Hermione watched her parents walk away and smiled to herself. This was going to be an amazing year she thought to herself, and with that, she began to walk towards the boys waiting for her in their usual compartment.
When she got near the door, she wasn't surprised to hear laughter coming from inside, but as she was opening the door, she realized there were three distinct laughs that she recognized coming from the room instead of just two. As she pushed the door open fully, she gaped a little at the scene in front of her, but then began to laugh with the three boys sitting on various planes in front of her.
Fallen on the floor was the famous Harry Potter covered in Ron's old maroon dress robes that had evidentially fallen off Pig's cage when the train had jolted to a start. Pig himself was chattering noisily in his cage, bouncing off the walls, while dignified Hedwig watched on, unimpressed with Pig's antics, with an amused look in her eyes. On either side of the compartment, a boy sat clutching his sides as he attempted to stop laughing. One boy was Ron Weasely and the other was a long-time nemesis of the Three Musketeers, Draco Malfoy.
"What happened?" deadpanned Hermione.
Each of the boys looked up suddenly at the intrusion and then smiled charmingly at Hermione.
"Well," Ron stood up and said, "Harry had a bit of an accident."
The redhead then doubled over in laughter again then quickly straightened up in surprise as he got a good look at Hermione.
"Hermione, you look wonderful!" he said awestruck, "what did you do this holiday?"
Ron had always been a handsome boy, and now that Hermione was up close, she could see exactly how he had changed since she last saw him. Ron was now 6'5'', a giant compared to Hermione, with the same shock of red hair and freckles that was the trademark of the Weasely clan. He had gotten more muscular than Hermione remembered from her sixth year and it was evident through his shirt that his mom had put him to work in the garden and all over the property in the last three months. Looking down at the ground and then up again as Harry gained his feet Hermione did another assessment.
Harry was now at 6'3", a little less lanky than Ron, but more built and much more handsome. His hair was still messy, but girls now considered it tousled and sexy, like he had just rolled out of bed. Gone were Harry's days of glasses. He had finally gotten contacts over the break and his green eyes stood out shockingly against his skin. He had to be one of the most handsome guys in the school.
Hermione's eyes then traveled to Draco, who had also stood up at Hermione's entrance, still chuckling. Hermione studied him critically from head to toe. His blond had lightened over the break to almost a white color that his newly tan skin set off perfectly. His smoky gray-blue eyes revealed nothing but mirth and a little of what Hermione perceived as apprehension, but she brushed this off as her imagination because when had Draco Malfoy been apprehensive about anything? His tight black shirt revealed a six pack, a well-defined chest, strong arms, and at 6'3", he was, as well, a picture of perfection.
But then Hermione had changed herself, so she understood what Ron was talking about. Gone were her bushy hair and baggy clothes. Today she was wearing a black spaghetti strapped tank top with lose rise jeans and pointy, high heeled black boots. Her waist long hair was a mass of ringlet curls and her make-up was artfully done to accentuate her eyes, which were dark brown in concentration at the moment. Hermione had worked out this summer, finding a release, almost an escape, from running and it showed in her long legs. At 5'10", she was the shrimp of the bunch, but after all her modeling offers that summer, she knew that she had changed for the better.
Hermione did a twirl, unaware that she had the undivided attention of every male in the room.
"You think I look all right?" she asked with no trace of vanity.
She was startled when each of the boys started to assure her in unity, each face betraying the honesty with which they were speaking.
"Why thank you, but May I ask what happened to Harry and why did Draco just tell me that I looked nice, in that order please…" Hermione asked.
"Well, Harry wanted to surprise you and so he was getting up to hide your present when Pig squawked because the train was starting, and we think that the combined jolt of the train starting and Harry jumping in surprise at Pig's squawk that brought him crashing into the cage. This caused him to be draped with my old dress robes and fall to the floor," Ron finished.
With that little speech, Hermione brought her attention to the ground and noticed that Ron's dress robes were wiggling. Draco leaned over and scooped up the whole bundle, looking through it as though he expected to find something. He evidentially did because he looked up at Hermione and asked her to close her eyes. She soon felt a rough tongue licking her nose and she opened her eyes quickly in surprise. She was greeted with two bright blue puppy eyes.
"This is Indigo. She is a Saint Bernard and she is all yours," explained Draco, "the reason for me telling you that looked nice was because you do, and just for clarification, I didn't say you looked nice, I said you looked beautiful."
Astonished by the puppy in Draco arms and his small confession, Hermione dazedly reached out and clasped the puppy in her arms. The Saint Bernard proceeded to give her cheek puppy kisses and tell Hermione how pleased she was to have a pretty owner, just as the boys had said.
"She…she just spoke to me inside my head," said an awed Hermione.
"Well we knew that Crookshanks was getting too old to come to school, so we decided to make you something to replace him. The three of us spent all summer working on her. She can talk to you because she is your new familiar," Harry interjected, "she'll be able to read your feelings, keep your secrets and give you advice. She will only die when she is no longer wanted by you or your loved ones."
"Oh, and Draco is here because he has changed. He and Harry have been at the Burrow all summer because Draco was disowned by his father for not wanting to become a Death Eater. Harry is giving Sirus some time to get settled in London," Ron put in, "he is one of our friends now Hermione and guess what? He's Head Boy and you're Head Girl!"
