The next few weeks went by fairly uneventful at school for Harry and Neville. The two had been content to go along by themselves and just focus on working in class, where despite Lily's daily help each child was finding muggle subjects to be quite difficult especially mathematics.

It hadn't escaped their notice that the shy bushy-haired girl always seemed to do the best in the class, but both boys were far too uncomfortable at the thought of asking her for help with some of their problems.

One day, however, the boys couldn't help but notice that the girl stopped raising her hand to answer questions. She still got gold stars for perfect marks on all her tests but no matter how much she looked like she wanted to, she wouldn't allow herself to answer questions unless she was specifically asked.

They couldn't help but feel this kind of behaviour was very strange but after remembering what her reaction was when they had tried to introduce themselves, they figured she was probably just becoming more and more shy around people.

Harry couldn't figure out the answer to her strange behaviour for the life of him. Was she a witch? Did she know who they were? Whatever the reason, the two boys found themselves fascinated with the lonely bushy-haired girl.

One day when it was finally time for the children to present their science projects on the solar system, Harry and Neville found out why the girl had been so scared of her classmates.

The girl had given a perfect presentation on the solar system, even constructing a scale model and a slide show to help with her demonstration. Despite the obvious work she had put into her presentation, she never once took her gaze off her shoes as she listed numerous random facts about the planets and their moons. Needless to say, the work she had put into her presentation made the rest of the class's look rather weak in comparison.

When it was finally time for recess the girl was the last out of the classroom as she had hung back to try to carry the very large model over to her cubby. When she finally did get out to the playground she was immediately swarmed by a group of 5 boys.

"Why did you have to make us look bad you buck-toothed freak?" said Dudley. He was easily the largest of the group, so Hermione knew he was the leader. Unfortunately, she was far more familiar with Dudley than she would have preferred. The boy had been in her class the past two years in a row and had bullied her ever since she had started school. At first, it was simply because she was an easy target, probably because she didn't have any friends that would stick up for her, but after Dudley learned of her intelligence the bullying had only intensified.

The girl just started shaking nervously as the boys continued to insult her before shoving her to the ground behind the school kitchens away from where any teachers would find them.

Thankfully a few of the students were playing at the edge of the forest by the school kitchens and had heard the commotion. However, instead of doing anything most of them just kept on playing, too afraid that if they intervened they would suffer the same fate from Dudley and his gang.

Two children however who had heard the commotion and the crying of a girl quickly hurried over to offer their help.

When they finally got there they were alarmed to see Dudley and his gang of 4 other followers towering over the bushy-haired girl who was lying on the ground trembling as two of the boys took turns kicking her in the ribs.

Harry immediately felt his anger getting away from his at the thought that these five would gang up on a poor defenceless girl.

Neville could only watch the outburst that came from his friend. He could feel the magic pouring off Harry in his anger before he released it sending 5 stunners at the boys before banishing them into the back fence of the playground.

Together they quickly hurried over to the girl's side and tried to help her to her feet. Not surprisingly she struggled to get up, as her jumper was torn and bloody. They suspected that she had likely suffered a couple of broken ribs from the bullies kicking.

Realising that he had already broken the rules for performing underage magic in a muggle environment, Harry decided that if he was already going to get in trouble from the ministry, he might as well finish the job.

Neville, knowing what Harry was about to do tried to distract Hermione while Harry healed her injuries as best he could before transfiguring her torn and bloodied jumper into a new one.

Unfortunately, Hermione wasn't going to let anything distract her from watching what Harry was doing. When the boy sheepishly asked her to trust him, Hermione immediately conceded. Gingerly, he placed a hand over her ribs and to her amazement; Hermione saw a few gentle pulses of white light descend down his forearms and into her chest. She didn't know how to describe it, only that the sensation seemed to stop the pain that was coursing through her body. As if that wasn't enough, the boy then began to wave his hands over her torn jumper, repairing it. Hermione thought she must have been hallucinating. There was no way this was happening. As unlikely as it was that anyone had stuck up for her, Hermione was prepared to accept that as a minute possibility, but what she had witnessed this boy do was supposed to be impossible!

Could it be that they could make strange things happen too?

