A/N- Hi all. Getting towards some really juicy, exciting stuff now. I hope you all enjoy this. We're nearly at the end of their fourth year. I've got plans formulating for what's to come in subsequent years and can't wait to get started on them.I don't own Harry Potter.Enjoy Chapter 6!

The year went fabulously from then on. Hermione found herself with some friends that she truly appreciated and was ever so thankful for. Seamus, Dean and the Weasley twins were who she found herself having the most unexpected fun with. It turns out, many of pranks their are harmless, fun for all and don't impede on people's ability to work well.

For example, Hermione, somehow, ended up as an accomplice to the 4 of them and Lee Jordan charming all of the suits of armour in one corridor to come alive and start dancing. It scared the life out of some first years, but everyone seemed to find it very entertaining. But, soon, Snape slithered round the corner and Hermione found the getting away with it just as thrilling, if a bit more stressful.

She was even getting on well with Ron now. Properly. She helped him with is homework, a lot. But she was alright with that. She learned much about growing up in the wizarding world from him, just as she was able to educate him more on the muggle world. Apparently, his father was obsessed with muggles so he wanted to impress his father when they returned for the summer holidays. He also surprised her with his abilities in chess. He even taught her a thing or two in the few dozen games they played. He won most of the time, but he praised her as the most challenging opponent he'd had at school so far, once he had thrashed her for a few weeks of course. Getting good at chess isn't a quick and easy process of course, but she was determined to beat him as often as possible. Once she got one under her belt, she'd be unstoppable.

She found fantastic comraderie with the girls. Lavender, Parvati and Faye, while they could be terrible gossips, were also quite caring and generous with her. They became a support system for her, and she supported them in return. They had many a 'girl chat' when someone was feeling down, stressed or self conscious. Boys, thankfully, only came up once in a while. Lav and Parv would lust after boys a lot, but didn't coerce Hermione into joining in every time.

Boys had become a somewhat uncomfortable subject for her now. After the tea reading, those three were determined to figure out who she would fall in love with. Harry was brought up a lot, but the other common occurrence was Ron, surprisingly. Faye was determined that it would be an adorable 'enemies to lovers' story for the ages and they would become the Hogwarts power couple.

No. Hermione was sure that would never happen. Now they had got closer, Ron was great. They usually enjoyed each other's company and he wasn't as unintelligent as she had previously expected. He was, however, just as lazy as she had thought and they got into several heated debates about school and proper behaviour. She was usually the first to apologise. Ron was uncommonly stubborn. But, he would acquiesce eventually, maybe even verbally apologised once in a while. But, all things considered, she couldn't see herself as compatible with him.

She hadn't given much, if any, thought to the tea leaves since the match. It seemed so insignificant now. But every now and then, she would see Lavender and Parvati staring suspiciously at anyone Hermione spoke to, outside of the core group of them, trying to determine if they were trying to deceive her. She loved them for being so protective, but she was still a little miffed that they were so sure it was accurate.

Luna, Ginny and Padma were the other girls that she became close to over the rest of the year. Ginny was much more sporty and fierce than the other girls. She was a confident Quidditch player, hoping to get onto the team in the next couple of years. But, she was also very supportive and encouraging. Hermione really appreciated how she stood up for people. First years often found themselves being helped or supported by her when they needed it. She stared down Crabbe and Goyle, one time, as they were trying to intimidate a Hufflepuff second year for some moronic reason or another. They both whimpered pathetically and stumbled away.

The best thing about Ginny, though, was her friendship with Luna. The two seemed like such an improbable friendship, but they supported each other so well. Luna could often calm Ginny down and Ginny usually stood up for Luna, or encouraged Luna to stand up for herself. The third year Ravenclaw was incredibly laid back. Uniquely so. She spoke in this ethereal, eternally unbothered tone and never felt the need to engage in any kind of confrontation. People insulted her, took the mick out of her and she shrugged it all off. Hermione recognised that Ginny was right; Luna needed to be a bit tougher sometimes, so people knew they were being horrible.

But, without a doubt, she was closest with Padma, out of those three. She spent the most time with her really. Luna was often lost in her own world when in Ravenclaw Tower, so Hermione found herself spending most of her evenings sat chatting with or working alongside Padma. It was delightful. Just as fun to be around as her sister but with a more studious mind, Hermione found a kindred spirit in her.

Finally, there was Harry. Harry was above them all. She felt more comfortable around him than anyone. He was the first. The one who had come to her. Their friendship had started because he approached her, and it was because of him that she was apart of this larger group now. She owed him so much.

