A/N: Hello again to all of you, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you all think. I won't have any author notes for the next few chapters, as they were all uploaded at the same time. I do not own Harry Potter or any characters in this story.

Harry woke up the next day hoping what happened was all a dream. For 2 years Ron had been their friend and they didn't want to believe that something so small would break their friendship.

However, they were proven wrong when Harry left his dorm. He came down the stairs to the common room where Ron sat glaring at Hermione, who was sitting amongst a pile of books, seemingly absorbed by them.

"If you don't take a break, those books may end up swallowing you whole." Harry smirked as he plopped himself down next to his friend.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she turned a page in her books. "Just because you think I'm doing too much does not mean I shouldn't do them. I can't fail these classes."

"That may be so," Harry agreed. "But if you put too much pressure on yourself you'll crack under it all."

"Then what do you suggest I do?" Hermione snorted, glancing up at him, her eyes sparkling with a hidden beauty.

"Our final practice before our match against Ravenclaw is going to start after breakfast." Harry told her. "You could always come down and watch."

Sighing, Hermiome agreed, and went up to her dorm to get her bag.

"Why invite her?" Ron questioned from his spot. "She doesn't appreciate quidditch like I do. Stupid know-it-all."

Harry's green eyes darkened. The normally cheerful emerald color became the same shade as the flash of light that stole his parents from him. A breeze flowed through the room despite no windows being open. Suddenly the Harry Potter who could kill a Basilisk with nothing but a sword made an appearance.

Ron however, was so absorbed into his thoughts, missed it all.

"Why don't you forget about her and take me to the practice? That way I can go and ride your Firebolt beforehand."

The wind stopped abruptly as Harry's eyes widened in shock before he felt like he needed to go vomit. Everyone else was looking at Ron in shock.

Not realizing what was going on around him, he grinned as he thought that Harry now agreed with him. "I'll be right back mate!" Ron grinned at him.

As Ron disappeared up the stairs, Hermione came down.

"What's wrong?" Hermione questioned him.

"Ron... Ron asked if he could ride my Firebolt." Harry shuddered.

"I'm not shocked." She shrugged. "He is quidditch obsessed. Did you agree?"

"Of course not." Harry stated, his body becoming protective over his friend. "Not after yesterday."

Hermione blushed as she felt a rush of emotions she never felt before. Harry is standing up for her. No one did that for her before she met him.

"Wait, she's still coming?" Ron shouted as he came down. "Her cat killed my rat! How can you take her side?"

"Crookshanks didn't kill Scabbers." Harry glared, his hand grasping Hermione's. "And yes she is coming, I never said you could." They walked out, never releasing their hands until they reached the great hall to eat.

"Why did you look so sick when he asked to ride your broom?" Hermione questioned as they sat down. "Sure, He is an arse, but why sick?"

"It was the way he said it." Harry explained. "He said it in a way that it seemed he didn't mean my actual broom. It felt like he meant my..." he said as he trailed off, motioning to what he meant.

"Oh..." Hermione realized, as she turned green for a second.

"Yeah." Harry stated, shivering, before deciding to ignore it for now.

Once classes were over for the day, and dinner had been eaten, Harry ran up to grab his broom before meeting Hermione and the rest of his team at the pitch. Unsurprisingly, Madame Hooch was there as well, as she had been overseeing all practices since the fateful Dementor attack during the match against Hufflepuff.

Upon seeing the broom, she immediately took it for inspection. Needless to say, she was extremely impressed, comparing it to the old Silver Arrows. It took Oliver asking her for the broom back to get her to realize that they needed to practice.

Before they flew off, Oliver warned Harry that the seeker he was up against was Cho Chang, a fourth year who is pretty good, despite riding a Comet Two Sixty.

When they finally lifted off, Harry realized the broom handles way better than he could have imagined. It seemed to obey his thoughts rather than his grip, and when he put as much speed in it as possible, the stadium turned into a blur.

Spotting Hermione sitting by Madame Hooch in the stands, he zoomed at them before pulling up into a few loops. Hermione shook her head as she laughed. She was never a fan of Harry's fancy flying. It scared her half to death whenever he nearly fell, but the loops seemed tame compared to his usual antics.

Once Wood let the snitch out, Harry caught it almost immediately. Letting go of it again, he let it disappear from his sights, but found it no less than a minute later, and caught it easily.

Once practice was over, Wood didn't have a single critique to make, and as Fred and George commented, it was a first for him. However, he was still concerned that dementors would turn up.

"They won't come this time." Fred told Wood. "Dumbledore would go ballistic."

As the team went to the locker room, Harry told them that he was going to catch up later, he wanted to talk to Hermione.

They walked up to the castle slowly, enjoying the cool Scotland air. The darkness surrounding them would have been unnerving, but after facing Voldemort twice in two years, darkness was pretty tame.

Taking each others hand, they were halfway to the castle when Harry spotted something that made him stop dead. A pair of eyes, gleaming from the darkness.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione questioned, noticing how stiff he got.

"Lumos." Harry cast, the wand illuminating none other than Crookshanks.

"What are you doing out here?" Hermione laughed as she picked up her cat.

Harry sighed, he thought for sure he saw the Grim again. Thankfully he was able to sleep with ease that night despite the scare.

The next morning, Harry brought his Firebolt down to the great hall, and as he entered, the hall became silent as everyone saw the broom. The Slytherin's all looked thunder-struck, and it pleased Harry to no end as he saw the look of absolute horror cross Malfoy's face.

