AN: In response to the lovely reviews I got for "Wish You Were Here", however few they were, they touched me... so here's another friendship fic... hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I have no idea who wrote this song, but I know that it was used in the Disney's The Fox and the Hound, which was one of the cutest movies I'd seen as a kid.
Dedicated to: Cat, who thought this up in the first place, and even went so far as to sing it to me on the bus. :)
Best of Friends
When you're the best of friends
Professor McGonagall looked up from her desk at the sound of approaching feet. Her steel-grey eyes watched her doorway carefully as the loud thumping came closer.
"Hey, Harry! Wait up!"
Harry Potter, who had been rushing past her door, stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
"Come on Ron! Snape'll have our heads!"
Ron Weasley appeared at the doorway, panting and out-of-breath. The Potter boy waited for his red-haired friend to catch his breath before grabbing him and dashing off down the corridor again.
Having so much fun together
In spite of herself, McGonagall smiled. "Those two mischief-makers... they're inseperable."
You're not even aware
You're such a funny pair
When you're the best of friends
Later on that day, another pair of eyes surveyed the two friends as they made their way, laughing and joking, to the Gryffindor table.
"Potty and the Weasel..." he drawled under his breath.
"Always together..." Draco Malfoy sneered. "I don't understand it though. Potter could have been so great... so powerful... He didn't need that pathetic Weasley by his side, or for that matter, that ugly Mudblood..."
He slammed his fist into the table. "Why them?"
At his side, Crabbe and Goyle chuckled dumbly, wagging their heads from side to side. Draco sniffed derisively and turned his attention to his potatoes. However, that wasn't enough distraction from the warm and cheery laughter floating across the Great Hall.
Life's a happy game
"Ron! Harry!" Hermione's voice rang out across the common room.
The two boys in question looked up from their chess game. "What?"
"Why don't you study? There's a Potions exam tomorrow... unless you plan on failing it just like all your past exams in that subject." Hermione haughtily waved her tome at them.
You could clown around forever
Neither one of you sees
Your natural boundaries
"We can study tomorrow." Ron airily waved his hand back at her and proceeded to plan out a strategy involving his pawns and his left bishop. "But-" Hermione protested.
"Aw, Hermione... can't you see how tired we are? We're exhausted!" Harry dramatically slumped down in his armchair. Hermione glared at them.
"Exhausted from planting Dungbombs in Filch's file cabinet, no doubt." she muttered.
"Wow! That's a good idea... thanks Hermione!" Ron yelled. "Yeah, we'll tell Filch you send your love!" countered Harry, happily pushing his queen to the center of the board.
When you're the best of friends
If only the world wouldn't get in your way
"Potter! Weasley!"
Harry dropped his caterpillar eggs at the sound of Snape's voice. "No talking! This is an exam!" Harry could hear Ron gulp beside him, could almost see the blood drain from Ron's face.
"Potter, over there, beside Mr. Malfoy. Weasley, partner Ms. Bulstrode."
With much muttering and sidelong glances, the two separated, dragging their cauldrons across the stone floor.
If only people would just let you play
"Slimy git. Feel like dunking him in my Scalding Serum."
"Ah, that would probably clean his hair up."
"That's good then. What are you going to do about his nose?"
"Get Lockhart to charm it into growing smaller?"
"Good one."
They say you're both being fools
You're breaking all the rules
Hermione was red in the face from yelling at them, and Harry and Ron wore identical guilty expressions.
"I've had it up to here with the two of you! Why can't you both grow up for once and for all? Are you going to be this immature, this insufferable for the rest of your lives?! I can understand detention... but three in one day? As a prefect..."
Hermione continued to rant, and under the cover of her angry shout, Ron sneaked a grin at Harry.
"She's in training to be the next Professor McGonagall."
Harry looked sour.
"She'll get that diploma all right."
Hermione's eyes narrowed.
"Are you even listening to me?!"
They can't understand
The magic of your wonderland
Hours later, their ears bruised and their faces bright red from being yelled at by a prefect in front of the whole Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron retired to bed.
From under the covers, Harry glanced at the snoozing figure in the bed across him.
"Hey Ron."
"Mm-fm?"
"What d'you reckon we do tomorrow?"
"Hogsmmmff..."
"Hogsmeade? Yeah... why not?"
"Mmmnn..."
"Hey Ron."
"Mm?"
"'night."
"'night."
When you're the best of friends
Sharing all that you discover
Hermione glanced up from her book as Harry and Ron dashed in the common room hole that Saturday morning, cheeks flushed from the cold.
"Hermione!" Harry whispered excitedly, glancing around to make sure that they were alone.
"What?"
"Sirius wants us to meet him tonight, at the Shrieking Shack... just a little rehn-dez-voos..." Ron told her excitedly, waving his arms around, and mispronouncing rendezvous at the same time.
Hermione held back a laugh. "I'm sorry... I can't go... I have a cold..." she pointed to her red nose, and the boys smiled sympathetically. "You go, and tell him I said hello."
As they took off for Hogsmeade, Hermione watched them go. "And take care."
When that moment has passed
Will that friendship last?
"They're a wonderful pair... really, they are..." she whispered to herself, staring at the merrily crackling flames in the hearth.
Hermione stayed up to wait for them, and she passed the time by sleepily dreaming about what their friendship would be like twenty years from now.
"Harry would still be famous, Ron would still be loud, I'd still be a bookworm..." she smiled.
Who can say
There's a way!
Oh I hope,
I hope it never ends...
"And we'd still be friends." she whispered to the silent room, before falling asleep.
Minutes later, the portrait hole swung open, and footsteps echoed across the room.
"Look, 'mione fell asleep waiting for us."
"C'mon, help me wake her up, Ron. She'll get a bad neckache from sleeping like that."
"What if we can't?"
"Well, help me carry her up the stairs then."
'Cause you're the best of friends.