But, besides all of them, he was still just a great friend. They sat together a lot. They debriefed their days to each other. It was conversation of a kind that she couldn't really have with anyone else. With all of the others, though she loved them all dearly, she was a particular part of herself around each of them. She was her sneaky self with the boys, her feminine self with the girls, her determined, stubborn self that Ron brought out of her, but she just was when she was with Harry. There were no expectations when it was him. They could just sit in silence for hours and never want to leave. They spoke reverently about their friends, and complained about them where necessary, they commiserated about poor tests or greasy teachers or obnoxious Slytherins.

They discussed theory sometimes. Harry was just as excited about magic as she was. Well, how could he not be having grown up with his mother? She did recognise a lot of herself when Harry spoke about his mother. She felt a connection with Lily Potter that she hadn't found with anyone else, even though they'd never met. Primarily because they were both muggleborns who excelled in magical society. Hearing about her latest achievements was something she always loved.

She could also discuss her family with Harry. His mother had provided a lot of muggle influence in his upbringing so he was able to keep track of what she was talking about when she spoke about her childhood. Of course, Dean was muggleborn as well but they had never been close enough for conversations about emotions and family to be something they did. But, Hermione loved to tell Harry about her parents, cousins and the rest of her extended family. She was worried that he would resent this given the situation with the muggle branch of his family but he seemed genuinely fascinated in her life and her family.

She simply loved to talk to him. More than anyone or anything, talking to him made her feel comfortable, safe and happy. And that's how they found themselves in the middle of a Saturday in early May, their end of year exams approaching quickly. They were perched against their regular tree by the Black Lake, in similar positions as the first time they had spent time together here. They had both been admiring the view when Harry broke the comfortable silence.

"So, what did your parents say in their letter, this morning?" he asked, nonchalantly, not as cautiously as he used to as he now knew that she told him everything and that he should ask her anything, ever, should he want to.

"Nothing spectacular. They've got themselves a cat. Apparently, they've grown used to having Crookshanks around so wanted to have a cat while he's here with me. Not that I see a great deal of him. He comes into Ravenclaw Tower right at the end of the day and just ambles around the castle all day long. He's an enigma. But, I'm happy for them. They seem really excited." she sighed wistfully at the thought of her pet. Then, she suddenly remembered the big things that came in this letter. "Oh! They did actually say something I wasn't expecting." At Harry's quizzical look, she continued. "They admitted that they've noticed that I'm finally talking about people and naming them in letters now. It seems they noticed that I didn't talk about my friends when I had none and now that I have some, they're starting to worry. Asking why I never mentioned you guys before. It's quite funny when you think about it." she said, trying to sound nonchalant. As much as she felt safe with Harry, she still didn't enjoy breaking down in front of him.

"Really?" She looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you actually finding it funny? Because, you don't exactly sound like you are." Blast! She was so sure she had put on a convincing front. Well, if she would talk about this to anyone, it would be Harry.

"Fine. It's not funny. It's just... I don't know. I guess it's highlighting how much our relationship has changed. I used to tell them everything. Now, they confront me, in a letter, about the fact that I haven't had any friends for the past four years and have been basically... Well." She gained a painfully sombre expression as she continued. "If I'd have stayed in the muggle world, I'd still have my parents." Harry's head whipped to face her dead on at that.

"You still have your parents! The fact that they have said that in their letter proves that they still love you and are desperate to know you. To care for you and for you to know you can trust them." he said, earnestly. His eyes were wide with determination, holding her gaze passionately. "I mean, my parents don't know everything. I mean, all the trivial stuff, they definitely know. But there's loads they don't. The strain in the relationship that you're feeling, it's completely normal. Most, if not all, students get it at boarding schools, muggle or magical. It's not easy, but you work at it, right?" Hermione didn't want to release his gaze. He was so determinedly convincing her that it wasn't hopeless; that she hadn't lost her connection with her parents.

And he was right. She knew it really. Theoretically. Relationships with parents and friends, even romantic partners change constantly, as much as the individual does. But that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. It's just new. In a way, she sees now that growing apart from her parents, to an extent, meant she could form her friendships. The ones that she relied on now. If she would have stayed in the muggle world, how could she be sure it would get better? She would have her parents, but who knows if she'd have found friends like the ones she has now. Who knows if she would have found someone like Harry. No, Harry was the only Harry. She was sure of that.

But, knowing that on the surface, doesn't make the difference any easier to bare. She pulled the letter out from her pocket and looked at the words. Her eyes started to become cloudy, and she could feel the pools of tears forming as she went over her father's handwriting. 'We've noticed that you talk about specific people more. About Harry, Lavender, Padma and so on. You've never mentioned them before. In fact before this year, you never mentioned anyone other than your teachers. Sweetheart, what have you been leaving out of your letters? Are you lonely, darling? Please, just tell us. We love you and want to help if you need us to.'

