Chapter 1

The clock in the Gryffindor tower struck twelve and Hermione tossed around in her bed. She couldn't sleep. She was plagued by nightmares of the troll.

She had thought that Dumbledore and the other professors had been right about the school. It was the safest place in the magical world, but that illusion had been shattered when she had found herself face to face with a twelve foot mountain troll. How had such a thing gotten into the castle? They were some of the most dimwitted creatures in the world; there was no way that something like that could have gotten into the castle on its own but somehow it had. To make matters worst the teachers had not been the ones to save her from the beast, but two other children- first years like herself- had been the ones to rescue her from a terrible demise.

Hermione sighed and sat up. She knew there was no way that she was going to get any sleep. The smell of that grotesque beast and the fear that she felt as she saw its club descent toward her would not leave her. Slowly she made her way out of bed and into the common room. To her surprise the fireplace was still lit.

She took a seat in one of the chairs directly in front of it and stared into the flames. There was something magical about the flames. She remembered when she was younger she would often curl up in front of the fireplace in her living room with a book. The sound of crackling flames and the imagery of a good story would relive her of the stress and anxiety, but now the flames did no such thing.

They only left her wanting for something. The castle seemed so different now. There was nowhere that she was truly safe. If it wasn't the troll it was Snape who took pleasure in demeaning and verbally torturing students, or it was the threat of death on the third floor that she was sure was no longer just a joke- if a tasteless one- or it was the students.

The other students were worst that anything that she had dealt with in primary school. At least then she was only picked on because of her intelligence and the love that she garnered from the teachers, but here everything about her made her a target: her hair, her teeth, the fact that she was a muggleborn. She often had to fight the urge to cry, and the incident with Ronald had been the last straw.

She didn't blame him for going off on her no matter how wrong it had seemed. He had already been putting up with her for a while and she was being overbearing and she knew it, but it was her attempt to endear herself to someone. He needed help and she had thought that if she gave it to him that he would at least give her a chance, but she had blown it.

He was right she had thought. She would never have any friends, and when the troll came crashing into the bathroom on the second floor she had thought that no one would save her. Who would put their life on the line for some upstart mudblood know-it-all? She had assumed she was going to die in that moment, and she lamented the fact that she would die at the age of twelve having never had a friend.

That was until the small frames of Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasley came rushing into the loo, and they had saved her. She did not think of them as friends even in that moment. Yes they had saved her, not out of friendship, but out of guilt. To them it was their fault that she was in danger in the first place. Had Ron not said what he had or had Harry tried to comfort her she might not have ended up in that stall with the troll.

They had both apologized profusely, and she had forgiven them even though in her mind there was nothing for them to be forgiven about . It was her own fault. If she were nicer and less bossy then she might have been able to make friends, but she wasn't and didn't.

The more she thought about the two the more she realized that they were the only people in the school that she had really interacted with barring professors -who only congratulated her on her good work-.

Hermione looked up at the stairs that led to the boy's dormitories. The stairs were charmed so that boys could not go up the to girl's rooms, but the boy's side had no such charm. She thought about what she would do for a moment. She knew that she would not be getting back to sleep and the common room was not helping as much as she had thought it would.

She sighed and stood. She gave the fire one last glance and turned making her way up the stairs. She stopped at the first door on her right which was marked "First Years". Gently she opened the door.

The room was surprising like the one that she shared with her dorm-mates, albeit with a few extra beds. The red and gold was not garish as she had thought it would be and it gave the room a homey feeling, but observing the room was not why she had gone in.

It took her only a moment to see her target. Harry was asleep lying curled up in a ball. He had his glasses off something that she had never seen. She stared at him for a long while not moving, and then he gave a toss and turned a little.


Gathering up her courage Hermione crossed the distance between the doorway and his bed. She gently lifted the covers and slid in next to him. The bed creaked a bit but he didn't move. She let out the breath that she was holding in and snuggled as close to him as she could. Soon she felt the call of sleep and quickly succumbed.

Ron woke in the middle of the night. He had to go the bathroom. After he finished he splashed water on his face. Even though he had only awoken to pee he really did not want to go back to sleep. His mind was still filled with what had happened earlier.

He had been wanting to talk to Harry all day about the troll incident. Normally he would have told the other boys in their dorm or even some of the upper year boys, but that just didn't sit right with him. Harry had not spoken a word about it to anyone including him, and he felt that it was time that they discussed it.

He knew that the entire thing was his fault. If he had only kept his mouth shut then Hermione would not have ended up in that bathroom, and if it wasn't for the fact that Harry remembered that Hermione wasn't at the Halloween feast then he was sure that she would have died.

