he had never, ever been kissed by someone in a fatherly way and Harry felt loved.
"Can I come for Christmas?" Harry asked, He had been invited to the Burrow for Christmas, but Cho was going to her parents' place, and all of them were going to the Burrow for Christmas dinner. "I'm sure Mrs Weasley wouldn't mind if we only went for Christmas Dinner" Harry said reassuringly, and Mrs Weasley, who had been politely eavesdropping, came over to the two men
"Sure, in fact, it's an order. have a nice term Harry," she pulled him into a bonecrushing hug, and kissed him. the stationmaster was starting to close the doors.
"See you at Christmas" Mrs Weasley was yelling into the compartment, and everyone had come to the window to wave. Harry jumped on, and slammed shut the door, Sirius was waving sadly at him, and Harry waved back. Sirius then disapparated.
"Harry, let's go" Cho tugged his arm, and the two of them headed to the prefect carriage."That Luna girls a bit of a weird one" she stated, and she giggled.
"Yea, well, she's friends with Ginny, so we can't exactly tell her to piss off." Harry looked down at her as he said this to her. Wow, I can see right down her t-- STOP! she's your best friend! Harry was thinking and he felt a warm glow on his cheeks, and hoped that Cho wouldn't see it.
The prefect carriage was a larger compartment, and the seats were nice, comfortable and inviting. The Ravenclaw Prefects were sitting on one side, and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were on the other side. Draco Malfoy was sitting next to the window, and he was glaring at Harry, who raised his eyebrows at Cho, who was doing the same thing to him. The hufflepuff's looked less than pleased with the seating arrangements. Harry sat down next to the Ravenclaw girl prefect.
"Hi Harry. I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger" She introduced herself, smiling at him, to reveal neat white teeth. She had brown hair, that was slightly bushy, but was very pretty, and the warmest, chocolate brown eyes he had ever seen. she was in modest clothing, a pair of black jeans that were loosish, and a neat lilac t-shirt, but he could still slightly notice her prominent chest.
"Hey. I know you, your in my Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration classes, you're the clever one" he said, and ginned back, and her smiled had faltered for a second when he had said clever. he noticed, and leaned in and whispered "And, you're pretty too" and she blushed. Harry had often had this effect on people. Cho had always shown him a good way to flirt, and he found that when he flirted with girls, they'd blush twice as much as what they did with any other guy, but he just guessed it was the whole boy-who-lived thing.
"Okay. Quiet please!" The Head Boy and Girl had just entered. He didn't recognise either of them, but they introduced themselves
"I'm Gary Flint, I'm in Ravenclaw, and I'm your Head Boy this year." He smiled warmly at the group. The other person, teh girl, was glaring at everyone, and she stepped forward.
"I'm Kitty Blaise, I'm in Slytherin, and for those are too dumb to realise, I'm Head Girl." she said, her eyes sweeping the room, and resting on Harry, and her stare was sending daggers at him.
"Welcome, You are the new Prefects. You are the people who lead the first years to your common room, and the password for your house's dormitory will appear on the blank bit of Parchment you will be given by Kitty as soon as you touch it. The prefect bathroom is now on the fourth floor, and the password is unity. you will be required to patrol corridors, and the next bit of parchment will have a patrol roster on it, and if you are not available on the night chosen for you, you are to find a night to swap, which you must sort out yourself. You can distribute detentions, but not administer House Points. Well, any more questions, Kitty and I will be remaining in here most of the journey, occasionally patrolling the train corridor. You may Leave" and with a last fleeting Smile, Gary finished his sermon and moved out of the way of the door to let people out. Hermione, Harry and Cho were the last to remain, and they filed out of the compartment. Hermione smiled at Cho, who merely nodded, and Harry grinned at her, and their eyes met for a second, and Hermione looked away.
"Well, I'll see you around Harry" she said, smiled once more, and hurried into the crowd, and disappeared into a compartment by herself. Cho was tugging his arm, as if to hurry him along.
"You go, I'll catch up in a sec." Harry said distractedly, and Cho hurried off impatiently, barely even giving him a second look. Harry, on the other turned to Hermione's compartment and opened the door. "Knock Knock" he said, and she dropped her book in surprise, and looked up at him.
"Hey Harry" she said quietly, she wished she had other people in here, she looked like such a loser.
"Hey, you look pretty lonely, want to come down to my compartment?" he asked her, trying not to embarass her.
"Nah, it's all good, your friend Cho doesn't seem to like me" she said, and couldn't help but fell embarassed. No-one really liked her, but Harry, well Harry was something else.
"Who cares? it's not her compartment, and I happen to like you, so I'm telling you to come. I won't take no for an answer" he said, looking at her teasingly, but he was entirely serious, and a flush covered her cheeks.
"Okay." she said simply, and put her book in her trunk. She followed him down the corridor, and many people stopped and pointed at her, giglling and whispering behind their hands. it was a bit congested through the corridor, so Harry grabbed her hand
"Wouldn't want to lose you" he said, grinning, and pushing his way through the mass of people, tugging Hermione after him. She was on cloud nine He's holding my hand! she thought excitedly, and when they emerged through the other side of the crowd, Harry's grip on her hand didn't falter.
