A/N: I just want to let everyone know that this story will be set during Chamber of Secrets, all the way to the Epilogue in Deathly Hallows, so, I can assure you, it will be a very long story and will take some time to complete. Please, if you have any ideas you would like me to add to the plot, I will see how well your idea will fit and, if it does fit with the plot, I will credit you in the next Author's Note before the next chapter starts. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.

ALWAYS INTO YOU

CHAPTER ONE

I was very excited when my parents told me we would be going to Diagon Alley today. I heard from Ron a few times over the summer, but not a word from Harry, and that's what worried me. Harry and Ron were my two best friends. Harry was a famous kid who somehow managed to survive a powerful curse when the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort tried to kill him eleven years ago. He was given the title 'The Boy-Who-Lived' because of it and, just last year, met Voldemort face to face. The only difference between the first and this time was Voldemort was sharing a body with Professor Quirrel, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Besides that adventure, which I was apart of, Harry is a complete gentleman and a good friend. He listens when someone has a problem and tries to give advice when he can, and he's very calm and doesn't get jealous too easily. Ron, on the other had, is the exact opposite of Harry. He's very tactless most of the time when he blurts stuff out and often comes out rude. Besides all that, he's a good friend, too. He may have a bit of a temper, but he's very loyal and brave. A true Gryffindor.

Mum, Dad and I drove to Charing Cross Road where the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron was located in London. We walked through the pub, saying hello to Tom the owner, and into Diagon Alley. "Let's go get your money, dear," said Mum as we walked down the cobbled street to the tall marble building that was Gringotts Bank. We walked inside the bank and up to the first goblin that was available. "Good morning," she said in a cheerful tone, "we would like to get into the Granger vault."

"Yes, of course," said the goblin. "Do you have the key, ma'am?" Mum took out a gold key and handed it to the goblin. "Is there any other business you would like to conduct today?"

"Oh, yes," she said with a smile. "We would like to change our Muggle currency to your currency and deposit that amount into the vault once we're finished with the withdrawal."

The goblin nodded. "Very well. If you three will come with me." He led us behind the counter through a door where a cart was waiting for us. We got into the cart which lurched forward and we were headed through the cavernous bank's lower levels where the vaults were located. We stopped at one of the vaults. "Vault 824," said the gobling. "Key, please." Mum handed him the key and he opened the door.

I wasn't surprised to see there wasn't a lot of gold in the vault. We, like the Weasleys, were pretty much poor in the Wizarding World, unlike the Muggle world. Mum shoveled some gold into a pouch and we went back to the lobby where she and Dad exchanged currency and filled out the form to deposit the funds. After that, we went to Flourish & Blotts to buy my new school books. I saw Ron and his family there, but didn't see Harry anywhere. "Where's Harry?" I asked him.

"I dunno," he said. "It's his first time using Floo powder travel, so I think he got sent to another fireplace. He was supposed to say 'Diagon Alley' clearly, but he ended up coughing as he said it."

"I'm going to go look for him." I said firmly. "See you in a few." I ran out the door and headed down the main street to find Harry. "Oh, thank Merlin!" I groaned when I saw Harry and Hagrid coming from Knockturn Alley. "Harry!"

"'Hello, Hermione," said Hagrid with a smile. "Found 'Arry in Knockturn Alley. Not sure how he got there, though. Well, I best be off. See yeh later."

I rolled my eyes when I saw Harry's broken glasses. "You really need to get new glasses, Harry." I said and pointed my wand at him. "Oculus Reparo!" His glasses instantly repaired themselves. "Seriously, I think I'll need to place a charm that will stop them from breaking." Harry laughed and I felt my stomach flutter. "So, how's your summer?"

"It was strange, honestly," he said. "First, my uncle went through a schedule he came up with because a client was coming for dinner to talk over a deal for Vernon's company. I did what I was supposed to do, which was 'stay hidden in my room and pretend I don't exist'." I nodded, though I was concerned about why they would have him hide instead of be present, but I let him finish. "When I get to my room, I see a house-elf on my bed."

"A house-elf?" I said in surprise. "I've read about them, but never met one."

"Well, I'm not sure what most elves are like, but I'm quite sure this one's nowhere near the likes of the other ones." Harry told me. "He said that he was warning me to not come to Hogwarts this year. He said there's a plot to make terrible things happen and that I shouldn't be at Hogwarts."

"That's rubbish." I said. "Who would be plotting terrible things at Hogwarts?" He nodded. "I'm quite sure you're right about this elf, Harry. He's a bit strange."

"He stopped yours and Ron's letters from coming to me." Harry explained. "Dobby, that's the elf's name, thought that I wouldn't want to go back to school if I thought I had no friends."

"That would never happen, Harry." I assured him. "I was very worried that you hadn't written to me at all. I thought you hated me or something."

"Never." Harry said solemnly. "I would never hate you, Hermione."

I smiled and wiped a tear from my eyes. "Okay, let's go to Flourish & Blotts. Ron and the Weasleys are looking for you." I said. Harry nodded and we went back to the book shop where we met up with Ron and his family.

"There you are!" Mrs. Weasley said to Harry when we arrived. "We hoped you only went one grate too far. Now, Gildery Lockhart is signing his books, so get the books you need and I'll get them signed."

Harry and I went to the shelves to get the books we needed for school, which, I was surprised to see, were all from Lockhart himself. "You saw that, too?" said Harry as we carried our books to Mrs. Weasley. "Something's definitely going on."