She had remembered the two boys from when she had been introduced to them back on the first day of school but to her shame, she had let her shock that someone was treating her nicely miss her chance at actually getting to know the boy who had been so kind to her. Since then she had been too embarrassed to talk to the boy or his friend but she had been silently thinking about them for the better part of the past few weeks.

And now here they were helping her to her feet and trying to talk to her once again.

"Are you alright? We're sorry about what happened to you, Dudley and his gang really are just a bunch of bullies, if they keep bothering you let us know and we'll see to it that it won't happen again."

Hermione felt tears come to her eyes at the nice gesture she had never felt directed at her before, having gotten so used to being excluded and bullied her entire life both for her looks and her intelligence. She could only nod dumbly before giving the boy a small hug and giving him her thanks.

Harry couldn't help but ask for her name since she had never given it to him before.

When she looked down at the ground suddenly very interested in her feet, he began to wonder if he had done something wrong. Little did he know that she only did so to hide her blush as to have someone actually taking an interest to get to know her for the first time.

Her mumbled response of what sounded like Hermione, gave Harry and Neville the impression that she hadn't had many if any friends before, so deciding to change that they offered their friendship to the girl. After all, they didn't have any friends at school either, and Hermione seemed nice.

Hermione was completely floored. Not only did these boys save her from the bullies and heal her injuries in the process, but now they were willing to be friends with her too. She felt her emotions overwhelm her once again and could only nod, as she wasn't in any position to trust her voice.

The thought however that being her friends would only get the boys into trouble with Dudley and his gang did get her speaking again, though. But when she voiced her concerns she was rather surprised when Neville just started laughing. It started out as a snicker but quickly graduated into a chuckle before the boy actually grabbed his stomach and fell over laughing. She was a little put out at the thought that this boy was laughing at her when she only had his best interests in mind. His next words swept those thoughts aside and reassured her that everything would be all right and that maybe she could become good friends with the two boys.

"Hermione you have nothing to worry about anymore. Hell will freeze over before Harry lets those bullies harm you again and we promise we'll protect you from anyone that means you harm. You don't have to worry, trust me. I really don't feel like there's a person in the world that could hurt us as long as we're with Harry."

These words warmed her heart more than anything she had ever heard before. She was a little sceptical that what he said was true but she desperately hoped at least part of it could be. When she looked over at the first boy, she couldn't ignore the look of embarrassment on his face as he just stood there looking at his shoes. Neville could only grin at his friend's obvious discomfort whenever someone complimented him, as it had become rather common for the two to exchange good-natured teasing. No doubt an influence of having Sirius in the house so often as their mothers had kindly pointed out.

"How did you do that anyway?" asked Hermione, before quickly adding, "Sorry, I don't mean to pry, I'm just curious."

Neville and Harry just exchanged a regretful look.

"I'm sorry, but we can't talk about it," said Neville, looking sincerely ashamed at the look of hurt that he had caused to surface on Hermione's face.

"Please don't tell anyone about it," said Harry, "it would draw a lot of unwanted attention to us. I'm not even supposed to do what I did."

Hermione just gave them a sad smile. Although it would likely drive her insane not knowing what had happened, she owed it to these two not to mention it. Hell, if it meant that she would finally have friends she was prepared to go the rest of her life not knowing. Besides, she was more than a little uncomfortable when those same strange things happened to her, so it was perfectly understandable that they weren't comfortable talking about it either.

Pushing the incident from her mind, she immediately decided right then and there that she would do her best to make it up to the boys who whether they realised it or not had just treated her better than anyone excluding her parents ever had. From then on she was determined to prove her loyalty to her new friends Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.


To Harry's utter amazement, the letter from the Ministry never came. He had expected to receive some kind of warning from the Underage Use of Magic Department, but three days later and still no response.

He hadn't told the parents about the incident yet, as he wasn't sure how they would respond to hearing that he had been performing magic so carelessly in a muggle environment.

Even Neville had promised not to tell the parents if he preferred to keep the event a secret between them, and Harry was only too happy to do so.

Maybe when the time was right he'd tell them, but for now, until he got caught, he'd prefer to keep it to himself.

Besides, if he could use magic on the playground to protect himself and his friends why shouldn't he?


The three friends were practically inseparable during the weeks since their friendship first began. Each child took benefits from their newfound friendship, and the parents couldn't be happier with this new development.

