Chapter Five: The Crusher and the Crush

He woke up the next morning and he was thinking about Hermione. He just couldn't believe that she just up and dumped him. What did he do wrong? He then remembered the note that someone sent him that was on his bedside table. He picked it up and read it.

Dear Harry,

I was wondering if you could come to my hut tomorrow at lunch. Come by yourself. I have to tell you something that I just found out about.

Hagrid

He went down to breakfast. Ron and Hermione were already there. He sat on the side that Ron was on, not wanting to sit by his 'ex.' He didn't tell them about the note from Hagrid because they would want to go. He sat in silence while eating his breakfast. He tried to look sad to make Hermione guilty but it didn't work. He got up silently and headed off to his first class.

He got through his classes okay considering the fact that all he could think about was Hermione or the note from Hagrid. After his last class he headed down to the hut for lunch.

"How are yeh 'Arry?" he asked but when he looked at Harry he added. "Wha's wrong?"

"Hermione dumped me," he said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," said Hagrid. "Well, I guess you're wondering why I asked you here."

"Yeah, I kind of was," Harry responded.

"I have a relative!" Harry was surprised. "She lives in the United States. She is my dad's cousin's daughter. She is just like yeh. She is sixteen years old and she lives in a orphanage. She is movin' here to live wit' me in my hut!"

"Wow. That is good news," said Harry. "But why did you have to tell me this?"

"'Cause I want yeh to look out fer her. She might not fit in and she's been sorted in ter Gryffindor."

"That's great! When is she coming?" inquired Harry.

"Today. She should be arriving any moment," They heard a knock on the door.

Hagrid opened the door and Dumbledore and a girl walked in.

"Ah. Hagrid. I see you brought a friend for Brianne," Dumbledore said when he saw Harry. "Brianne, this is Harry Potter."

"Is it really?" she asked him. She had dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and had very blue eyes. He nodded. "Are you in Gryffindor too?"

He nodded again. He was afraid if he would open his mouth that he would embarrass himself. She was indeed very pretty.

"Hi Uncle Hagrid!" she said to Hagrid and he picked her up into a hug. "It is so great to see you again! I haven't seen you in months! It seemed like ages!"Hagrid set her down and gave her some cookies. They talked for the whole lunch.

Dumbledore turned to Harry and said, "I've already spoken with your next teacher and it is okay for you to miss class in order to help Brianne settle."

"Ok," He helped Brianne take her trunk up to the castle and explained about the some of stuff that goes on at Hogwarts. He showed her the way to Gryffindor tower and told her the password. He took her trunk to her dormitory and sat with her in the common room.

"What do you like to do?" he asked her.

"I like to play music." she responded. "I play guitar."

"Really? That is really cool. I've always wanted to learn," he told her. "Maybe you could teach me? Are you any good?"

"Yeah. I'm okay I guess." She got up. "Let me get my guitar and I'll play for you."

"Ok." He sat and waited on the sofa. When she came down she had a really cool cerulean blue guitar. It looked like it was airbrushed.

He listened to her play. The song was about three minutes long. It was a really old song but sounded really good.

After she was done playing he said, "I know that song. Where did you get the idea to punk it up?"

"I don't know. I have this CD with a whole bunch of songs like that," she said with a smile. He was starting to like her. She was really nice.

"What did you do before you came here? I mean over the summer," he asked.

"I played summer league softball. It is a muggle sport that is a girl version of the men's sport baseball. Do you know what that is?"

"I think I might have heard of it. Is it that game where you hit a small ball with a piece of aluminum or wood?"

"Yeah, it is. Except that girls use a ball that is called a '12 inch' ball. I don't know why. It isn't 12 inches in diameter. Oh, and the pitching is different. I was a pitcher and I was okay I guess. People starting calling me the 'Li'l Crusher.'

"That's cool. Where did you live?" he asked.

"Pennsylvania. Pretty much a hick state that has a few good things," she responded.

She put her stuff away and she waited for Harry's friends to get back. He wanted to introduce her. "What is your last name?," he asked so he could introduce her a little better.

"Smith," she replied.

When Ron and Hermione walked in Hermione said, "Where were you!? Who is this?"

"This is Brianne Smith. She is a relative of Hagrid's and is in our year. She is really nice. She used to live in the United States. Pennsylvania, I think."

"Hi. I'm Ron."

"I'm Hermione," said Hermione. She said it as though she was jealous.

"Pleasure," Brianne said in the same tone of voice.

Harry and Ron were trying not to laugh because they had a feeling there was going to be a catfight really soon.

"Well, I'm going to go do my homework," she said and went upstairs.

