Chapter 3

The small child was smiling at him and stepped behind the tree. Harry hurried across the street and looked behind the tree. To his surprise, the little girl was no where to be found. He frowned and looked up at the tree, but nothing was there. As he walked back across the street, he noticed that the phoenix too was gone. This really confused Harry.

He walked down the street until he came to the little park. Harry jumped the fence and sat down on the swing. Carefully, he opened the letter and read it.

Dear Mr. Potter,

You do not know me but I know you, or rather your parents James and Lily. I know of what you have endured while living with the Dursley's and everything you have triumphed over while at Hogwarts. I am quite sure you have many questions you wish to ask me. Starla will be glad to deliver any message to me that you have. She will return tonight. Do not worry about your location for she will know where you are. May your day go as you planned.

A Friend

Harry read the parchment two more times before stuffing it into his jean pocket. Who was this? He thought. How do they know my mother and father? How did they know about what I triumphed over at Hogwarts? This message confused him. Was it the little girl I just saw or was it someone else?

He was deep in thought when a car horn sounded somewhere near by. He looked up quickly and saw Hermione standing beside a car. She was waving at him as he jumped up and sprinted towards her.

"Harry," said Hermione as he jumped the fence. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Harry said as she hugged him. "You got here fast."

"Yeah well, I called from a payphone," she said. "Come on get in."

Harry climbed into the backseat with Hermione and they were off.

"Oh, Harry, this is my mum and dad," introduced Hermione. "Mum, dad, this is Harry."

Hermione's mother turned around in her seat and smiled at him. "Hermione speaks highly of you," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry."

"Thanks," said Harry. "It's nice to meet both of you, too."

"So what are your guardians like, Harry," asked Hermione's father as he turned the corner.

"It depends on what happens," said Harry. "Lately they've been really nice though."

"So towards you they're not very nice," said Hermione's mother. "How sad."

"Well they're looking forward to meeting you since you're don't have magical powers," said Hermione. "They don't like us magic users."

"Oh really," said her mum. "Why is that?"

"Harry's mum is his aunt's sister," said Hermione.

"Aunt Petunia didn't get very much attention when her parents found out that mum was a witch," said Harry. "She thought they loved mum more than her."

"That's so sad," she said. "So they pretended that you don't exist when companies over?"

"Pretty much," said Harry as Mr. Granger parked the car.

"Here we are," he said as they climbed out of the car.

As they walked up the path, the door opened and there was Uncle Vernon's pink pudgy face peering at them. "About time boy," he hissed as Harry passed him. "Please take our guests to the parlor."

"Yes, sir," said Harry leading the way.

As they entered the parlor, they found Aunt Petunia sitting in a chair by the window and Dudley was sitting on the adamant beside her. Mr. and Mrs. Granger sat on the couch and Hermione sat beside her mother and Harry beside her. Uncle Vernon was the last to enter and sat down in his chair facing the Granger's.

"Harry," said Aunt Petunia politely, "why don't you introduce us?"

"Of course, Aunt Petunia," said Harry. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Granger and their daughter Hermione. This is Petunia Dursley, Vernon Dursley, and their son Dudley."

"Very good, Harry," said Uncle Vernon. "So what do you and your wife do for a living, Mr. Granger?"

"Please call me Frank and my wife Emily," said Mr. Granger. "We're both dentists."

"Harry mentioned that when he asked if you could visit," said Vernon. "I, myself, work for a drill company."

"Drills are very important for new developments," said Emily Granger with a smile. "No matter what they are used for."

"So true," said Vernon. "So you both are non-magical folks?"

"Correct," said Frank. "We were surprised when our daughter, Hermione, received a letter from Hogwarts. Never knew there was any magical blood in our family."

"Well, magic is a very weird thing," said Vernon forcing a smile onto his face. "Harry, why don't you and your friend go up to your room while us adults talk. You too, Dudley."

"Yes, sir," said Harry jumping up. "Let's go, Hermione."

"Okay," Hermione said as they hurried from the room with Dudley behind them.

As they climbed the stairs, Dudley spoke up. "So how many magic schools are there?" he asked.

"Several," said Hermione. "I couldn't tell you exactly how many cause many of the schools are hidden and never spoken about."

"Foul thing," said Dudley as they stepped onto the landing.

"What?" asked Hermione turning on him. "Foul thing? Are you talking about us?"

All color faded from Dudley's face as he tried to speak. "N-no, not you," he said. "Please don't hurt me!"