"OK, how did everyone know that I was going to be Head Girl except me?" Hermione interrogated, turning on Ron and Harry, "and why did no one tell me Draco was at the Burrow?"
"Dumbledore and Hagrid sent us notes with my letter, and we didn't tell you because we thought you might get upset like you are now," Draco said casually.
Turning to Draco, she corrected, "I'm not upset, I was just wondering. Thank you all so much for the puppy, she's perfect. I can tell already that this year is going to be perfect."
She then went and gave each of the boys a hug. Ron and Harry gave her bear hugs and lifted her, laughing, off her feet, but Draco's hug was much different. He held her to his chest protectively instead of crushing her into him like the other boys did. As he did, a shiver ran through both of them, simultaneously, that made them look instantly into each other's eyes. They reluctantly released each other and sat down on the same side of the carriage.
"You feel something for Draco," Indigo informed Hermione, "What is it?"
"I don't know anymore Indigo," returned Hermione, "He used to be our worst enemy up through fourth year, but in fifth year I was placed as his permanent lab partner and he seemed to change. We would laugh sometimes and he was so much nicer to me than he used to be. Now my best friends are telling me he is our new best friend when they are the ones who used to hate him, and visa versa. I don't know what to think."
Hermione turned her attention back to the boys across from her and grinned at their excited looks. She knew exactly what they were thinking about.
"So, did you parents tell you about everything?" Hermione blurted out.
"They told us this morning. We can't wait for Christmas Break," Harry said, chosen silently as the spokesperson for himself and Ron, "and we wanted to ask you about something quickly."
"Draco," Ron said quietly, "would you mind going and getting some sweets off the cart for us?"
"Sure," Draco said lightly, "I'll be back in a few."
Draco got up and left the compartment after gathering a bit of money from each of his companions and their specific orders of, "Chocolate Frogs please," "a box of Bertie's for me," and "some Fizzing Sherbets."
When he had left, Harry and Ron turned to Hermione with serious looks on their faces.
"Hermione," Harry started, "we need to ask you something about Draco. You know how there are four tickets to the Bahamas and four beds in the flat?"
Seeing Hermione nod in acknowledgment Ron took over, "Well we were wondering how you would feel about Draco being our fourth? He's changed so much Hermione, if you would only get to know him like we do, you'd see. We're not going to ask you to decide this very moment, but we'd like to know soon so that we could ask him properly to live with us."
"You guys know I rarely used to do anything impulsively, but I think you guys are right, he has changed. I will want to give him one sort of test before I agree though. I'll invite him today if he passes, OK?" Hermione said, thinking of the Revealer, "does that work for you two?"
"Of course it does!" Harry exclaimed happily, "we were so afraid you would turn us down flat without even hearing us out."
"You guys obviously don't know me that well then," scolded Hermione, "maybe I'll just have to run off with Draco and leave you two on your own."
"Run off with me where?" said Draco comfortably, moving calmly into the room and closing the door, arms laden down with sweets, "I hear that the French Riviera is especially beautiful this time of year."
He winked at Hermione as he passed her to give Harry and Ron their change and sweets. He then returned to sit down next to Hermione, who was still slightly caught off guard by his entrance. She turned to look at him and lifted and eyebrow as if to ask what that had been. He shrugged in response, as if to say, "How could I resist?"
"I was thinking more about the Bahamas," Hermione recovered, "but before we talk about that, you have a spot of chocolate on your face Draco. Let me give you my mirror."
She delved into her pocket and came out with the Revealer. Draco accepted it and opened the mirror, looking at his face for the spot Hermione had mentioned. Seeing the spot, he quickly wiped it off and returned the mirror to Hermione who looked into it intensely.
In the mirror, there was a smiling man/boy with an expensive set of black wizard robes with his wand in hand. His sleeve stayed down and there was no Dark Mark present. Hermione looked up, relived, at the three boys who were looking at her curiously.
"So about the Bahamas," Hermione began, "we have an extra ticket for Christmas Break and the three of us were wondering if you would like to join us."
Draco looked both surprised and pleased at the same time. He glanced over at Harry and Ron who were looked gratefully at Hermione, then excitedly at each other.
"I would be honored," Draco said honestly, "but why me?"
"Because you are a different person than you used to be, and I'd like to get to know the new Draco," Hermione smirked, "plus these two begged very convincingly on your behalf and I just couldn't resist their puppy faces."
Indigo whined at the comparison and everyone laughed cheerfully.
"That's not the real reason," Indigo piped in, "you are relived her is not a Death Eater because that means it is finally OK for you to like him."
"We even have another surprise for you Draco, and then I personally have one for all three of you," Hermione said devilishly after replying to #### that if she was always right that they were going to get on each other's nerves soon, "Draco, our parents and guardians, Ron's, Harry's and mine, have bought us a flat for next year in Diagon Alley. We have an extra bed there and we would like to invite you to be our fourth roommate."
Wow, you all sure review quickly, I won't post Chapter Three until at least Wednesday so that I can finish Chapter Four for Friday or so! Thanks for all the support…Ashley Anne