Harry looked over at his two friends, who had frozen in place, and were now gazing into each other's eyes. He shook his head (he had known this was going to happen anyways) and turned to watch the meadows speed by, just green blurs.

"Ronald! Watch where you put your hands!"

Harry turned around, not daring to believe it, but then burst into laughter when he saw what was really going on. "Oh Ron. These are my new robes, and now they're covered in chocolate!" "Hermoine, I can fix it, I swear. Scourgify! To Harry (and Hermoine's, for that matter) immense surprise, Ron's spell had worked. Ron grinned ear to ear, and stuffed his wand in his pocket proudly.

Hermoine glanced out of the window, and jumped up with a start. "We're nearly there. Come on!" The glistening meadows had long disappeared, and had been replaced with the eerie darkness of night. As the three of them grabbed their bags, Harry could have sworn he saw Hermoine slip her hand into Ron's….

InsideTheCastle!

Harry and Ron sat side by side in the Gryffindor Common Room, and watched Hermoine hunch over a book. "Hermoine, it's the first night. You can't possibly have homework." She looked up and gave each of them a frightening glare. "If you two weren't so dense, you would notice that I am reading Hogwarts, A History. You lot wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" She smirked, and returned to her reading. "I hear they get even meaner when they grow old" Ron whispered.

"I heard that, Ron."

"Really though Hermoine, why are you reading that?" Harry asked.

He was now standing behind her, peering down at her.

"If you must know, we've got the Fall Ball coming up in October. It's a costume party, and I'm researching what people have worn in the past. It says here that almost fifty years ago, Dumbledore came as a Chocolate Frog! Can you imagine that?" The three of them exchanged glances, and then burst into laughter.

"Well, I'm off to bed. See you two in the morning".

The next morning, Hermoine came downstairs to find Ron and Harry deep in conversation. "What are you lot on about?" She asked. It was a rhetorical question, and she hadn't really expected them to answer back. "Well, we..-Harry shot Ron a glance-, we wanted to know what your classes were. We forgot to get our schedules last night, you see." Ron finished, lamely. Hermoine shook her head, but set down her bag and pulled out her schedule. "Blimey. Double potions?" "With Slytherin?" Both Harry and Ron shook their heads in disbelief. "And Divination? I thought you dropped that class"

"I've decided that a bit more of that so-called class won't hurt me. But, come on now, we don't want to be late" "Or do we?" Harry thought to himself.

"Class, turn to page 294" A loud, simultaneous rustle took place, as everyone in the class proceeded to open their books. "I would expect that you 7th years would have learned how to be quiet by now" Snape said, his long, pallid face remaining expressionless until he saw Hermoine quickly scanning the chapter. He rushed over and shut the book. "Miss Granger, 5 points from Gryffindor. Reading ahead is not allowed. I'm guessing Potter suggested this to you?" He shot Harry a nasty glance. "In this case, you will be assigned a new partner. Draco."

Hermoine watched as the tall, pale blond-haired boy slowly made his way to her table. She wasn't sure if he had spent his summer working for Voldemort or not, but whatever he had done, it must have been strenuous. She could clearly see beneath his shirt a gentle curve of what looked like a muscle. "What are you staring at mudblood? Weaslebee and Potty don't have to protect you. I wouldn't touch something as filthy as you, anyways". "Oh really? I was under the impression that Pansy would have had a couple of STDS, being the Slytherin whore." Immediately after she said it, Hermoine gasped. She hadn't meant to say that. Malfoy looked as shocked as she. "Didn't know you had it in you Granger.." he said harshly, and turned his back to her…

(hope you like it!  Reviews please.)