"You better go to your room, Dudley," said Harry. "I don't know if I can hold her back if she decides to jump you. Then again I might decide to join in."

Dudley's face was horror struck as he ran into his room and closed the door. Harry laughed as he opened his bedroom door. Hermione was still angry as he closed the door behind her.

"That git," said Hermione. "How dare he said that to me."

"Dudley didn't mean it," said Harry. "It's just a bad habit of his. He's getting out of it actually since I saved his life the summer of our fifth year. It just slips out every now and then."

"He should have controlled himself," said Hermione sitting on the bed. "So this is your room. It's quite small."

"It's better than the broom closet," said Harry sitting beside her. "That's where I was before I got this room a couple years ago."

"Your aunt and uncle are such horrible people," said Hermione. "Foul people."

"They could have been worse," said Harry. "They could have put me in an orphanage and who knows who I would have ended up with then. Maybe someone far worse than the Dursley's."

"That's true," said Hermione, looking at him guiltily.

Harry took her hand into his and said, "At least I can move out at the end of this school year. Maybe that's why the Dursley's are being so nice to me."

"Yeah," she said. "Are you and Ron going to get an apartment?"

"I don't know," he said. "I was thinking about moving into Sirius' old house."

"Even thought he's not going to be there," she said.

Everyone knew how close Harry and Sirius had grown since they had met each other two years earlier. Hermione had grown closer to Harry since his godfather's death at the Ministry of Magic. Harry confided things with her that he thought his good friend Ron would not understand. Even though they both were wizards, Ron still didn't understand things like Hermione who was raised like a muggle.

Something rested on Harry's shoulder as he looked out his window. He looked to his left and saw Hermione leaning against him. In his opinion, she seemed sadder than usual but he couldn't figure out why.

"You seem down, Hermione, why?" asked Harry. "Is it because this is our last year at Hogwarts? Or is something else bothering you, like Ron?"

"It's Ron," Hermione said standing up and walking over to the window. "I don't know if he ever told you or if you ever found out but we were going out last year."

"Yeah I know," Harry said, adding quickly, "Ron told me when I cornered him and made him tell me what was going on."

"Well Ron and I broke up," Hermione said. "He's just to childish for me. Plus he wants to know what everything is if he doesn't know what it is."

"That sounds like Ron," Harry said standing up. "I didn't think it would last very long. Is that the only reason you two broke up?"

"No, he hated the fact that I was still communication with Viktor Krum," she said. "I stopped the relationship because I liked someone else and I didn't want to hurt Ron."

"Oh," he said.

Harry had liked Hermione for a while now. She was there when things didn't work out with Cho and there was always that little spark between them ever since they met during their first year at Hogwarts. He wanted to be more than friends with this young lady. They had shared one innocent kiss at the very end of their sixth school year when Hermione had accidentally kissed him on the lips cause he turned his head when she gave him a hug.

"I see that your still keeping your hair smooth," he said to break the silence between them. "I think it looks better than before."

"So do I," she said running her hand over it quickly. "It's a forever smooth spell that I did for the Yule ball. I can still do things with it like curl it and things. It just won't be frizzy ever again."

"That's good," he said with a smile.

"Can I ask you a question, Harry?" she asked moving closer to him.

"Er...sure," he said.

"When we accidentally kissed at the end of last year, did that change the way you look at me?" she asked, looking at him shyly.

Harry had feared something like this being asked by her. His brain worked as quickly as possible.

Tell her the truth, said a voice in his mind. The truth is the only thing that'll work here right now. Tell her how you feel about her.

"Yes it did," he said looking out the window.

She then gave a small sigh and shook her head. "I thought so," she said.

"What do you mean, Hermione?" he asked looking at her.

"That kiss hurt our friendship," she said. "We'll never look at each other the same again."

"Come on, Hermione," he said. "Everything we do changes the way people look at us."

"Yeah but that kiss distanced us," she said.

"No, it hasn't. The only thing it did was make me realize how much I..." Harry's words drifted off.

Hermione looked at him and said, "Made you realize what? Please, Harry, tell me."

"It made me realize how much I actually care for you," confessed Harry. "I've kept this inside for two years now. My feeling for you have always been there but I needed something to make me see them and that kiss was what I needed."

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. Had he been wrong about admitting his true feeling to her? Should he have kept his mouth shut and said something else to ease her mind? No, he thought, this is exactly how it was suppose to happen. But she doesn't feel the same for me.