Death was not something that he thought about often-or at all-. He had never known anyone that had died. To him it was like there was no true danger in the world, but now he was not so sure. To think that a troll had gotten into a school, and not just any school, but Hogwarts the school that was headed by Albus Dumbledore the man that You-Know-Who had feared. It was an outrage, and they had nearly paid the ultimate price for the inadequacies of the school staff.

Ron left the bathroom and walked back into his room.

He looked over to Harry's bed and was shocked to see Harry lying in bed beside Hermione who was also deep in sleep. She had her arms wrapped around Harry's torso and her face was buried in his shoulder. There was something about the scene that made Ron's stomach flutter.

He turned away from them and thought for only a moment of leaving them the way that they were. It would be easy and he could avoid talking about what he was seeing, but he knew that he couldn't do that. He needed to talk to Harry, but talking to Hermione would help too. After all everything revolved around her.

He leaned over the bed and put one hand on each of them and gently shook. It didn't take long before their eyes fluttered open, and Ron was met with the unfocused translucent emerald green of Harry's, and the deep soul searching chocolate of Hermione's.

Hermione shifted and Harry gave a gasp. When he had awoken he had felt a warmth around him that he had never felt before, but now that things were coming into focus -not his sight as he had not yet donned his glasses- he realized that the warmth was that of another person that was snuggled into him.

He had never had such a thing happen to him. His aunt and uncle would rather die than give him any semblance of affection, and Dudley was more endeared with causing him pain than comfort. He gave a little wiggle and the person released him. Quickly he grabbed his glasses from his nightstand and put them on. He was more than a little surprised to see a red faced Hermione sitting bolt upright on his bed and an equally abashed looking Ron standing next to it. It took little effort to deduce that Hermione had been the one that was holding him in his sleep and Ron had been the one to wake him, though that didn't explain why the bushy haired witch had been in his bed in the first place.

Harry felt a yawn coming but quickly stifled it. He gave them both a grin that he didn't truly feel, but thought would help ease the tension that he could feel building.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked in a whisper mindful of the others that were in the room asleep. He didn't know if one of them might wake and he was sure if they did then the situation would take a turn for the worst.

"I couldn't sleep." Hermione answered but she did not offer anymore than that. It seemed as thought she knew that he was looking for more but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. "But I think I should go back to my room now."

She made to get off the bed but Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her back it. He did not know how but he could feel that she would not get back to sleep if she went back to her dorm.

"Stay a little while... I don't mind."

Ron stared at the two. He had not spoken a word and he was not sure that he could trust himself to do so. Contrary to popular belief Ron was not completely thick to girls. He grew up with brothers older than him and he had learned over the years that girls had an appeal to boys -why he didn't know- it was just that he personally had not hit the stage where he understood it.

It didn't matter now though. He just knew that Hermione needed comforting, and he and Harry needed to talk.

Hermione stared at him as though he had grown a second head. He almost winced. The situation was a bit awkward seeing his best mate – though he couldn't help but feel that it was a little too soon to be sure of that- in bed with a girl. His mother would have went spare at the sight.

"Ron's right Hermione you can stay a while longer and tell us what's really wrong." Harry interjected.

Hermione turned to him and he shot Ron a wink. The red head only nodded grateful for the save.

"Harry it's not important. Just let me go back to my room." Hermione hastily said as she got up to leave. Harry did not let go of her arm. She glared at him "Let me go Harry!" she hissed.

"Hermione I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's wrong."

Ron realizing that they might get loud pushed Hermione onto the bed and allowed himself to fall onto it too. He closed the curtains and the silencing charms that where built into the fabric activated protecting them from prying ears.

"Calm down you two you almost woke everyone." Harry and Hermione both had the presence of mind to look abashed at that, though the fierceness did not leave the bushy haired witch's eyes.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said. "But I think it was a mistake for me to come here."

"It wasn't a mistake you came here for a reason, and I think you should talk about it." Harry said evenly, though his patience was wearing thin with the girl. He had no experience dealing with anyone in their time of need. The Durselys were not kind and no one wanted to deal with that criminal "Potter boy".

Hermione did not say anything opting to try to pry herself from Harry. "It's about the troll isn't it?" Ron said more than asked.

It was the only thing that he could think of that would make the girl seek them out. She was not friends with them and she did not like them especially with how she tended to dislike people who slacked off, and he and Harry avoided studying whenever they could.

Hermione's glared died as she turned to Ron. The smell and sight of that great beast came crashing to the forefront of her mind, and she could not help but shiver and shake as her eyes began to tear up. She let out a choked sob as she lost herself within the memory.