Hey Guys" said Harry, opening a compartment door, and letting her go through first. "I'd like you to meet my friend, Hermione Granger, I invited her to hang with us" Harry told his friends, and they all looked up at Hermione, and then, realising how plain she was, they all looked down. Hermione's smiled turned to a frown even they don't like me she saw a tall ginger haired boy, a girl with hair of the same colour, a boy, who she already knew as Neville, and Luna Lovegood, whom she had never really liked, as she was a bit dazed. Cho was glaring at her, which didn't surprise her. Harry sat next to Ron. He noticed the uncomfortable silence stretching between Hermione and Cho.
"Ron, would you mind sitting next to Cho? I'd like to sit next to Hermione" Harry asked the boy next to him. Ron nodded gruffly, and threw himself into the seat next to Cho, and they started talking abotu Quidditch. Once Hermione had sat down, he rolled his eyes at her.
The trip went companionably. Hermione found herself, for the first time, enjoying the train ride. previous years she was often teased, and people even threw dungbombs in her compartment, or ambushed her, attempting to jinx her. Hermione really liked Harry. Neville was really nice to her too, as was Ron and Ginny. Luna spent the whole time reading The Quibbler and Cho would avoid conversation with Hermione as much as possible.
"So who're the new prefects?" Ron asked, with mild interest.
"Malfoy and that ugly Parkinson girl who looks like a mutt for Slytherin" started Cho.
"And Hannah Abott and Ernie Macmillian for Hufflepuff" continued Harry
"Me and Micheal Corner for Ravenclaw" finished Hermione
"Who's Micheal Corner?" said Neville, looking confused
"He's the tall dark-haired guy in Ravenclaw, Chaser on the Quidditch team" said Ginny, and everyone looked at her.
"How'd you know?" Ron asked arrogantly
"Ron, don't be a pratt. I know because I pay attention" said Ginny, going bright red.
"Well, That's OK, I thought she was going to say she knew becuase they were going out or something" said Ron, relaxing back into his seat, and Ginny muffled her giggles
"So, What do your parents do?" Ron asked her conversationally, and Hermione looked nervous.
"They're... They're Dentists." She said, lowering her voice.
"So they're muggles?" asked Cho, sounding quite bitchy, and Hermione winced. Harry threw a glare at Cho, who threw one back. Hermione meerly nodded.
"Better than having dead parents." Harry said defensively, and Cho looked away. no-one could meet Harry's eyes
"My dad's obsessed with muggles, it's quite a laugh really. he bewitched a car in our second year, I guess you heard about that?" Ron said, cutting through the silince Harry had made. Hermione nodded again, and Harry and Ron laughed.
"You were petrified in second year weren't you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said, her voice barely audible. It was growing dark now.
"I'm going to go change into my robes now, I'll see you around, Harry. See you's" she said. and went to stand up
"We'll go with you, we need to change too." Ginny said, and her and Luna got their robes out of their trunks "And then you can come back with us" Ginny said, and the three of them disappeared.
"What a weird one" Cho whispered, as soon as the compartment door had closed.
"I like her" said Harry and Ron in one voice, and Cho meerly shrugged.
"I'm going to go get changed in Lavender and Parvati's compartment, I might stay for a while, I'll see you's later." she left as quickly as possible. Harry, Ron and Neville got changed, and were sitting back down, and Ron was fingering his way through Luna's magazine.
"Some of this stuff is actually quite interesting" he said, completely serious.
"Why, thank you Ronald" said Luna, and announced the three girls arrival. Hermione resumed her old seat next to Harry, and they shared a quick glance.
"Where did Cho go?" Ginny asked, and looked at Harry for the answer. Ron was other preoccupied reading The Quibbler and Luna was looking over his shoulder, telling him about all sorts of things in there.
"To see Parvati and Lavender" Harry replied. Hermione let out her breath.
"God, She's such a bitch to Hermione" Ginny said, and giggled.
"Yeah, she can be sometimes, but she's okay once she gets to know you, Hermione" Harry was speaking more to Hermione than Ginny, but both of them nodded.
"Oh well." Ron concluded, and he passed the magazine back to Luna. She grinned at him, and put the magazine in her trunk. The train was slowing. people were squeezing into the corridor, ready to get off.
"Try and stick together guys" Harry said, and he opened the door. Hermione was behind him, and he grabbed her hand again. "You can't lose me that easy" he grinned at her, and dove into the crowd. Ron had seen Harry and the Ravenclaw girl (he couldn't remember her name) and after grabbing Ginny by her robe sleeve, he followed them. Harry and Hermione had found a carriage, and after helping Hermione in, Harry stood outside it looking for Ron, Ginny, Luna and Cho. Cho walked past with Lavender, and dispersed herself from their group to join Harry. She clambered into the carriage, and sat opposite Hermione, and both of them purposely looked the other way. Ron and Ginny got in next to Cho, and Luna was just about to hop in and she sat opposite Ginny, and Harry sat between Hermione and Luna. the door shut automatically. the carriages started up soon, and as they slowly bumped up the narrow path to the school, Hermione felt her leg rubbing againgst Harry's and tried not to blush, by focusing out the window. Harry, on the other hand, was watching Hermione with interest.I wonder if she's realised how hot this is making me feel. and then, noticing that he felt a numbness in between his leg, he quickly also tried to focus on something else, which prevented anything from going any higher. They went through the school gate, and Hermione and Harry both looked wistfully up at the castle.
