Hm.. Yet another chapter over here!

On the school train, all of it, actually. We get to see the Weasleys, mostly Ron's reactions to new happenings.. (H/H shippers out there, this one's for you!) and some Malfoy. grr..

Chap. 3 Ron

The 1st of September dawned grey and rainy. Harry and Hermione packed all their things into the Granger's station-wagon around nine, and twenty minutes later they were on their way to King's Cross Station, sleeping in the car with their arms wrapped around each other, not noticing it themselves.

They bid Hermione's parents good-bye and went through the wall to platform 9 and ¾.

"Hi Harry! Hi Hermione!", their fellow Gryffindor fifth-years Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas called, before disappearing into their cabin.

None of them saw a sign of Ron or his siblings, so they went and found themselves a cabin in the back of the train, rather than sitting in the Prefect's Cabins up front. Ron wouldn't be able to go there anyway, and they didn't want to leave him alone. They had just changed into school- robes and made themselves comfortable in the cabin, with Hedwig, Athena and Crookshanks sleeping peacefully in their cages, sitting shoulder to shoulder, reading from the same copy of "Hogwarts; a History" when Ron arrived, together with George and Fred, and, surprisingly, Angelina Johnson, who was holding Fred's hand. They were quite obviously a couple.

Both Harry and Hermione were deeply wrapped up in the book, with their heads close together, and George cleared his throat quite loudly before they noticed their friends' presence.

"Ron!", they both exclaimed happily after looking up from their book. "Fred, George, Angelina! Great to see you all!"

"Hi!", Ron and Angelina said.

Fred and George snickered.

The four of them took their seats in the cabin, and then looked both Harry and Hermione over carefully.

"So this is how we find our noble Captain", one of the twins said. "Wrapped up in a dusty old history-book!"

Being on the team, the twins and Angelina were of course aware of Harry being the new Captain, and it looked like they had informed Ron of the situation, too.

"Hey, congratulations, mate!", he said, grinning madly.

"Wait.", Angelina said. "Are those Prefect-badges?"

"Yes", Hermione said proudly. "We're the new Gryffindor Prefects!"

"What?", Ron said. "That's great!"

"No way!", the twins said in unison. "Harry, you've let us down! Oh, the shame!"

Harry and Hermione laughed. Angelina smacked her boyfriend over the head.

"Stop that!"

"What'll you give me?", Fred asked with his eyebrows wriggling suggestively.

Angelina bent over and kissed him full on the lips.

"Good grief! Go find a room!", George yelled at the two.

"Ha! Just wait until your precious little Alicia gets here!", Fred teased. "At least I'm not the one who's dating the Head Girl!"

"Who said something about Head Girl?", Alicia popped her head in the cabin. "Miss me, George?"

"You bet", he said and went over to her, giving her a kiss and grabbing her hand. "You turtledoves coming along?", he then asked his twin.

"Sure!", the four seventh years left the cabin, but soon Alicia returned.

"Hey! Harry, Hermione! First Prefect's meeting in the room next to the teacher's lounge tomorrow after supper! New password to Gryffindor Common Room is Sweethearts!", she then disappeared again.

"Ew!", Ron declared. "That's the most sassy password I've ever heard. Wonder who picked it?"

Hermione's cheeks began burning.

"No way, One!", Harry said. "Out of all the passwords you could have chosen!"

"The Prefects get to pick the passwords?", Ron asked. "Cool! Could you use Pompous Prefect Percy sometime?"

"That might be arranged", Harry laughed. "What do you think, One?", he continued and tousled Hermione's hair.

She merely laughed.

"Hey, Potter!", she then said. "You don't get to make fun of my password unless you tell me the one you've chosen!"

"No, I won't tell you."

"I'll tickle you, Potter!", she threatened.

"All right! I give! I picked Flying is the best."

"A wee bit obsessive about Quidditch now, are we?", she asked teasingly.

"Look who's talking! 'Harry, please, please, please, can we practice penalty shots the whole day today too?!'"

"Hey! I didn't say that!"

"You might as well have, that's what we've done this past week anyway!"

"So? You know you enjoyed it, Potter!"

"Yeah, yeah, but you're still at least as obsessive as I am!"

"Hey! Cut it out!", Ron yelled to make Harry and Hermione quiet. "What'd I miss?! Since when do you fly Hermione? And since when does Harry call you 'One'? And since when, dare I ask, do you, Harry, sit on the school train reading.", he turned the book Harry and Hermione had been reading over and gasped in surprise. ".Hogwarts; a History!?"

Both Harry and Hermione grinned at Ron sheepishly.

"Well", Harry began. "I've kind of studied this summer. a little. One sent me that book for my birthday."

Ron gaped at him.

"And you actually read it?! Are you insane?"

"Not at all", Harry declared. "I felt like it was something I ought to have read. I think I've read it. what do you reckon, One? Four times these past few weeks?"

"Mhm", Hermione nodded. "And don't forget my extra-papers on the house- elves! You're even beginning to catch up with me, Potter."

"All right, that explains one thing, I think", Ron said slowly. "Now what about everything else?"

