Chapter 3.

AN....Just a little thank you to all the wonderful reviews I've got for this so far! Thanks guys, you're the best :D (And in answer to one reviewer...the third year seeker is playing for Gryffindor...Harry's replacement, see? So Gryffindor won! Lol, hope that's cleared that up for you!)

Apologies...I know there are a few dating errors, and that the whole of June seemed to pass in one night. The first chapter said "In May", but I have now change it to "In June". I hope this doesn't cause too much confusion! I had made it earlier so it wasn't too last-minute, but it'll work out...

After the celebration party in the common room, everyone went to bed quite late. Harry awoke quite groggy the next morning, very thankful that it was Sunday. He tried to sit up, but collapsed back onto his pillow. "Later," He thought, as he lay on his side, thinking. He was due to leave that afternoon with Hermione, to spend the whole summer with her. Sure, he'd spent time with Ron over summers past, but none with Hermione. She'd visit the Burrow, of course, but never for too long before school started again. He didn't know why he was so nervous.

A thought came into his head. 'The Dursleys.' Harry groaned as he rolled out of bed and got dressed and rifled through his bag for a spare piece of parchment and his quill. Scribbling a quick note ("Dear, dear Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. I won't be delighting you with my presence this summer, unfortunately. I'm going away with one of my friends. Tell Dudley-dear I'll miss him so much and send him a postcard. See you at Christmas! Your ever-loving nephew...Harry.") Grinning to himself, he folded the note away into his back pocket and headed up to the owlry. He found Hedwig perched near the ceiling. She saw him, hooted quietly and flew gracefully down to his arm, playfully pecking at his hand. He went to tie the note to her leg, and imagined the Dursleys looking at it in horror and confusion. He quickly scribbled "Open" on the outside of the rolled parchment before attaching it, hoping they would get the idea. He patted Hedwig on the head.

"And if they can't figure it out, peck their hands until they do!" He said with a smile, as she hooted approvingly before flying off into the morning sun.

---

A few hours later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the train, heading home.

"So tell me more about this cruise?" Ron asked Hermione, looking out the window at the passing countryside.

"Well it's two weeks in the Mediterranean, stopping in places like Italy, Spain, France etc."

"Sounds cool." Ron said, smirking at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"Nothing, mate!" Ron grinned. "Have fun, Harry!"

"Oh shut up."

"What IS he on about, Harry?" Hermione asked him.

"Oh nothing." Harry said, irritated, glaring at Ron who was giggling away to himself.

The rest of the journey was filled with a few awkward silences. Great, Harry thought. This will make it more awkward between me and Hermione when Ron leaves. When the train pulled to a halt, they grabbed their belongings and walked onto the platform, and through the wall onto the Muggle platform, where they saw the Grangers and the Weasleys, the two mothers deep in conversation, and the men looking about uncomfortably. Mr Weasley spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione coming off the train and smiled. "Here they are!" He alerted the rest of the group.

"I've not seen your aunt and uncle, Harry, is everything ok? Do you need help getting home? Are they on holiday? Do you want to come back to ours?" Mrs Weasley flooded him with questions.

"No, Mrs Weasley, it's ok. I'm spending the summer with Hermione!" He said.

"Oh, oh how wonderful!" Mrs Weasley beamed, making Harry blush slightly. "Well, I hope you have a great time, but we really need to be heading home to pack. Come along, Ron, give your case to your father."

Ron took Harry aside before he left.

"I'm sorry about...the train." He smiled.

"It's okay. It's just going to be really awkward now she thinks we know something she doesn't." Harry said, staring at his hands.

"But It's perfect, don't you see! You love her...you're spending the summer with her...which means lots of alone time...do you really not see where I'm going with this?"

"Look Ron, it may seem 'Perfect' to you, but this is different. It's Hermione! I can't tell her anything like that, she's my friend..."

"Which makes it even more perfect. And that's where I'll have to leave you, mate." He said, clamping his hand on Harry's shoulder, seeing Molly looking at them impatiently. "Have a good summer....write...and good luck!" He grinned, before turning and leaving.

"See you in September!" Harry called after him, before joining the Grangers.

"Ready?" Mr Granger asked.

"Yep!" Harry said, dragging his case behind him. Hermione turned and smiled at him.

"You're doing great." She comforted.

"Thanks." He grinned nervously. He'd been worried about meeting the Grangers too, for they hadn't really spoken before. Of course, he'd had other things clouding his mind to allow much worrying. He watched the back of Hermione's head as she bobbed up to walk beside her mother, and sighed inwardly. This is going to be a long summer.

----

Hermione's house was quite small, a lot similar to the Dursleys, although, a lot friendlier to Harry immediately. As soon as he stepped out of the car, he was pretty safe to assume he wouldn't spend his days locked in a cupboard under the stairs, and, at least, if he was, The Grangers would still give him decent meals and Hermione would talk to him. He grinned at the thought of them being alone in a cupboard...wait...did I just think that? He said to himself, shaking his head as he took his case from the boot of the car and followed Hermione and Mrs Granger into the house. As they fussed through the door, Harry saw a steep set of stairs, and on the wall to his left were photographs of Hermione as a child. He grinned when he saw them.

"Awww." He said, looking at her.

"Oh shut up!" She said, hitting his arm.

"Haha." Mrs Granger laughed. "Right, well, the guest room is upstairs, Hermione, could you show him? I'm going to stick the kettle on."

