Harry looked into his Charms classroom and saw that Prof. Flitwick had written something on the board. It was the students' names in pairs. His name was paired with Padma Patil. He looked over the entire room and saw Padma in the back. When she noticed him she gave a small wave and turned back to what she was doing. Harry nodded to Hermione, who was paired with yet another Hufflepuff. He set his things beside Padma and looked at her desk.

Instead of parchment in front of her, there was Muggle style sketch book. She was drawing a vaguely human figure. This feat was made more difficult by the fact that every time a limb was completed, the figure tried it out. Once all limbs were in place, Padma shut the book and turned to Harry. She was about to say hello, when Prof. Flitwick started class. "This term you will all be learning about very special spells. These spells require a lot of trust and a good bond with the person you are casting it on. That is why today I have assigned you partners whom you will work with throughout the term. Today you shall spend the class getting to know your partner. . ." he waited a beat while everyone looked at him confusedly. "I am giving you the period to chat and talk. I wont do this again . . . well not with the same reasoning." With that he sat down and began to read.

Padma smiled as she opened her sketch book again and said to Harry, "I could get in a lot of trouble in the common room for talking to you."

"What did I do?" Harry asked defensively.

"Well, according to the rumors my sister is putting out . . ." she paused while she erased part of the picture, "Cho."

"What? We never even really kissed. All she wanted to do was talk about Cedric!" She just started laughing as he began to build up his defense.

"How's this look?" she asked and held up her sketch book. What was drawn was what looked like Hermione in the jeans and T-shirt outfits she had worn over the summer.

"Is that Hermione?"

"Yeah, I . . . erm . . . guessed on what she would look like outside Hogwart's."

"It is a good drawing."

"Yeah, well I have a lot of practice." With that she handed him her notebook and he flipped through. It was filled with pictures of different people. Some were pictures of Harry (which he was happy to notice was always trying to slip out of the page), some of Hermione reading a book (her head moving from side to side), there were quite a few of Neville (all of them were portraying him with his broken nose and attempting to cast a spell, or showing him in D.A.), but by far the most pictures were of Ginny. Harry cast her an odd look and she explained, "Well I draw pictures for people, usually the object of their interest. The ones of you are for a number of different girls, the Neville ones are for Luna, and a couple of others."

"What about he Hermione ones?"

"For you."

"And the Ginny Weasly ones?"

"Erm . . . Michael Corner?"

Harry sensed he ought to have pressed further on that question but he was curious about how she had answered another question. "How did you know I liked Hermione?"

"Women's intuitions. Plus the fact that aside from Cho, she is the only girl you talk to on a regular basis. Well Ginny Weasly too, but I always assumed that you only thought of her as a sister."

"Uh, yeah? How do you know all this?"

Padma smiled, "My sister is the gossip queen of Hogwart's."

Harry smiled and said, "So, what adventures have you been in since last year?"

"I am Ravenclaw Harry," she said with a smirk, "we are smart enough to avoid adventures." Harry chuckled, but then she asked a question he was unprepared to answer, "So when is the next meeting of the D.A.?"

"Uh, I hadn't thought of that. I don't really know, I will have to talk with Hermione. Do we really still need it?"

"Well," she said skeptically, "I suppose that all depends on what Professor Himura will teach us."

"Himura-sensei," Harry corrected on reflex.

"Excuse me?" Padma asked.

"Oh, I mean he prefers to use his Japanese title, Himura-sensei."

"How do you know Harry?"

"Er . . . well, I kind of met him over the summer."

Padma scrunched up her face and then a look of understanding came across. "ohhhhhh," she said. She went back to her drawing and they talked the rest of the period about D.A. and about spell theory. Harry found that she would often go way over his head on a lot of things. Eventually the bell rang and Prof. Flitwick dismissed the class. Harry and Padma had the next class together to so they walked together out, when Hermione joined them.

"Um, Harry I just had a rather dire thought," she said.

"Oh no," Harry groaned and Padma laughed.

"Er . . . its about what we discussed just before Potions, maybe we should . . . you know, privacy?" she was nodding toward Padma.

"Oh, Padma knows," Harry said, "I don't know how, but she knows."

"Oh," Hermione looked at Padma for a moment, and then turned to Harry and said, "Well I was thinking about fourth year, and the way Ron reacted when he found out I was dating Viktor. What if he reacts that way to us? Harry he's your best friend, I don't want . . ."

Harry put a finger to her lips, "I will deal with this. I will make him deal with it. I lost him in fourth year and I don't care if I have to break all his bones, he will not stop being my friend again."

She smiled and giggled a little as they approached the newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Ron was surprisingly early. Harry told Hermione to talk with Padma for a while and he would talk with Ron. Harry sat next to Ron and said, "We need to talk mate."

Ron looked at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Remember how you acted in fourth year when you found out Hermione was dating Viktor Krum?"

Ron's face turned sour at them memory, "Yeah, why?"

"Well, was that because it was Viktor Krum, or is that how you would react to anybody dating her?"

"um, it is how I would react to anybody but a certain somebody dating her."

"Well, Ron get ready to react."

"What do you mean? Who is she dating now?"

"Well, me mate. We just decided after breakfast."

Ron, instead of flipping out, let out a long sigh of relief. "Blimey, I thought I would have to knock you two over the head and lock you in a closet. Finally."

"What?" Harry thought Ron was wanting to date Hermione.

"Harry, I have been trying to set you two up since our third year. I flipped out over Viktor, 'cause I knew you two were meant to be."

Harry held his head in his hands as he waved Hermione over. Padma came with her and both stared at the perplexed Harry and the laughing Ron. After a lot of explaining Harry and Hermione felt right enough to hold hands. Neville came in and sat with them. They talked until Himura-Sensei came in and held called out "Konnichi wa. I am Himura-sensei. This is how you will address me without fail." Every one looked at the teacher with a little bit of fear, but none more than the trio. They had learned wandless casting from him, but weren't sure what they were going to learn in here.