Chapter 2

Day One

The next morning Harry woke up with a feeling of dread in his stomach despite the chirping birds and sun streaming through the window. Remembering the issue with Ron last night he rolled over in bed and stared at Ron's empty cot.

"Ron?" Harry called, sitting up.

"In here!" Ron called from down the hall in the bathroom. Harry sat up, grabbed his glasses, and strolled down to the boy's bathroom.

"Hey, Ron," he said uncertainly.

"Hey," his friend replied, glancing at Harry's reflection in the mirror. "Look…about last night, I'm really sorry-"

"It's cool."

"No, really, I didn't mean to blow up at you about it-"

"It's cool," Harry insisted. Ron gave a small smile and Harry joined him to brush his teeth.

Half an hour later they joined Hermione in the common room to check their schedule for the day.

"Let's see," Hermione said, running her finger down the agenda.

"There's Transfiguration in half an hour…then potions at 11:00…Divination for you guys at 1:00 while I go to Astronomy III…then we end the day with Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I can't wait to meet the new potions teacher," Harry commented. "She looks really nice."

"You mean pretty?" Hermione asked slyly.

"No, he likes someone else," Ron said with a wink.

"Shut up!" Harry yelled at him.

"Who?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No one," Harry said quickly. "Let's go down to breakfast. We don't wanna be late for Transfiguration."

"We don't?" Ron asked dryly as they set off for the Great Hall.

Half an hour later they were seated in the back of Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class, half-listening to her yap about what they would be doing that year, half playing around with Harry and Hermione's color-changing quills.

"Wicked!" Ron breathed. "It's so random…see here, I wrote an entire page in green…then I couldn't even finish the word "and" before it switched from brown to purple!" Harry kicked Hermione under the table and they glanced at each other, trying incredibly hard not to burst out laughing at Ron's stupidity.

"Simple pleasures for simple minds," Hermione whispered to Harry with a grin.

"Ms. Granger, do you have something you'd like to share with the class?" McGonagal's stern voice echoed through the room as Harry racked his brain for an excuse not to get Hermione in trouble.

"Well? I'm waiting."

"I'm sorry, professor…Hermione was just reminding me that transfiguration of a mouse requires an adult hair, not a baby's." Hermione flashed Harry a grin.

"That would fine," she replied coldly-"if we weren't reviewing the transfiguration of parchment into muggle paper!" Hermione stifled a giggle but, to Harry's delight, seemed quite happy to avoid detention.

"Now, it would be greatly appreciated if you three would pay attention to the lesson!" McGonagal said sternly.

"Yes, Mam," Harry said with mock seriousness that, luckily, McGonagal bought.

AsHarry and Ron left Divination later that day they met up with Hermione and walked to Defense against the Dark Arts together. The new potions teacher had been very nice, although a little absent-minded, and it seemed as if everyone was dying to see how Snape would handle his new position.

"Hey, Potter, ready to get a head start on losing house points?" Harry turned. It was Malfoy.

"Hey, Draco, just cause we're a little behind in being a suck-up goody-goody bastard, that's no reason for you to rub it in our faces." Harry glanced at Ron. That had been one of his lamest comebacks yet, but it was better than the blank he was drawing.

Unfortunately, Malfoy seemed to be reading Harry's mind.

"Come on Weasly, is that the best you can do?" Malfoy taunted.

"Shut it, Malfoy!" Harry said, stepping forward. A small crowd had gathered around them and Harry didn't want to start off the year with a reputation as a loser. He decided to end this short and sweet.

"I'm sick of your shit," he said loudly. "I've got better things to do than sit around on my ass and listen to bitch and moan about every little thing. That's what mums are for. If you want to have a life as an old lady that's fine with me, but let's make one thing clear: I don't wanna be a part of it. Take your crap somewhere else." Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. A few spectators cheered and whistled, but Harry ignored them and walked into class.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had silently agreed with Malfoy; now that Snape was in the position he'd always dreamed of he was sure to be ten times worse than in potions the previous years. However, Defense Against the Dark Arts was not nearly as bad as they had imagined; it was far worse.

The second Harry entered the classroom Snape bellowed at him, "Twenty points from Gryffinfor for chewing gum in class!"

"But I haven't got any!" Harry protested and opened his mouth to prove it.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor for faking gum chewing and wasting my time!" Snape bellowed.

"Nice going," a Gryffindor fourth year muttered from behind him. Harry shook his head disgustedly and took a seat in the far back corner of the room. However, this only made Snap more sure that he was breaking the rules. By the end of class Harry alone had lost 45 additional points from Gryffindor for "writing too loudly", "making fun of the teacher", "horseplay", and "not volunteering to answer enough".

Hermione and the other Gryffindors comforted Harry on the way out of class but it was obvious that they were really pissed that Harry was wrecking their chance for the house cup so early in the year. He quickly grew tired of explaining that he had done nothing wrong and just nodded miserably as his peers lectured him over and over.

By dinnertime, however, word had spread about Harry's confrontation with Malfoy and the same people were soon congratulating him. Harry was too miserable to be happy and left the Great Hall early.

Later that evening, Ron entered the dorm and tried to talk to him.

"Harry, what's bugging you?"

"Nothing...well, it is something…I mean…well, first of all there's this whole quittich thing and if your brothers are right we may not win this year…then there's this crap with Snape…oh Ron, this year's going to be worse than all the others combined…then there's Hermione…I'm not sure if she even likes me!"

"Oh, she likes you all right," Ron said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Really? You think?" asked Harry, brightly immediately. With a small sigh Ron decided that his friend's happiness was more important than his own stupid envy.

"Yeah. Don't you see her looking at you all the time? It's in her eyes…anyway, you better make your move soon before someone else takes her. Remember Krum?" Harry's face darkened.

"How could I forget? Okay, I will. This weekend I'll tell her."

"'Atta boy!" Ron said, slapping him a high five.

That night, Ron couldn't fall asleep. He downstairs to the common room for a drink of water and was surprised to see his sister Ginny and Hermione talking in front of the fire.

"Oh, Ginny, he's so adorable!" Hermione whispered to her friend.

"I know," she replied wistfully. Hermione frowned.

"You still like him, don't you?"

"What? Oh-maybe a little…but I've been thinking, and you should go out with him."

"Really?" Hermione asked happily, switching to a more comfortable position.

"Yeah. I mean, what I have is just a crush. But I think what you and Harry have may be true love." A dopey smile appeared on Hermione's face at the mention of the name.

"So you're sure you don't mind?"

"Nope," said Ginny honestly. "You have my blessing." The two girls giggled and retreated upstairs.

Ron's insides churned. There was only one Harry he knew of in this school. So…Harry liked Hermione and she obviously liked him. Great. And this left him where?