Malfoy's First Encounter

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lavender moseyed down Diagon Alley laughing blithely and talking about their hopes for the new school year. Meanwhile, Lavender was clutching Ron's arm quite flirtatiously and Harry's arm kept brushing Hermione's, making him rather self-conscious and tense, but Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"I hope we get a little less homework this year," she was saying. "I was having a little trouble keeping up last year."

"You!?" Ron exclaimed. "If YOU were having trouble, imagine how the rest of us felt!" Lavender giggled at this, though Harry couldn't find anything funny about it, and Ron beamed at her.

"Well, well, well," a particularly nasty voice drawled somewhere behind them. Malfoy Harry thought bemoaningly. "It looks like you've managed to find a girlfriend, Weasley," Draco snarled as he approached them.

"Too bad you couldn't 'ave done better than that." He sneered pointedly at Lavender. "At least she's not horrible-looking like yours, Potter. Honestly, I would've thought that anyone as famous as you could get a reasonable girl at least. But Granger? Tsk, tsk."

Harry fumed. Suddenly he noticed the girl grasping Malfoy's arm. Rhian (pronounced like 'Ryan') O'Sassen was an Irish Slytherin girl with long brown hair and bangs that hung over her eyes.

"At least they can see through their hair to make out who they're walking with. Rhian must've just gotten a little mixed up looking through that mess of hers and not realized who you were. Even a girl with as little intelligence as her wouldn't want to be caught dead around you."

Rhian opened her mouth and, looking a bit like a fish, bawled, "Leave my hair out of this!" And then stomped away, dragging Malfoy with her. Although he looked a bit embarrassed, he still managed to yell, "Yeah!" as he tripped over a bin of dried fish scales. (See AN at bottom)

The four Gryffindors sniggered for a few minutes before continuing on their walk, now lightened by a triumph over an old enemy or two.

Stepping into Flourish & Blotts, the four of them bumped into housemates Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnagin, who were also delighted when told (in great detail) about the encounter with Malfoy. They also ran into Neville Longbottom buying a cauldron with his grandmother and talked to him until his grandmother dragged him off mumbling something about being late for her Exploding Snap bridge game with the neighbors.

"See you at school!" Neville called and waved.

Soon after that, Lavender was found by her best friends, Parvati and Padma Patil, and pulled away to look at the latest rage for teen witches, some new magical lip-gloss and eye- shadow that changed colors every ten minutes or so.

Ron looked a little down after Lavender left, so Fred and George showed up at just the perfect time.

"Ron!" Fred said a little too loud. "Being the fabulous big brothers that we are, we've decided to buy you some new dress robes!" Fred winked at Harry as he and George led a much-happier Ron off to Madame Malkin's Robe Shop, leaving Harry alone with Hermione.

Being alone with Hermione didn't help Harry's nervousness at all. He was quite sure that his heart was beating just a tad faster than it was supposed to, and he didn't think it was normal that his hands were trembling.

"So, Hermione. um, how was your summer?"

"Pretty good! What about you? Are you all settled in with Sirius?"

"Yeah. Did you ever go visit Krum?" Harry voiced this question and waited in agony for the answer.

"No. We wrote each other a couple of times but never talked about me going to visit. I think he's sort of lost interest in me. But that's ok, as long as we can be friends. I didn't ever like him like that."

Harry's apprehension calmed down and he carried on a normal conversation with Hermione for about fifteen minutes until Ron returned with a big smile and a box to match.

"I didn't think they'd ever do anything that nice for me!" Ron exclaimed after Fred and George said good-bye and rejoined Lee at the joke shop. "These robes are awesome, a lot better than those frilly ones I had to wear last year!"

Just then the clock on top of Gringotts chimed five times, telling the kids that it was time to meet the rest of their group for dinner. All through it Harry sat nervously across the table from Hermione and kept hoping that he didn't have food all over his face.

After everyone had gone to their own separate rooms, Hermione came to Harry and Ron's room to say goodnight. Since Ron answered the door, she hugged him first. Then she walked across the room in Harry's direction, but stopped halfway. She looked straight into Harry's eyes even though she made it sound that she was speaking to both of them.

"I'm so glad I get to spend the rest of the summer with you guys. I really missed you!"

"We missed you too, 'Mione," Ron said, but all Harry could manage was a panicky nod and a small squeak in agreement. Hermione closed the distance between her and Harry and gave him a tight hug as well.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered before breaking free and heading out the door with one last goodnight to the both of them. Harry still hadn't managed to say a word.

Later settling into bed, Harry made a vow to overcome his uneasiness around Hermione.
AN: The character Rhian O'Sassen is modeled the real Rhian Sasseen, who has the tendency to yell things such as, "Leave Malfoy out of this!" or, "He's only misunderstood!" when her friends tease her about her crazed Malfoy obsession.