"Right, right." She said, lifting her case and lifting it onto the bottom stair. "You coming?" She added to Harry.

"Yup." He said, following her. The top of the stairs curled round to a small hallway.

"Right, that's the bathroom there." She said, pointing to the door immediately to their left. "That's my room." She pointed to the door ahead of them. The door was slightly ajar and Harry could see a light purple wallpaper. "That's mum and dad's room." She gestured with her head at the next door to the right, as they moved along, leaving her case outside her own room. "And here's your room." She finished, opening the door directly opposite the bathroom. She let him through. There was a bed in the left corner, with a light blue and yellow duvet. The walls were a light blue, and, looking to the right he saw a chest of drawers with a television and stereo on top.

"Right, well, I'll leave you to get settled while I sort my case out. I'll be in my room if you need me." She smiled, and left him.

He sat down on the bed. "I'm in Hermione's house." The thought was surreal. Sure, he'd been at Ron's house, but he'd never been to Hermione's before, and the thought scared him a little. "Oh calm down." He said to himself. "You're friends." He ran his hand through his hair and took off his jumper, revealing a white t-shirt. He heard someone coming up the stairs, and heard a faint knock on the door before it opened.

"Everything ok?" Mrs Granger asked.

"Yes. Thank you." He smiled, very uncomfortable and unsure what to say to her.

"Good!" She smiled back, equally nervous. "Well, dinner will be in about half an hour, just something simple...do you like chicken nuggets and chips?"

"Yep, that'd be lovely, thanks."

"Ok. Well I'll be downstairs if you need anything." She smiled, before turning and leaving.

He looked about the room once more, in a bit more detail than before. There was a yellow mirror in the shape of a sun above the bed and wooden slat blinds on the window, there was also a small bedside table, with a lamp and a clock radio on top. He suddenly felt very embarrassed and unsure what to do. Getting up, he checked his reflection in the mirror, smoothing down his hair a bit (which didn't make any difference at all), and opened the door. He noticed more pictures of a younger Hermione on the walls, and there was a more recent picture on the windowsill, she looked about second-year-age. Holding his breath, he knocked a few times on what he hoped was Hermione's door.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah, come in!" She replied.

He opened the door. Her room was busy and fascinating. Just in front of the door was a tall stand reaching up to the ceiling, with seven or eight shelves. The bottom two shelves were filled with small teddies, and the rest were filled with books. Coming further into the room, he smiled at Hermione, who was sitting on her bed, (which was also purple...and scattered with cushions.) She looked back down to sorting out her clothes, and walked about busily, putting clothes in the wardrobe at the foot of her bed, or in the drawers beside her bed.

"Have a seat if you want." She smiled, gesturing to her desk on his left. He sat down on the purple swivel chair.

"So what day do we leave?" He asked, trying to think of conversation. It was so much more difficult out of school, he had realised.

"Um...yeah, I got it wrong when I told you in school, it's not a week, it's in 4 days, we leave on Thursday morning, is that ok?" She asked, hanging up her robes.

"Yeah." He said, noticing the storage boxes under her bed, which, from where Harry was sitting, looked like they were full of books also. He smiled to himself, typical Hermione.

"So, I was thinking." Hermione said after a silence. "About what we can do this week. I was thinking things like going to the cinema and stuff. That ok?"

"Sounds cool. I'm just happy to be in a 'normal' muggle house for once!" He said.

"Yeah. So did you write to the Dursleys then?" She asked, putting her socks into a drawer.

"Yeah. I sent them Hedwig. Just imagine their faces when she comes flying in expecting them to take the note!" He laughed.

"Oh Harry! You're terrible!" She giggled.

They sat there, making small conversation, as Harry watched her unpack, until Mrs Granger came up to tell them dinner was ready. Harry followed Hermione downstairs, back into the hallway they had first come into. Harry noticed, this time, a glass chess set which sat on a dresser.

"Chess, cool!" He said, staring at it.

"Yeah. Not wizards chess, sadly. My dad would have a fit if the pieces acted the way your's do!" Hermione laughed.

"Yeah." He said, as he followed her into the living room, which was large, with a warm red carpet and white leather chairs. The room opened out into a dining room facing the back garden. They took their seats at the table, opposite Mr Granger who was already sitting.

"Hey!" He said, smiling.

"What do you want to drink?" Mrs Granger said, coming out of where Harry assumed was the kitchen.

"Um...can I have milk please?" Hermione asked.

"Erm...just water's fine." Mr Granger smiled at his wife.

"Harry?"

"Um...I'll have milk too." He said nervously, and deciding that the best option would be to have what Hermione was having.

She returned a few minutes later with their drinks, before disappearing back into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two plates, which she laid in front of Harry and Hermione.

"Thanks, mum!"

"Thank you Mrs Granger."

She went back into the kitchen one last time, bringing out the plates for herself and Hermione's dad. Dinner was a little awkward, Harry had no idea what to say to Hermione's parents...or even to Hermione, for that matter, and the Grangers were unsure themselves how to talk to Harry, although they tried their best with polite conversation. Just after he had stammered through describing Quidditch to a still-confused Mr Granger when Mrs Granger had taken away their plates and was in the kitchen, Harry jumped slightly as he felt Hermione's hand on his own, which was on his leg under the table.

He turned to her and smiled shyly, to see that she was smiling back at him.

"You're doing great." She whispered assuringly.