Hermione awoke slowly the next morning and groaned as she saw the clock read 10:24. She rolled out of bed, threw on her robe and went down to the kitchen. Her mother was cleaning off three plates from the table.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked her mother.

"Oh. You're up. Your father took him out this morning for some golf."

She spat out the sip of orange juice she had taken from the carton. "Tell me your joking!" she practically screamed.

"Well no, darling. He said he wanted some bonding time with your new boyfriend."

"WE ARE NOT DATING!" she shrieked, but her mother just nodded knowledgeably.

"Honestly, I thought you were smarter than that Hermione."

"ARGH!" She screamed and went upstairs to get ready.

As soon as the door came open Hermione threw on a shirt and dashed downstairs. She quickly took inventory to make sure Harry had all of his body parts.

"Oh. Hi Hermione." he said quite normally, but perhaps a little shaken.

"Hi Harry, dad. I had hoped you would tell me if you were going to steal my friend for the morning." Hermione said very coolly.

"Oh, well I am sorry dear. Perhaps we can have a little chat about it."

He escorted her out on to the porch before beginning "Well, he seems like an all right kid. I don't think he's into drugs, but his eyes were a little red. But he says he wants to be an Auror when he grows up. What is this? And more importantly, how much does it make?"

"DAD! What are you saying? His eyes were red because I'm sure he cried last night, he just lost the only father figure he has ever known. And an Auror is kind of like a police officer for wizards, but they handle evil sorcerers. I'm not sure, but I would assume it would rake in a good bit of gold, but DAD! I have no intentions of marrying Harry. We aren't even dating!"

He just smirked at her. "Sure. But listen Hermione, you're not ready to be dating. Maybe in a decade you'll be prepared, but you really should consider waiting until your married."

"To DATE! How am I supposed to find my husband?"

"So your looking!?" he accused.

"No! Dad! Listen to me. Harry & I are JUST friends. JUST friends." And she stormed off the porch.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sure. But did you know your dad has a lie detector?"

She rolled her eyes. "Do you want to grab lunch? There's an okay place a couple blocks away."

The pair walked down the street as many of Hermione's neighbors stuck their head out the door to ask "Ms. Granger. Who is your friend?"

"Honestly." Hermione said after they have seated themselves. "Why is everyone convinced we're dating?"

"Oh. Is that what they mean?" said Harry with a laugh.

"Really though," said Hermione now chortling too. "A girl & a guy can't be friends.

"Wait. Hermione, are you saying your a girl? Blimey I think your right! hahaha." Harry mused.

"Ron is a bit of a prat."

"Have you written Ron?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Oh. No. I didn't really think about it. Think we should?"

"Yeah. I reckon."

So the two started to compose on a napkin.

Ron,

How are you doing? The summer is going quite well. Just wanted to inform you that Harry is here, if you need to talk to him. Hope we see you soon.

Hermione

As soon as they got back to the house they sent the letter with Hedwig.

"So, did you & my dad actually go golfing?"

"Yeah. We only played a few holes though. I'm not very good."

"But dad said you got 30 more points than he did." said Hermione confused.

"Your not big on golf, are you Mio?"

By the next morning, Hermione had learned her lesson. Her alarm went off at 8, and she rose quickly. It wasn't until 9 when Harry stumbled into the kitchen.

"Morning Mio." he said warmly.

"Good morning Harry."

"Ya know, I had the strangest dream."

Hermione dropped the teapot. She knew that Harry frequently had dreams that were clips of what Voldemort wanted him to see.

"No. No. Not like that. I think Dumbledore has that squared away. But you & I were flying around Hogwarts. But then your broom started bucking, so you jumped on to mine, and we started to fall. But then we landed softly in a vat of Jello."

"That is bizzar-" she started saying but was interrupted by a knock on the door. She rose and shut Harry in the room behind her. All he could here was "Ron!" before his other best friend's voice intruded.

"Think its funny, do you? To leave me out of things? Whenever Harry comes to the Burrow, I invite you too. You'd think that you'd have the same consideration for me!"

"Ron! Listen to me. The only reason I didn't invite you is because Harry needs sympathy and comfort right now."

"And I can't offer sympathy and comfort?" he raged.

It wasn't until then that Harry realized how very glad he was that Ron hadn't been there the past few days. He would of felt much more foolish crying in front of him. But at that time Mr. Granger came down from the stairwell and opened the door to the Entrance.

"Mio. What's going on?"

"Oh, dad. This is another friend of mine. Ron Weasley. He's just stopping by."

"Okay." he said, and turned around, but Harry heard him quite clearly mutter as he walked back upstairs, "Doesn't she have any female friends?"

A/n: Thanks for reading!