Chapter Three

The Drive

'Wow, so this is Hermione's house,' Harry thought as the car grew closer to the classic white two-story house. They had been driving for about an hour and had finally reached her house.

            Just an hour ago, Hermione had greeted Harry kindly at his front door. His aunt and uncle paid no attention as Hermione and her parents helped Harry with his luggage. Harry did notice out of the corner of his eye Dudley making kissy faces. Harry turned and pretended to pull out his wand. Dudley's eyes grew wide and he ran to the kitchen. Hermione looked over at Harry who shrugged and continued to lift his bags. They finished loading all of his belongings and drove off towards Hermione's house.

            Harry and Hermione spent most of the time in silence, especially Hermione who wasn't sure what to say with her parents around. Her mother on the other hand, seemed quite nosy as she asked Harry question after question about his personal life.

"So, how old are you?"

"Fifteen"

"How long have you known Hermione?"

"Almost five years"

"What do your parents do?"

Harry seemed to get red in the face. "Umm…they are uh passed away when I was one" Her mother abruptly stopped the questioning and casually turned on the radio. Being Muggles they listened to the Muggle stations. For some reason unknown to Hermione her parents were in to the hit pop music.

"And here's the new song from [ a/n I don't remember his name] Gotta Get Through This!!"

Hermione listened to the song as she stared out the window at the passing cars. She hadn't heard the song before but she liked the beat.

"When will I get the chance to say I love you?/

I pretend that your already mine/

and my heart ain't breaking every time/

I look into your eyes!/

If only I can get through this!"

As she heard this repeated throughout the song, she could feel Harry's eyes on her, staring. She resisted looking at him and continued to stare at the cars passing until she was sure that he broke away. She let out a long sigh, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

But now they were pulling up to the drive way and all that was over. Harry took another look at the house. It looked like something from a fairy tale, so perfect, so peaceful, so serene. Roses crept up the walls of the house and flowering bushes lined the paths. Together the four of them walked up the stone pathway and entered the house. Even the inside had a certain style to it that seemed to bring a smile to the world. The inside was painted white as well with pastel curtains hanging in every room. A crystal chandelier hung over the dining room. To the side of that was the living room, complete with a fireplace, television, sofa, love seat and recliner. It was like walking into the Brady Bunch house.

"Hermione, you can show Harry his room. He'll be using the guest bedroom down the hallway," her mother said for once trusting Hermione to be with him.

She nodded and helped Harry carry his luggage up the stairs. She stopped at the first room on her right, "Uh…this is my room. Sorry about the mess," Hermione said pointing at her bedroom. In Harry's opinion it looked perfect. So quaint, liked it was taken out of a picture book. There was a canopy bed with a light pink bedspread matching the walls, curtains, and rug. A desk was in the corner next to a pile of papers that lay scattered on the floor. Crookshanks was curled up on the desk chair sleeping peacefully.

"And this," she said directing Harry's gaze away from her room, "is where you'll be staying." He looked at it in amazement. 'This definitely is the Brady Bunch house,' he thought to himself. The room was painted with a teal so light, it almost looked white. A four-poster bed with matching bed spread on the right, a walk in closet on the left and further down a bathroom that looked like it had never been used. A small desk, like Hermione's, sat in front of a opened window lined with teal curtains.

Harry turned to Hermione. 'Well, I might as well ask her now and get it over with.' "Uh…Hermione, I was wondering about…" Hermione cut Harry off as she began to turn a light shade of red, "Shhhh. She's coming."

Hermione spoke up loudly, "Well, I leave you alone so you can get settled in!" She then left the room quickly. Harry saw why. As soon as she left, her mother passed by the opened door, like a patrol officer checking on every convict. She gave Harry a stern look at if she knew what he was going to ask Hermione. He just smiled nervously, and her mother gave a forced smile back but still continued to walk on, as if the was another mad criminal in the next cell.

Harry sat down on the bed. He already knew he was going to have a terrible time.