"This was like home to me, but now I'm not living with the Dursley's" Harry told her, and Hermione nodded.
"Who are you living with now?" she asked, turning away from the castle to look at him
"My Godfather, Sirius Black" he said and she muttered a little squeak
"But wasn't he a murderer?" She replied, raising her eyebrows.
"Yea, but he was innocent. he caught Peter Pettigrew, who was an unregistered animagus, as "Scabbers" Ron's rat, and it turned out that Peter had been sold my parents out to Voldemort" as Harry said this, everyone shuddered at the name.
"I heard that Dumbledore told Vampires where your parents were, and that the Vampires sold them out to You-Know-Who" Luna said, snapping out of her trance, and her prominent eyes were bulging excitedly, and Harry and Hermione slightly raised their eyebrows at each other
"Thats the biggest pile of bull-shit I've ever heard!" Cho exclaimed, and dispersed into giggles.
"Just because you live in a narrow-minded society, doesn't mean everything has to be shoved under your nose to be true!" Luna said, glaring at Cho, showing a deep dislike for the giggling girl. The Carriages had just stopped, and the doors magically opened. Luna flounced out, and without even saying goodbye to Ginny, disappeared into the crowd squeezing into the Entrance Hall.
"Let's go" Ron said, and everyone started to hop out of the carriage.
"Well, I'll see you around Harry" said Hermione, and only Harry heard her.
"Yeah, I'll look forward to it" Harry smiled warmly at her, and she returned it, and she turned into the crowd.
"Quite a plain one that girl" Ron remarked.
"that girl has a name. Hermione" Harry defended her. Ron noticed how his eyes lit up when Harry said 'Hermione' but he shrugged it off, he was starving.
After the uneventful sorting, in which 15 people became Gryffindors, 8 girls and 7 boys. all of varied shortness and immaturity.
"Cho" Harry said, looking at his best friend.
"Yeah?" Cho said, continuing eating.
"Look at me" he said forcably. She looked up at him and meet his emerald eyes. "I know that you don't like Hermione" and she nodded, her face going dark "But I do, she's nice. But it doesn't mean that I like you any less. Your my best friend!" he said, and she nodded again, unable to find any words. she hugged him, and then with a small smile, she returned to her dinner. Harry, prodding his Steak and Kidney pie, when he realised that he could see Hermione from where he was. She was twirling her pasta around her fork, looking thoughtful, as well as extremely lonely. She must have felt eyes on her, becuase she looked up, and saw him looking at her. she grinned, and Harry returned the grin with extra enthusiasm. She's really pretty! he thought, and then she looked away, and he saw her smile vanish. he looked back down at his pie, to see nothing there, and that he was stabbing thin air. Desserts had appeared. after Treacle tart, and the usual notices from Dumbledore, including the fact that a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher hadn't been found, and for 2 weeks, D.A.D.A would be replaced by free periods. people started standing up.
"Harry! we've got to show the first years where to go!" Cho tugged his sleeve, and then Harry, grinning broadly yelled
"First Years! First Years this way!" and many Gryffindor first years looked towards him.
"Ron, the passwords Mimbulus Mimbletonia" Harry told Ron, and Ron disappeared to tell more people the password. Looking through the crowd, he could see Hermione leading the first years by herself, and Micheal was a bit further ahead, walking with Ginny.
"Hey Cho, look at Micheal and Ginny" Harry said, nudging Cho
"So?" she said, looking amused
"What do you know that I don't?" Harry asked, pretending to look annoyed.
"That theres 15 first years getting impatient behind us" Cho said, and as they both turned around, she poked her tongue out at Harry.
"Now, Heya, Im Cho Chang, and this is Harry Potter, and we're your fifth year prefects. We're going to take you up to the common room." Cho told the group of nervous first years, and they all looked at Harry, awestruck. they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. "This, is the Fat Lady. She gaurds the Gryffindor Tower. you need to tell her the password before you can enter. the password is Mimbulus Mimbletonia The fat Lady changes the password every month or so, and the new password will be displayed on the notice board in the Common Room." Cho told the group. The Fat Lady's Portrait had opened by now, and Cho and Harry stood aside to let the first years get in. The prefects followed.
"Boy's dormitory up the left staircase, girls dormitory up the right." Harry concluded, and the first years scuttled up the steps excitedly.
"I'll see you tomorrow Cho" Harry said
"Night Harry" Cho replied and they went their separate ways.
A/N: Thats the first Chapter!! please reveiw! If No-one likes it, I'm going to get rid of it, so reveiw!