"Well," Hermione said. "He's kind of been staying at my house for most of the summer.", she then smiled and added proudly. "I got flying lessons!"

"And now she's trying out for Keeper, that's why she obsesses about Quidditch."

Ron gaped at them.

"Look, I'm sorry we didn't tell you", Harry explained. "But Dumbledore wouldn't let me give my location away, if the owl was intercepted."

"Oh, that's all right", Ron said and shrugged. "I understand that."

"As for the nickname 'One', I don't know where it came from. I sort of just came up with it one day. And it fits her, anyway, she's always number one in class!"

"There are people giving me competition for that spot, thank you!"

"Not that you mind one bit, though, One!"

"Of course I don't, stupid!", Hermione smacked him across the head and dug her fingers into his hair.

"Nice haircut, Hermione!", Ginny Weasley said as she came hopping into the cabin. "Hiya, Harry! How have you both been?"

Ginny actually managed to string a sentence together in Harry's presence, which made Harry feel relieved, at least if it meant she was over her crush on him.

"Just fine, Gin", Hermione said. "Look, we're Prefects!"

"I heard about that", the younger girl said. "Congratulations! Now, if you excuse me, I have to go find my boyfriend."

Ginny disappeared from the cabin, leaving a very surprised Harry and Hermione behind her.

"Now, Ron", Hermione said. "What'd we miss?"

"Oh, Ginny's got together with Dean. He's been all over our house all summer."

"That's great!", Harry said, happy that Ginny wouldn't be swooning all over him anymore.

The lady with the food-trolley arrived around two, and the three friends stuffed themselves full of Cauldron Cakes, Every Flavour Beans and the like. Harry and Hermione were just burying themselves in "Hogwarts; a History" again, and Ron was dozing off, when Harry remembered something.

"Hey, One!", he whispered. "I'm just off to have a talk with my Quidditch team for a while. Use this time well, if you know what I mean."

"You mean tell Ron how I don't feel about him?", she whispered back.

Harry nodded and slipped out the door. He found the rest of his team in a cabin some way up ahead. Fred and George were sitting with their arms around Angelina and Alicia, and Katie Bell was grinning at the two couples. Lee Jordan, who normally would have been with the rest of his fellow 7th year Gryffindors, was off somewhere else.

"Hello, everyone!", Harry said. "Just came to talk to you a little about tryouts for the new Keeper we're in need of this year."

"What about it?", Fred asked groggily. He'd apparently been sleeping for a while.

"Next week, I had in mind", Harry said. "We'll put some notes up in the Common Room, and everyone who wants to try out may do so. We'll all select together who we want on the team. It has to be someone with talent, who we can all get along with also."

"You know anyone trying out?", Katie asked.

"Just One, I mean Hermione", he added when he saw everyone's confused face. "I reckon there'll be some others as well, but none that I know of."

Harry turned to leave the cabin, but Alicia stopped him.

"I forgot to tell you, Prefects get their own room", she said. "Inform Hermione of it too, will you? The ones available are right to your left when you come into the Common Room, behind the paintings of Gryffindor's family. You get to choose your own password, just say 'fifth year Prefect Harry Potter Password: Froggy' and you'll set a new password."

"Froggy?", Harry asked sceptically.

"Or whatever, it's your choice. And password for the Prefect's bathroom on the third floor is 'Spotless'".

"Thanks!", he said and left the cabin, but was once again stopped, this time by Angelina.

"Hey, Harry! Just one question. Are you and Hermione together?"

"Huh? No, we're not. Why?"

"Nothing, just asking. You act as if you were, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, is there anyone else who wants to say something to me? No? Good, then I'm out of here", he turned and left.

Right before getting back to his own cabin Harry found his way blocked by Malfoy and his goons.

"Oh, look, it's Potty!", Malfoy sneered. "You just missed Weasel, I think he went in search of some money. Mudblood's in there all by herself."

The mentioning of Hermione as a mudblood made Harry's blood boil. He drew out his wand in a nanosecond, pointing it right between Malfoy's eyes.

"If you ever call her that again I will curse you from here until doomsday", Harry hissed angrily. "Now, get out of my way!"

"Sorry, Potty, I won't".

"Yes you will", Hermione had just come out of the cabin, her wand at the ready. "Wingardium Leviosa".

Her spell levitated Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle to the roof, granting Harry passage under their kicking legs. He and Hermione went snickering back into their cabin and locked the door.

"Hey, thanks One", Harry said. "I would have managed them myself, but since you insisted".

"Very funny, Potter".

They both sat down leaning on each other, sighing.

"So", Harry said. "What'd Ron say?"

"He looked a bit sad, I guess, but what he said really surprised me".

"What did he say?".

"That he didn't really understand why I told him that, since it was unnecessary. He said he figured as much since you and I were together".

Harry backed up and stared at Hermione.

"What made him say that?".

"I don't know, I certainly didn't tell him that we were".

"You do realise that this is the second time in ten minutes I've heard anyone assume that we're a couple, don't you?"

"Who else?"

"Angelina. And of she thought so, then the rest of the team thought so, too".

"Why would they think that?"

"She said that we act as if we were together".

Hermione laughed.