"Is that an ex or something?" Brianne asked Harry.

"Yeah. I don't think she is quite over me yet," he replied. "I'm surprised she didn't beat me up. She saw me sitting alone in the common room with a pretty girl. She could have went crazy!"

At dinner, Hermione said she was sorry to Harry and Brianne. Apparently Ron had a little talk with her.

After dinner, while the Trio was doing homework, Brianne started playing another one of those old but punk songs.

"Life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone. I hear you call my name. And it feels like home...When you call my name, it's like a little prayer. I'm down on my knees. I wanna take you there. In the midnight hour, I can feel your power. Just like a prayer, you know I'll take you there..."

Harry started to think that this new girl was amazing. She was everything! She had good looks, a good personality, and she could play music! She was amazing.

Over the next few weeks, Brianne and Harry became close friends. They had a lot in common. She never knew her parents either. Harry enjoyed her company and he started to like her a lot.

At Halloween, Brianne was excited. She had never experienced a Hogwarts feast. She sat next to Harry and Ron and Hermione sat across from them. She ate a lot of food. Harry felt that she could probably out eat Ron. That was saying something for a girl. She talked about her life before Hogwarts and her softball team.

"Hagrid said that maybe over the summer, he could take me back to America so I can play softball," she said excitedly.

Her favorite class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. She thought it was awesome that a werewolf taught the class.

There was one bad thing that happened to Hogwarts. Snape returned. He wouldn't even tell the Slytherins where he went. Brianne found out that she loathed Snape and Snape loathed her. Each class, she liked Snape less and less. Snape put her on the spot a lot because she didn't have Potions class in America. He tried to make her look like a fool as much as possible. She always kept her cool and Snape hated that. Harry found it funny.

As December drew nearer, the now foursome got excited. They talked about the holidays a lot even when they were mad or didn't feel very happy. There was only one person who Brianne hated more than Snape and that was Draco Malfoy. He was always hitting on her. Harry told her how much he hates Hagrid and people that are not of pureblood. Brianne then had a little fun with the 'Malfoy' situation.

"Hey Brianne!" Malfoy yelled to her as he ran towards her. "Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?"

"Shut up Malfoy," she said. "If you don't stop that, I'm going to tell my uncle."

"Who's your uncle?" he asked.

"Hagrid," she responded.

Malfoy never hit on her again. Harry was glad. He liked Brianne and was thinking about asking her out. But one day when they were in the common room she asked him.

"Harry, I was wondering, if you would like to go out with me." she said. "You know. Like be my boyfriend."

Harry's heart skipped a beat. "Yes. I'd like that!" he answered. "I was just thinking of asking you the same question."

"Cool. I really like you a lot. We have so much in common and we just clicked from the start," she said with a smile.

Brianne got up and went to her dormitory for bed. Harry sat on the couch and waited for Ron who was in the loo. He and Ron went to their dormitories and Harry told him about what happened that day.

"Really?!" he exclaimed trying not to wake anyone. "Go Harry! Does Hermione know?"

"Nope. She'll find out soon enough." Ron chuckled when Harry said this.

The next morning, Hermione confronted him. "Hello Harry. Brianne told me about yesterday. Congratulations." Then she just walked away.

"Wow." said Ron.

The whole school found out about Harry and Brianne by the end of the week. They noticed that Snape started hating them more. Every time he humiliated someone, it was either Harry or Brianne. They didn't care. They just got used to it.

On Christmas morning, Harry woke up to find a pile of presents. Ron had already opened his. Harry opened a rather large one from Mrs. Weasley which had a sweater, some pies, and candy. He was surprised to receive a present from Hermione. She gave him a Rancid CD. Brianne got him some a new shirt. It was emerald green and was a button up. She had also got him some chocolate frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

He went downstairs and thanked everyone who had gotten him gifts and hugged Brianne. She thanked him for what he had gotten her. He got her a silver and emerald necklace that was of a guitar between her initials.

They went down to breakfast and ate bacon, eggs, ham, and toast. They couldn't wait until that night. The night before, Harry told her about the dance. "It is really cool. There is dinner and music. It is a good time to hang out with your friends and not have to worry about homework and stuff like that. It is a really good time."

"I can't wait," she said. "Do you like to dance?"

"Not really, but around you I don't care," he said.

"Thanks."

They all went outside to have the annual snowball fight. Even Hermione joined in. For ten minutes anyway. "I have to get ready."

"For three hours?" asked Brianne obviously surprised that anyone would need three hours to get ready for a dance.

"Yes," she said and walked away.