The plain desperation in those words was the worst bit. Her parents were having to plead with her to tell them things she had been keeping from them. She had been keeping secrets from them. How could she have been doing that? She did trust them, didn't she? Of course, there was no doubt about that. But she hadn't told them the worst bits of her life at Hogwarts. Was she a terrible daughter?

As she silently berated herself, Harry's hand slid over hers. She was jerked back to reality and looked up at him. She saw genuine concern in his eyes. He was so kind to her. Always so kind. He didn't let her hide away, as she had just tried to, but encouraged her to be honest and real. To begin healing by being truthful.

But, then she remembered what he had said. There was lots he had never told his parents.

"Do you really not tell your parents everything?"

"No way. They were both so proud when I got into Gryffindor, like both of them. I didn't want to dampen that with the immediate problems I found. I've said before, I love my friends, so much. But, they don't prioritise the way I do. I love having fun and hanging out with them, but they are always so determined to have fun, to not be serious. They can never just be real about things. The lads don't really do emotions. They're terrified of going down that road and the girls that I'm friends with I don't trust enough to not tell the whole bloody school about everything I'm feeling. Fours years, now, nearly. I've only just found someone I can be real with. While, I know people talk about me like I'm the happiest guy in the world and the most popular guy, sometimes, I've felt surprisingly lonely at Hogwarts.

"And yeah, I wish I was closer with my parents. They're both so much fun and they're both great with being real with me. From what I understand, that's definitely them having met in the middle." he chuckled lightly. "But, being this far away from them and only communicating with letters, it's harder to let a piece of paper fly away that has all your most fragile emotions on it than it is to just talk about the regular stuff. I know exactly what you're feeling, because I feel it too. All the time." Now, they both had pools of tears rising in their eyes.

"Wow. Are we made for each other or what?" she replied, chuckling.

"Ha! Well, at the very least I'm really glad I got to know you this year. You're my best friend and I don't feel so lonely anymore." Hermione needed him to stop saying nice things. She wouldn't be able to stop herself bawling if he didn't.

"Well, without you, I'd still be the loner that everyone avoided. I owe you basically everything that has made me happy this year. Actually happy. More than ever. So thank you. I'll never really be able to say how grateful I am." she said, crumbling into tears at the end. Harry shifted closer and they embraced for what seemed like hours. But, that was a good thing. She could've stayed there forever. Harry was joining in with the crying now. They were both feeling very vulnerable right then, more than either of them had allowed themselves to ever be at Hogwarts. But, with each other, it became so very easy.

This was the first time Hermione had truly allowed herself to cry properly over everything. Her loneliness, her bitterness, the sense of injustice, the anger, the feeling of being an outsider, the deterioration of her relationship with her parents. All these things became simple tear stains on Harry's shoulder. He let out a great deal as well, and his problems became simple tear stains on her shoulder, some of which she was sure she didn't know yet, but was fully willing to listen to them when the time was right.

Eventually, they pulled back and simply smiled at each other, eyes puffed and red but the smiles genuine with gratitude and happiness.

"So," she began, breaking a long held silence. "I guess I owe my parents a long letter, don't I? Like you said, gotta work at it." she said, her smile persevering.

"Sounds like a good idea." Harry replied, heaving himself to his feet, then moving to help her up. Once they were both upright, they began their short trek back to the Castle. Harry did, however, have one more question. "Have you mentioned me then? In your letters?" At her sheepish nod, he continued. "Ooh, well. Nothing too bad I hope."

"Oh no, of course not!" she replied promptly. However, she saw an opportunity to bring the mood up further. "Just the usual stuff, you know. How nice you are, how good you are at helping me with work, the drugs, the bodies, you know." She couldn't fully smother her laugh when she saw Harry's double take with those last two items on the list. Despite his clear attempt at false propriety, his twitching lips gave away his amusement and enjoyment.

"Oh," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "just the harmless stuff. Fabulous." They both let out peals of laughter soon after this.

"Ooh, looky here!" came a sudden, snarky voice that they both recognised instantly. They turned to see Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy all facing them, sneers playing on all of their lips. "The mudblood and the brute. What a couple." Malfoy finished, garnering a short laugh from his compatriots.

"We've talked about that word, Malfoy." Harry said, taking a step towards the antagonistic snake. "I told you I wouldn't tolerate that word."

"Oh no!" the pale blonde pureblood exclaimed, faking fear. "Potter's threatening me! Whatever shall I do?" Again, his cronies laughed with him. Harry went to step forward, likely intending on challenging him, or something of the ilk, but Hermione held out an arm in front of him. She knew Malfoy wasn't worth Harry's time and effort, but she definitely wanted to see him put in his place.