Wood was clearly enjoying it as well, as he laid the broom on the center of the table, allowing everyone to see it.

Cedric Diggory came over to congratulate him on finding a good replacement for his broom, as it was clear Cedric still felt guilty over how he won the last match. Penelope Clearwater, Percy Weasley's girlfriend, also came over to ask to hold it. Percy mentioned he had a bet with her over who would win the match. Hermione rolled her eyes at the bet, as Percy then whispered to them that Harry had better win, as he didn't have 10 galleons.

As Penny walked away, Harry noticed a girl with blonde hair sitting away from everyone at the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey, Hermione?" Harry questioned his best friend. "Who is that?"

"Oh that's just Luna Lovegood." Ginny answered from across the table instead of Hermione. "She lives near us. Bit nutter she is, always talking about non-existent creatures and what not. Though she is very sweet. It's a shame she doesn't get along with the rest of her house."

Harry frowned as he motioned to Hermione to get up. They walked across the hall and sat down next to her.

"Hey there." Hermione smiled at her gently. "What is your name?"

"I'm Luna." The girl spoke, her eyes not looking up from her plate, and her voice seemingly distant. "Though most people call me Loony, as me and my daddy see things other people don't."

Harry frowned. He has experienced plenty of times in which he has been bullied for being different, so he felt sympathy for her.

"Where are your friends?" Hermione questioned, despite already knowing what Luna's response would be.

"I don't have any." Luna shrugged. "They all think I'm too weird to be friends with."

"Not true." Harry told her. "We are your friends."

"Really?" Luna gasped, her head jumping up, her eyes locking into Harry's, searching for any deceit. Seeing none, she looks at Hermione to see the same honesty in her eyes.

Luna grins as she hugs them both. "I've never had any friends." She whispers as she glances at the other Ravenclaw's.

"Well now you do." Hermione grinned. "Want to come sit with us?"

Luna grins as she bounces over to the Gryffindor table with them. Unfortunately, someone followed them.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" Malfoy drawled. "It has got plenty of special features, doesn't it?"

"Shame it doesn't have a parachute." Ron smirked at them. "In case a dementor gets to close to you."

Hermione and Harry spun to face him, unable to believe he would join in with Malfoy.

"Pity your broom doesn't have an extra hand, Malfoy." Harry shot back, ignoring Ron. "It could catch the snitch for you."

Everyone around them laughed, but none harder than Luna. She was silent for a few seconds before she burst out in a laughter that seemed to be louder than twenty adults laughing. She kept wheezing for air as she collapsed, rolling on the floor in laughter. If The Joker was real, then she must have just gotten hit with his laughing gas.

As the Quidditch match began later in the day, Hermione and Luna sat in the Gryffindor stands, watching as Lee Jordan seemingly could not care about the match he was supposed to be commenting on. The boy had become a one man advertisement for all things Firebolt. In fact, they could not decide on if his comments or McGonagall's outrage was funnier.

Gryffindor was completely stomping on the eagles, as the score was currently 80-0. Hermione watched as Harry zoomed off to the Gryffindor goals, and Cho pulled right in front of him, causing Harry to swerve away.

"Damn." Luna muttered.

"What?" Hermione questioned her, mentally chuckling that Luna couldn't help but still want the Eagles to win.

"It's nothing." Luna said quickly, shrugging her off.

Suddenly, the crowd gasped as people started pointing down in the Slytherin side of the stands. Four tall, hooded figures, who could not be anything but dementors, floated there. Hermione whipped out her wand, and Harry, speeding to the snitch did the same, and in unison they shouted the spell they have been working on for months.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Something silver-white, something massive came out of Harry's wand as something slightly smaller came out of Hermione's. Both charged at the figures as Harry closed his hand around the snitch.

The stadium erupted into cheers as the entire Gryffindor team swarmed Harry as he made his way back to the ground. Hermione and Luna ran out onto the field, hugging him.

"That was quite some Patroni." a voice said in their ears, which turned out to be Lupin.

"I didn't feel cold at all!" Hermione gushed as Harry stated that he didn't hear the voices like he did before.

"That was because… er… they weren't dementors." Lupin told them. "Come and see."

Leading them to where the "dementors" were, he stood aside to reveal Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Marcus Flint, and Ron, stumbling out of dark cloaks, currently being yelled at by McGonagall.

The party that came after lasted well into the night, and Harry passed out nearly on contact with his bed. He was dreaming of a certain bushy haired brunette when an ear wrenching scream was heard, and it pulled him out of his sleep.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, seeing Ron standing absolutely terrified.

"It was Sirius Black!' He shouted. "He was standing over me with a knife!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it was probably a nightmare." Dean rolled his eyes.

"No!" Ron shook his head. "Look!"

Everyone turned and saw the curtains around his bed were slashed open, with what was obviously a sharp knife.

After a couple of moments, and after McGonagall was summoned, it was revealed what happened. Neville left his list of passwords he wrote down somewhere and Sirius Black used them to get in. Harry could not blame Neville, even though McGonagall seemed keen to. Ever since The Fat Lady had been scared off by Black originally, the replacement painting had not lived up to her standards. Sir Cadogan had been so annoying and he changed the password multiple times a day.

Harry explained this to McGonagall who sighed before deciding not to punish Neville for this, and just told him to be more careful. Hermione hugged Harry tightly, thankful that Black didn't get to him. As he was in her embrace, he thought back to his dream. Did he... did he like Hermione?