Brianne just shrugged and went back to the game. There were no teams. It was every-man ("or woman")-for-him/herself. When Harry was making his stash, Ron whispered to Brianne, "I'll give you a sickle to hit Harry in the arse."

Brianne smiled and threw the snowball she had in her hand. It hit Harry directly and knocked him into his snowball pile. They heard him groan in a muffled voice because his face was in a pile of snow.

When he got up, he turned and looked at Brianne and Ron. What he saw made him make a snowball immediately and launch it in that general direction. He looked just as Ron was handing a sickle to Brianne. The snowball missed by about five feet which made Ron laugh. At about 7:30 (the dance started at 8) Brianne announced that she had to go get ready. Harry and Ron continued their battle for about fifteen minutes before they too went to get ready.

They went up to their dorms to get ready for the dance. They went down to the common room to wait for the girls. Harry was wearing his emerald dress robes and Ron was wearing his new ones that Fred and George had bought him.

The girls came down. Hermione was wearing a periwinkle dress robe and her hair was pulled back with some hair loose in some selected places. Brianne was wearing a cerulean blue dress robe with her hair down. Her hair was semi-wavy and there was a hint of sparkles in it. She was wearing a little bit of make-up. This was the first time he had ever seen Brianne wear make-up. She looked beautiful.

They linked arms (Ron was going with Hermione) and headed down to the dance. When they entered, they saw that Dumbledore had booked a cover band that was playing all the songs that Harry liked. They even played the songs that Brianne had played.

They started the show off with "Roots Radical." This was one of Harry's favorites.

"...With the music execution and the talk of revolution bleeds in me when it goes..."

The front man introduced the a band and they then played "Like A Prayer." After the cheering stopped, he told them the name of the next song. They were going to do the song titled "My Friends Over You."

"I'm drunk off your kiss

For another night in a row

This is becoming too routine for me

But I didn't mean to lead you on

And it's alright to pretend that we still talk

It's just for show, isn't it

It's my fault that it fell apart

Maybe you need this

And I didn't mean to

Lead you on

You were everything I wanted

But I just can't finish what I started

There's no room left here on my back

It was damaged long ago

Though you swear that you are true

I still pick my friends over you..."

They finished the song and the entire school went wild. Apparently they liked the song. The band then played some Dropkick Murphys and Rancid songs. Nobody wanted the night to end except maybe Malfoy and the Slytherins. Harry even thought they left early because he didn't see anybody from that house. The band was awesome. Harry had never seen the dance set-up like this. You could eat at anytime and dance anytime. The music was nonstop. And because Harry was with a girl that he actually liked, he had no problem dancing with her. They danced to fast songs and to slow songs. They had a lot of fun.

There was a small crowd inside the Gryffindor tower for the after party. They wanted more music and more dancing. Hermione got her CD's and started the party. It was not as good as the dance but it was close to it.

The next day, Harry was kind of tired. Snape found this out really quickly

"Potter, I do not expect you to sleep or yawn at any time in this class period. If you do, you will receive detention," Snape sneered at him. Again, Snape made him test his potion in front of the class. He was not humiliated though. Harry made sure it was correct. His motivation was to get Snape. Harry was surprised that there wasn't points taken off. He was sure that Snape thought he had help.

Hagrid saw Harry and Brianne dancing. After class, he held them back to talk to them. "I thought it was so cute!" he told them. They both rolled their eyes. "I mean you're a couple aren' yeh?"

"Yes." Harry responded. "We are."

Hagrid made Brianne leave so he could talk to Harry alone. "Now don' you do nothin' to hurt her."

"Hagrid," he replied. "I like her a lot. I wouldn't do anything to hurt her or ruin this."

"How sweet of yeh," said Hagrid.

"Oh shut up." said Harry and then he walked away. 'Why does everyone say that?'

When he got up to the castle, Brianne asked him what Hagrid wanted to talk to Harry about. He explained everything that Hagrid had told him and what he said. He also told her the last thing Hagrid said. She laughed.

When Harry and Brianne got to the common room, Hermione sat them down. "Did you know that there is a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend? I was thinking. Why don't we all go together? I mean, Harry and Brianne, you can change your mind any time if you want to spend time alone."

"Ok, that's cool." Harry said smiling at Brianne.

She smiled back. Hermione rolled her eyes and went upstairs. Harry, Brianne, and Ron sat in the common room talking about what they would do over the weekend. Ron was definitely planning on Honeyduke's and Zonko's. Harry and Brianne didn't know what they were doing yet. He didn't know if she wanted to go to dinner or something. They could just figure it out as they go.

Harry was really liking Brianne a lot. He just couldn't stop thinking about her. Maybe he was actually falling in...'Stop that. There is no way! Is there?'