"Well, Potter, I guess we do".

"So?"

"So.?"

"What're we going to do about it? I'm not going to stop doing anything I do".

"Do we necessarily have to do something about it?", Hermione said.

"I don't know. I think maybe we should".

"Then I have just one possible solution for us", Hermione said, tucked her hair behind her ears and kissed him.

The kiss was tentative at first, but as Harry wrapped his arms around her the kiss intensified.

"I could definitely get used to that.", Harry murmured against her lips.

"Me too. Let's try it again".

This time their kiss was even fiercer, their mouths opening up to each other and their tongues clashing together. Harry felt like he was flying, the same sensations came over him as Hermione's lips met his own. Their kisses had turned into a full snogging session when Ron walked in through the door.

"Hey! Why did you guys lock the door? I had to break. my. way. in.", he said, his voice growing more and more silent for every syllable.

Harry and Hermione quickly let go of each other, their faces red and their lips swollen.

Ron raised his eyebrows.

"So you don't call snogging each other's brains out being together, huh, Hermione?", he asked.

"Yes I do, but we had never done that when you asked me about it".

"So I'm just going to believe that this just happened?", Ron continued sceptically.

"Yes, it did. Right, One?", Harry said.

"Right, Potter. So, does this mean we are together?"

"Hey, it works for me if it works for you!", Harry replied and brought her in for another kiss.

"Guys", Ron began. "Not that I mind you two being together or anything, but could you please stop that, or go find a room?!"

"Hmm.", Hermione said, her lips still attached to Harry's. "I do believe we're already in a room, but if you insist.".

They ended their kiss slowly, neither of them wanting to let the other go. Harry sat down with his legs stretched out along the seats, slightly apart to give Hermione room to lean her back against his chest, wrapping both arms around her and planting a peck on her head.

"Better?", he asked Ron.

"Decent enough", his red-headed friend said and sprawled himself onto the other seats on the opposite side of the cabin. "So, what else is new this year? Did you see that new class we're taking?"

"Yes", Hermione replied. "It sounds really interesting, don't you think, Potter?".

"Yeah, yeah, a whole lot", he then looked at Ron. "Just so you know, I'm sorry, but I've dropped Divination".

"Oh? That's okay, I guess. It'll be a bit lonely, but I can always hang out with Dean and Seamus", Ron said, his face a bit upset. "What're you taking instead?"

"Arithmancy. I had to study practically all summer for Dumbledore to allow me switching classes, but I had loads of help from One here, she's an expert in the field, right One?"

"I wouldn't go as far as to experts, Harry, you know I."

"Oh puh-lease. Don't give me that nonsense, One!"

"He's right, Hermione. You're an expert of everything".

"Well, if you insist", she answered smiling.

"Hey, guys, care to become experts in yet another field?"

"What do you have up your sleeve now, Potter? And I don't need it anyway, you've both just said I'm an expert of everything".

"That was Ron who said that, not I. And you're not an expert on this field anyhow, I know that for a fact", Harry said mockingly. "Oh, Ron, would you mind opening my trunk and giving me the book that's on top? I'm kind of stuck here with One sitting on my legs".

"Hey, if you don't want me here Potter, I'll just get up", Hermione said and made an attempt to move away.

Harry held her back and kissed her neck briefly.

"No way you're moving, I like you just where you are. Thanks, mate", he added as Ron gave him the book he wanted.

Hermione took the book from him.

"'Things you should really try to avoid if you want to become an Animagus (and some things you desperately need to do)' by Padfoot and Prongs?", she read out loud. "What's this?"

"I got it from Snuffles on my fifteenth. Dad and he apparently wrote it when they became Animagi. Want to give it a go yourselves? I know I am, at least".

"Sure!", Hermione said. "I'd love to. Do you reckon we should ask for permission or help or something from Dumbledore or McGonnagall?"

"I'm in too, mate", Ron said.

"Well, maybe we should, but we could always try ourselves first, or get Snuffles to help us. He said he would, so I guess we should start there, don't you think?".

"Sounds great, Potter".

They all sat silent or the rest of the ride, which took about twenty minutes, Harry occasionally planting a kiss on the top of Hermione's head, while Hermione had one of her hands tangled up in Harry's hair.

When the train stopped they ran through the falling rain into the horse- less carriages, and then they were finally back at Hogwarts Castle.

OK.. This one contained quite a lot of changes, I think. Well, I think some of them deserves some explainantion.

Ron's reactions: Well, I don't like the fics where he just runs off and goes mad when the H/H action kicks in. but I really don't think he'll take it as well as he has for now. We might get to see some ore real feelings later..

How Harry and Hermione got together: I don't relly like the way they get together seemingly just because people think they already are. But the real meaing behind it all is that they had these feelings for each other already, but people's presumptions made them discover what was really there. Plus I couldn't think of a better way to get them together, and I HAD to get them together then, since I couldn't stand it anymore.

Next chapter: Harry's more studyous manner comes into the light, and we get to see the reactions of the crowd. Also, reactions of the H/H developement. AND, here goes, the transfer-student (oh, my who is it?), THREE new professors, and. oh! The amazing bouncing ferret!