Authors Note:

Firstly a huge huge thank you for all the reviews. Honestly when I woke up this morning and saw them all I nearly cried. I love you all so much. 3

BellaSummers: I'd answer your question about who's perspective but you find out in this chapter anyway. ;)

I appreciate everyone's patience as far as the character's actually getting together goes. I have to confess that there will be quite a few chapters before anything romantic happens between them, though you will start getting them interacting together now, if only in a small way to begin with.
I'm mean, what can I say? ;)

Here's chapter two! After all those wonderful reviews I hope I don't disappoint any of you now.

Hope you enjoy. :) x


Hermione took her place in the Great Hall next to Ron and was looking hurriedly around for Harry. Where was he? They hadn't seen him since he'd wandered off while they were on the train. Ron on the other hand didn't seem as worried. Instead he was sitting quite happily piling as much food up on his plate as he could possibly fit.

"You are unbelievable" she snapped at him. "Your friend is missing and all you care about is making sure you fill your stomach."

As she snapped at him McGonagall had walked into the room with all the little first years trailing behind her. Hermione caught her eye and received a questioning, concerned look. She glanced from the empty seat on her left back to her professor, and then pulled a face at her. A nod was returned to her so that she knew she'd been understood.

After the sorting McGonagall took her place on the staff table next to Dumbledore but kept glancing back at the Gryffindor table looking to Hermione and the seat next to her to see if Harry had arrived yet.

Thankfully a couple of minutes after they had began eating, Harry came racing into the room looking as though he'd just been in a fight. After quickly siphoning the blood off him Hermione immediately started her questioning and it didn't stop until Dumbledore started to speak.

Now that she'd got over her initial worry about Harry, while Dumbledore was speaking she took the opportunity to look instead at the woman sitting to his right. She could see that McGonagall was a lot more relaxed now that Harry had reappeared safely and Hermione couldn't help but notice how particularly beautiful she looked that evening. Her hair was in its usual bun, except tonight a little of it hung loosely, framing her face. Her robes were deep scarlet meaning that she matched and blended in with the Gryffindor decorations and also, Hermione noted, they were a little more fitted than usual. She continued to stare at her Professor until she suddenly realised that McGonagall was staring back. Blushing as she met her eyes she quickly looked away, hoping the older woman hadn't known how long she'd been looking at her. Or what she'd been thinking.

After Dumbledore had finished speaking they were all dismissed and allowed to return to their common rooms. However before Hermione had had a chance to leave the room McGonagall had caught up with her and was calling her over to one side. Ignoring their curious looks Hermione told Ron and Harry that she'd meet them in the common room and walked over to the head of Gryffindor, wanting the ground to swallow her whole as she had a feeling she knew what this was going to be about.

However once she reached her Hermione was surprised to see that she wasn't being glared at, or being looked at as though she was strange; instead she was at the receiving end of one of Minerva McGonagall's very rare smiles. Somehow that made her want to blush even greater and she found herself being forced to look at her feet in order to hide her red checks. "Welcome back Miss Granger, and congratulations on such fantastic OWL results."

"Thank you" she found herself blushing even more, but now having a valid reason for doing so decided it was safe to look up at her. McGonagall was smiling at her still, clearly unconcerned about the fact the conversation had started with Hermione staring at her shoes.

"I was wondering if you'd like to meet in my office tomorrow. Lessons don't start until Monday, one of the rare blessings of September 1st this year being a Friday. Therefore I thought we could meet to discuss your options regarding you final two years at Hogwarts."

Hermione felt a little confused. She hadn't been summoned to McGonagall's office in this way since the beginning of her third year when she had been needed so that the deputy head teacher could give her the Time-Turner and discuss the implications of it. After all the problems it caused though Hermione made sure that when she chose the subjects to continue on in her sixth year she'd only picked as many as could be fitted into her timetable, so she didn't have a clue what it was that McGonagall wished to discuss. It must have been fairly obvious to the Transfiguration's professor that she was confused by the request but she didn't explain, instead just waiting patiently for Hermione to get back to her with a reply. After realising how long they'd been standing there in silence she hastily answered with "of course, that would be lovely" before falling into silence once again, unsure of what else to say.

"In that case Miss Granger how does seven o clock tomorrow evening sound to you? I know it's a little late but I tend to get very busy during the day whereas in the evenings I get a little spare time."

She nodded. "Of course, is there anything you need me to bring?"

McGonagall was still smiling at her; she couldn't remember ever seeing her professor smile for this long before.

"Just yourself will be sufficient for now I think. Thank you. I hope you enjoy your first evening back in the castle." And with that she turned around and walked back out of the room leaving her in something of a stunned silence.

She walked back to the common room and found Harry and Ron sitting waiting for her. It was fairly quiet as most people, exhausted from the journey, had gone to bed straight after the feast. She wasn't complaining, it meant they had managed to secure a comfy sofa in the corner of the room.

"So?" Ron jumped on her the second that she sat down. "What did she want?"

Hermione hesitated. She hadn't been told not to tell anyone about her meeting but at the same time until she knew what it was McGonagall wanted she didn't know if she wanted to share. "Oh nothing, just wanted to congratulate me on my OWLS."

"Oh" he looked a little disappointed and Harry hit him.

"What?" She looked from one of them to the other. "What did you think she wanted?"

"Nothing" they both replied a little too quickly. Normally she'd have argued the point until they gave in and told her, but she was feeling pretty sleepy and was also eager to get up to the dormitory and have some time to think about the following evening.

"I think I'm going upstairs. I'm pretty tired and I want to get unpacked. I'll see you both in the morning." She gave them both a quick hug goodbye and then walked up to the room.

Lavender and the rest of her group were already asleep, leaving Hermione with the room to herself to consider. She began unpacking her trunk, all the while looking for something to wear to see Professor McGonagall the following evening. This was silly. She'd spent five years with all the other girls in her year dressing up whenever they had a meeting with a boy they liked and she'd sat there mocking them for being so ridiculous. There was no way she'd ever get dressed up for anyone, the whole idea of it just seemed silly. Yet now she was in the same state they usually got in, worrying about which outfit would be best, which would be appropriate for the situation and so on. Why did she even care what she looked like, it wasn't like McGonagall would. It wasn't like Hermione was going on a date; she was only popping to her head of house's office for a quick chat about her school work.

But then why hadn't she told the boys? And for that matter, what was she going to tell them the following day when she had to explain where she was going?


So there was chapter 2, reviews are again greatly appreciated, I really do love hearing from you all! :)

I apologise now if there are any errors in this part. It has had a huge edit because I realised that when I wrote it I was in such a rush to get it down that I'd written half in the 1st person and half in 3rd. I think I've ironed this out but please let me know if you spot anything haha.

Again the next part is already done and so shall be up whenever it's wanted basically. :)

Thank you once more for all the wonderful reviews.

Chelsey x