Ron had not thought that threw. He hadn't expected her to cry. She had lived through the attack and was relatively unscathed, but then he remembered that they had not gotten to her before the troll got an attack off. She had come much closer to death than he realized.

Ron looked at Harry expecting him to do something but the other boy was frozen with the girl's hand in his; she was sobbing and trying to fight him off with what little strength she could muster through the fear induced haze.

Ron did not think instead he acted. He was the youngest boy of his family with a little sister. He often had to make sure that she was alright and had dealt with many crying fits -though none resulting from a near death experience-. He reached forward and pulled the distraught girl into a light soothing hug.

At first she fought him just as she had Harry, but after a few moments she relaxed into the warmth and protection that his body offered. Harry who had only been watching lamely quickly joined the embrace. It was hesitant due to his sparse history of physical contact that did not result in pain. No one moved as they all allowed themselves to ease into it, and even though it was soft and clumsy there was a great fervor in it born of the desperation and fear of Hermione, the need to protect and safeguard from Ron, and the need to truly to understand and be involved from Harry.

They fell once more into the void of slumber that way with the heat and protection of one another, and they dreamt. Hermione dreamt not of the maliciousness of the troll but of the stories that she had read as a little girl of dashing knight and powerful heroes who saved damsels and protected the innocent, and in these dreams she was often the damsel while Harry and Ron played the part of the heroes.

Ron dreamt of family. He allowed himself to be engrossed in the vivid scenes of love and the familiarity of home, though every so often these dreams would be interrupted by memories of the train ride, though vastly different from his recollection. In these moments he saw himself acting politely to Hermione. He saw a past where he had not been the cause of such strife in her short tenor at Hogwarts.


Harry's dreams were much less vivid but no less impacting. He dreamt of hugs, of contact with others that was enjoyable. He dreamt of laughing, playing, and running. He dreamt a life without fear of Dudley's or Draco's making others hate him or bullying him. But most importantly he dreamt of having his own friends: he dreamt of Ron and Hermione.

The next day Hermione is the first to awake as the sun rose. She did not open her eyes instead she enjoyed the feel of a strange heat that she had not felt before. She never had the comfort of a sibling or parents that allowed her within in their bedroom even when she had a bad dream thus she did not realize at first what the heat was, but then the memories of the previous night came to her and she knew what she was feeling.

She opened her eyes tentatively. She saw that she was wrapped between Harry and Ron. The red head was spooned behind her with his arms wrapped around her and Harry who was clinging to her front head buried in her shoulder.

Harry looked so small and vulnerable especially without his glasses, Ron on the other hand felt sturdy and strong. Gently Hermione lifted a hand and ran it through Harry's hair. He rubbed his head into her hand following it subconsciously.

Hermione would have laughed, but she knew that there was no time for that. Even though she was enjoying the comfort of being wrapped up in them she knew that it was only a matter of time before everyone started to wake and they would be in trouble if anyone caught her in their room. So with a sigh she eased herself away from them. It took more effort than she would have liked as both boys had strong grips but eventually she extracted herself from them. As soon as she was free of their hold the two reached for each other and embraced once more.

Hermione silently made her way out of the room and to her own dorm once again. Luckily there were not prefects or older students up yet. When she got to her room she went to her trunk and rummaged through it for a moment and produced her school clothes and some toiletries.

Since it was morning it would only be a matter of time before Gryffindor tower would be alive with action so she decided that a shower was in order.

The feeling of the water on her skin was heavenly. The steam spread through her and the warmth that it imparted on her brought back the feeling of closeness she had with Harry and Ron,but she quashed the thought. They were not friends and she should not have done what she did last night. They had no desire to befriend, and she was not going to accept their pity.

When she finished her shower Lavender and Pavarti were awake and gossiping as they tended to do. She ignored them and went to gather her things for the day. She cast the tempus charm, it read 6:10 am. There was more than an hour before breakfast began. She decided that light reading was what she needed, but not in the form of Hogwarts a History as she was known for but a muggle novel. It was a novel that she had found called "House of the Spirits"it was a translation and she had read it twice already but it never failed to intrigue her.

It was not long after she lost herself within the familiar world of a troubled family in a troubled world that her dorm-mates tapped her on the shoulder and signaled that they were headed down for breakfast. She didn't know why they had bothered but she was thankful. She did not want to miss breakfast or be late for her double potions with the Slytherin. She packed her things and made her way down.

Hermione was relieved that Harry and Ron as nowhere to be seen. Her shower had done nothing for what she was feeling and she was not sure that she could bare the sight of the two of them at that moment.