"Great Scott!" Lockhart shouted when he saw Harry standing with us. "It can't be...Harry Potter?" The cameraman in front of us grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him to Lockhart's side. "Together, Harry," he said, "you and I are worth the front page." Harry looked quite unhappy during the photo shoot. "When Harry Potter walked into this very bookshop today, he was not only expecting to purchase a copy of my autobiography, Magical Me, but he had no idea he would be going home with a full set of my accomplished works free of charge." Everyone applauded and calmed down when he raised his hands. "Not only that, everyone, but I am very pleased to announce that I will be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year."

While Mrs. Weasley went to get the books signed, we saw Draco Malfoy coming up to us. Malfoy is a slimy second-year Slytherin who thinks he's better than everyone else and thinks of everyone as inferior to him, which sickens me to the core. "Bet you liked that, didn't you Potter?" Malfoy sneered at Harry. "Famous Harry Potter can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone!" Ginny, Ron's little sister said angrily. "He didn't want all that!"

"Look, Potter," Malfoy said with an evil grin, "you got yourself a girlfriend!" Ginny blushed as red as her hair and I nearly stepped back a few steps when I saw a taller and older version of Draco join him.

"Now, now, Draco," said the man in a smooth voice, "play nicely." He nodded at all of us. "Let's see...red hair, vacant expression and a tattered second-hand book... you must be the Weasleys." I saw Ron's ears turn red instantly. "You must be Harry Potter," he said walking up to Harry. "Lucius Malfoy. Forgive me." He used the snake's head handle of his walking stick to move the hair from his forehead to show Harry's scar. "Your scar is legend. As is the wizard who gave it to you."

"Voldemort murdered my parents." Harry said bitterly. "He's nothing more than a murderer."

Lucius frowned. "You're very brave to say the name, or very foolish," he said.

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." I said automatically and instantly wished I kept quiet.

"Ah, you must be Miss Granger," he said looking to Draco for confrimation. Draco nodded. "Yes, Draco's told me all about you and your parents." He looked over at my parents who were talking to Mr. Weasley a little bit away from us. "Muggles, aren't they?" I gulped. "Ah, Weasley Senior!" he said when Mr. Weasley came to see what was going on. "Hope you're getting paid well with all of those raids you've been conducting." I could see a faint smirk spread across his lips as he said, "Judging by this book, apparently not." Mr. Weasley said nothing. "What's the point of being the disgrace to the name of Wizard when they don't pay you well for it?"

"I think we have different views on what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." Mr. Weasley said indifferently.

"Well, I suppose we must be going. See you at work, Arthur." Lucius said. "Come, Draco."

"See you at school." Draco said giving me a vicioius grin and followed his father out the door.

I walked out of the shop with Harry and Ron and said, "What was all that about?"

"Not sure," said Harry, "but I can definitely say that Draco's father is pretty scary." I nodded. "We'll see you on the train, okay?" I nodded. "See you then."

"I missed you, Harry," I said hugging him before he and Ron went back to the Ford Anglia parked by the Leaky Cauldron. I pulled away blushing. "See you later."

I got in the car with Mum and Dad to go home. "What was that about, Hermione?" Dad asked as he drove the car. "You just hugged him!"

"I missed him a lot!" I said. "He's my best friend, Dad."

"Right." Dad said with a smirk. "I see. Well, I think your friend is very nice, don't you, dear?"

"Oh, yes," said Mum. "Very polite and friendly. I think our daughter thinks so, too, Richard." Dad nodded and I blushed dark red. "Oh, don't get embarrassed, Hermione. Harry is a very sweet boy."

I couldn't disagree with her there. "Yes," I said, "he is very sweet." She smiled. "He's also a complete idiot at times, too. During our first flying lesson at school, that kid, Malfoy, took something that belonged to another friend of mine, Neville, and Harry told him to drop it, but Malfoy hopped on his broom and taunted Harry. I told Harry not to go after him because the teacher told us all to stay on the ground or we would be expelled. Harry didn't listen and I said to myself, 'what an idiot'."

"I don't think that's idiotic," said Dad. "That's heroic to me." Mum agreed with him. "You've got a very brave friend, Hermione. I really hope he treats you well."

"He does." I said. "He's always so sweet, like we said. He was the one who saved me from that mountain troll last year, remember?"

Mum's eyes got wide. "Didn't he jam his wand up the troll's nose?" she asked with a disgusted look. I nodded. "Disgusting."

"It was, but that was enough to distract the troll while Ron levitated the troll's club and dropped it on its head." I explained. "We all thought it was our Potions teacher who let the troll in, but it was another teacher." Mum remembered me telling the story in one of my letters last year. "You should have heard what Harry said to me before he went to fight You-Know-Who! He told me I was very clever and logical."

"From what you told us about your adventure last year," Dad said, "your intelligence came in handy." I nodded. "Your research helped you find clues to the Philosopher's Stone and who that man Nicholas Flamel was, right?"

"Yeah," I said, "and you wouldn't believe the obstacles we had to go through for Harry to finally meet the man who tried to kill him. There was a giant chess set, which Ron is almost an expert in, and then there was this big room with a bunch of flying keys. Harry had to use his flying skills to catch the key we needed to get through. Not to mention I had to use a spell on my own teacher because I thought that teacher was trying to curse Harry's broom during a Quidditch match."

"Oh, I remember you telling us about that." Dad said. "Snape, wasn't it?" I nodded. We got out of the car and went inside the house. "We can talk more about this over dinner. Let's go put your stuff away and have some lunch, then." I nodded and went to my room to put my supplies in my trunk.