All three kids had quickly become comfortable around each other and it showed in the way they interacted. Around everyone else at school all three kids were cautious and reserved but around each other, they could act like themselves.

Hermione for her part loved her new friends. She had never had any friends before and now she had two boys who would protect her from the school bullies and wouldn't make fun of her for her intelligence or her looks. They even shared her interest in books! She had never been happier and her parents couldn't wait to meet the two boys who had brought about such a change in their usually reserved daughter.

Neville and Harry also loved having Hermione as a friend as she allowed them to act like normal children without the uncomfortable persona built up around them in the wizarding world. She even helped them in school but managed to treat them with a level of respect that made them understand that she didn't look down on their intelligence but was just trying to help them.

Both boys parents had been extremely keen to meet their child's new friend but unfortunately they had their hopes put out when Dumbledore had informed them that the wards surrounding their home had made it impossible for muggles to enter since you had to know about magic to be able to receive the secret from the secret keeper in order to enter the home.

The Longbottoms and Potters had been hopeful they would be able to meet the girl at school or in some other public venue but it wouldn't be the same as spending an afternoon getting to know the child or her parents who had such an effect on their boys.

The Grangers, however, had no such problem and were almost desperate to meet Hermione's new friends.

And so one Friday afternoon after yet another enjoyable day at school where the three kids had managed to evade Dudley and his gang while spending recess on the playground, the three friends found themselves walking towards Hermione's home.

"I hope you guys like it, I've never brought friends home before, in fact, my parents are very excited to meet you," said a slightly flustered Hermione. The thought of having her friends meet her parents was a little embarrassing but she had long since realised that neither Harry or Neville were ones to make fun of her and they weren't about to leave her either. Even now thinking about her friends brought a smile to her face as she thought about them.

"I'm sure they'll be very nice, we've never actually been over to another person's house before, so we don't really know what to expect…" said Harry as he trailed off looking down at his shoes.

Hermione couldn't help but frown at this. She knew neither of them really had friends before each other but how could they not have visited another family's house before?

From the looks of panic and fear that crossed their faces, she understood that this was something they weren't comfortable talking about but she couldn't help but wonder what could have caused her friends to become so uncomfortable whenever someone mentioned their home-life.

Pushing those thoughts from her mind Hermione led her friends up the driveway before opening the front door and leading them into her home.

Hermione promptly yelled up the stairs to get her parents attention "MUUUUUM! DAAAAAD! WE'RE HOME!"

Harry and Neville couldn't help but snicker at their friend's antics. After all, they knew she didn't like to wait around for anything and usually liked to do things according to a set time frame, but that was just another thing that made her Hermione. They didn't see this or any of her other quirks as a bad thing as more often than not she had used them to help them, whether it be for homework or getting to class on time.

All three kids became aware of Hermione's parents' presence entering the room as they listened to the footsteps clambering down the hall. As the two adults made their way down the stairs Harry and Neville got a first look at Hermione's parents. Her dad was a very intimidating man; easily over six feet tall with short curly brown hair but seemed to be very friendly and had Hermione's gentle chocolate eyes. Her mother, on the other hand, was a fairly small woman but could be immediately recognised for her relation to Hermione as the two women looked almost identical. Each had a head of long brown hair, although Hermione's was rather bushy, and her mother's hair was curly.

The parents couldn't help but smile at the nervous faces of the two boys Hermione had told them so much about.

"Hello, Hermione how was your day? Can I take it these lovely gentlemen with you are your friends Neville and Harry?"

At Hermione's nod, Emma wasted no time introducing herself to the flustered boys.

"It's great to finally meet you two, my name is Emma and this is my husband Dan."

The group exchanged friendly handshakes before heading to the living room to get to know each other better.

Neville and Harry learned that the Grangers owned their own dental practice and the Grangers learned a little about their daughter's friends and what their parents do for a living.

Of course, they couldn't tell the whole truth about what they really did, so they just simply said both their dads worked for the police in the anti-terrorist unit, Harry's mum was a nurse and Neville's mum worked for the government.

If the Grangers had any questions regarding them they didn't voice them and instead were content to watch the trio of friends relax into friendly banter with each other.

Neither would have understood the importance this friendship would become between the three and how much drama would surround the three friends, but as they would come to learn, life was full of surprises.