She did not get lost on her way to the great hall. It seemed that it had taken her no time to get a feel for the castle and she was glad. It had been a nightmare for her the first few weeks; stairs the never stayed still, walls that pretended to be doors, doors that led to walls. It seemed that the school was made for those who were missing a few screws.

Breakfast was a quiet affair for her. She took a seat near the end of the table and made herself a small plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. She wasn't really that hungry but she was used to eating breakfast every morning so it was routine for her to force it sometimes.

As she slowly ate she felt the bench creak on either side of her as two people sat down. She ignored them and focused on her plate. She had not looked at them but she knew who they were.

"Morning Hermione." Harry said politely.

"Morning." Ron groaned out.

She did not respond. Whether it was out of pettiness or embarrassment sh could not say She did not want to talk to either of them. They tended to have the eyes of their entire house on them at all times though they never seemed to notice it, and she was sure if they wanted to talk the conversation would end up on the topic of last night or the troll and those were both things that she wanted to keep to herself.

Harry was not one to be ignored that morning. "How are you feeling?" he asked, and from the tone of his voice he was going to keep asking if she kept trying to block him out.

'I'm fine." she huffed out lowly.

"That's good." Ron said between bites. Normally he would have been stuffing his mouth but he didn't want to scare her away with less than stellar table manners, though he only barely kept from talking with his mouth full.

"Look Hermione I' sorry about yesterday." the red head offered in a low murmur mindful of where they were.

"I already forgave you." she replied.

"I know but I don't deserve to be forgive so easily! I mean you almost died!" He barely contained his urge to shout. Did she not understand what that meant. She had almost lost everything because of his stupid mouth.

"It's just as much my fault. If I had thicker skin then I wouldn't have run off like that." she said slumping into her chair at the melancholic topic.

She felt a hand on top of the one of hers. She looked up and her eyes connected with Harry's. "It was not your fault no matter how much you say it Hermione."

She wanted to pull her hand from his but she didn't. "Can't you understand that it is? I deserve what I get. Ron was right I'm a bossy know-it-all and I deserve to be treated the way I am!" tears threatened to spill forth once more, but Ron's hand came forward to brush them away.

Hew looked her in the eyes and began to say something but was cut off as the bell rang to signal the end of breakfast. Hermione seized this moment to pull away from the duo and beat a hasty retreat to their day of double potions. She knew that they would have no chance to talk to her there due to Snape's hatred of them; neither wanted to serve detention with the man.

The day passed slowly. Potions was just as bad as she thought it would be although she avoided losing points or detention. To her surprise so did Harry and Ron, but that was more likely due to the fact that Neville was the subject of the professor's ire.

After Potions was History which thankfully bored Ron and Harry to sleep before they could get a word out. She was able to leave before either of them awoke to realize that she had gotten away. Her day continued like that. She avoided them. She would have gone back to her dorm before curfew but she really did not want to dealt with her roommates. They knew something was wrong with her and would not hesitate to pester her about it.

When curfew finally came she went straight up to her room and took a short hot shower before lying down for bed. However once again she could not sleep. She lay there for hours trying to let her mind wander into the abyss of dreams but nothing happened. No matter what she did she could not fall asleep.

She lay in bed for what felt like an eternity before the clock chimed out the call of midnight.. Hermione furrowed her brow in frustration. Her body was betraying her. She knew what would allow her to fall into the realms of dreams, but that was the last thing that she wanted to deal with.

She closed her eyes tightly, but nothing worked. Eventually wearily she got out of bed, and soon once again found herself facing Harry's bed. The curtains were closed. With a soft grip she pulled the curtain's apart, and barely held onto the gasp of shock that made its way into her throat.

Harry and Ron were cuddled together with Ron's long gangly arms wrapped snugly around Harry who had his face buried in the other boy's chest. Her cheeks flushed at the sight.

Was this what Ron had seen between Harry and herself before? The sight was undoubted awkward but there was an underlying sense of rightness to it, but it looked incomplete. There was no doubt about what would complete the scene.

Quickly and as lightly as she could she lifted the covers as she had done the night before and crawled in. She threw her arms around both boys swaddling them in a gentle yet intense embrace. She did not notice that both boys opened their eyes as she lay into them nor the approving looks they shot each other as she nestled into them.

When morning came again Hermione awoke and she stared with contentment as she lay between the boys, but she knew that she had to leave just as before. She once again began to pry herself free of their embrace and just as she found freedom and got up they both moved.

"Good morning." their voices said thick with sleep. She looked at them awkwardly. They made no move to keep her in the bed.

"Good morning." she replied before turning her back and making her way to her room. She was glad that they did not try to talk as they had before. It made things easier. Solace came with silence and time mended the wounds.