"You could stop trying to impress everyone with you pitiful attempts to make yourself seem better than everyone else, Draco." Hermione snapped. "Picking on people isn't impressive. It just shows you've got nothing worthwhile to offer the world. It's just sad." Malfoy immediately looked incensed. He took one step forward, placing himself in a duelling stance, and raised his wand pointing straight at Hermione.

She could feel Harry straightening himself up and getting ready to duel, but, again, Hermione placed a hand in his arm and got herself ready for what was to come next. She raised her own wand, pointing it straight at Malfoy.

Malfoy faltered only very slightly but recovered with a small smirk as he held Hermione's gaze. It was several painful moments that they waited to see who would strike first. Hermione was determined to allow Malfoy to start it but she knew she could out-maneuver him. It was only a few more seconds before she saw Malfoy breath in, betraying that he was about to mutter a curse, but she was ready.

A meer second before Malfoy could get his incantation out, Hermione muttered "Protego" quietly enough so Malfoy didn't hear.

"Rictusempra" Malfoy yelled. The tickling jinx? Really? It would appear that Malfoy was simply out to embarrass her, rather than cause real damage. That made this a little easier.

His spell impacted with her shield charm and rebounded directly at him. He fell to the ground, cackling maniacally and riling around on the floor, reacting to the feeling of being mercilessly tickled. Hermione had to try very hard resist laughing at him, which she managed for all of 3 seconds. She heard Harry laughing with her from behind, and felt as he planted a hand on her shoulder as he doubled over.

The cronies surrounding Malfoy were clearly lost as to what to do. They had, apparently, not prepared for being embarrassed like this. After another minute or so, Hermione calmed down and decided to relieve Malfoy of the torture he was being out through.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she exclaimed, and a pale light emitted from her wand, freezing Malfoy into a single position on the ground. His eyes were moving frantically. She couldn't actually be sure if that would stop the tickling jinx from affecting him but it would wear off in another minute or two, so she took Harry's hand and marched them past the other Slytherins, all looking lost, and headed to the Castle.

After they had a bit of distance between them and the group, they looked at each other, broke into a fit of giggles and started running back to the Castle instead. They got inside, out of view of the people who had just confronted them and both doubled over. Harry even ended up on the floor.

"Oh my god." he said, breathless from laughter. "That was amazing! I don't think that could've gone better." He broke into more peals of laughter after that.

"Too right. Blimey, he doesn't hang out with the most intelligent people does he?" Hermione remarked.

"Well, if they were intelligent, they'd know not to hang out with him, wouldn't they?"

"Good point, well made." and they continued to laugh. After another few moments, they both calmed down, trying to catch their breath. "So, we should probably head to the Great Hall. It's getting close to dinner and I think Padma said they were all heading down early to hang out for a while before dinner started."

"Yeah, sounds good. Oh, hey!" he said, as Hermione started to walk away, grabbing her arm. "You know Malfoy's not gonna forget this, right? He's gonna be planning a way to get back at you sooner or later." She hadn't really thought about it greatly, she'd been enjoying herself too much. But, it made sense. She'd scared him before, in the library two years prior, but this was plain embarrassment. Someone as proud and arrogant as Malfoy would never just let that slide. Harry was right.

"Yeah, he probably will. But, I think I've proved today that I'm more than a match for him. Whatever he's got, I can counter quite simply." she said, feeling as confident as she sounded.

"Hermione," Harry spoke in a more ominous tone than before. "don't underestimate him. He may be an arse and he may surround himself with idiots. But, that's because he's good at manipulating them. He's more capable and he's smarter than he seems sometimes. He was cocky out there and he likely won't make that mistake again. He's a Slytherin for a reason. He will go to any length to get what he wants and the lengths he can go to might catch you off guard if you get too confident now." She stared at him for a moment. He seemed entirely sincere. There was no hint of sarcasm in his voice or his expression. She could see, plain as day, the warning in his eyes. Maybe she should be more careful.

"OK, I won't let myself get cocky. I'll be careful, I promise. But, can we forget about Malfoy now? Can we just go see our friends?" A slow smile grew across Harry's features, which made Hermione's widen too. He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and she wrapped hers around his waist as they headed off in the direction of the Great Hall.

She thought about what Harry said for a several minutes as they walked in silence. Sure, the Slytherins were meant to be resourceful and sneaky, but this wasn't just any Slytherin. This was Malfoy, the slimy, obnoxious bigot that she had put in his place multiple times now. It was a confrontation with him that cemented her in the eyes of the school as the girl you don't want to mess with. She had nothing to worry about from him.

She could take him if she needed to. Wherever, whenever... Right?