With a determined gasp, Harry Potter threw himself into a random door on the side of the long, blank hallway of which he had been charging down just a second before. Putting his handsome, dark head on the study wooden door, Harry listened as he heard the approaching footsteps. It took all his strength not to leap away from the door and hide as the footsteps stopped by the door…but then they moved away. With a sigh of relief, Harry brought out his wand and whispered Lumos. From the light coming from the wand, Harry could see that it was just an ordinary room…small, stone, and empty. Sliding down the door and catching his breath, relief was wrought all over the 17-year-old boy's face. What thing could have caused him so much horror? Snape, perhaps, chasing him in the dead of night? Filch, having caught Harry doing something wrong? Some horrible 3-headed beast that wanted Harry's blood? None of the above, actually. What Harry was hiding from was his own ex-best friend, Hermione Granger.

Why, oh why, did it come to this? Thought Harry in more anger than sadness. Looking off into the distance, Harry forced himself to remember how it had started. It all began at the very first day of 7th term, four weeks ago…

Dragging his trunk through a crowd of muggles, Harry couldn't wait to see his friends again. Ron had written a few times, but the boy was such a lazy teen that he hardly bothered to. It always made Harry laugh to see the "and you better appreciate the trouble I went through to write this!" that finished nearly ALL of Ron's letters. It was Hermione's silence that depressed him. He hadn't gotten a single letter from her. He had tried writing twice, but when she didn't reply, he figured she was on vacation. But on vacation ALL SUMMER? Thought Harry, depressed, as he raced through the wall of platforms 9 and 10. And the first sight that met his eyes was a crowd of redheads, all 9 of the Weasleys, come to see Ron and Ginny off. Mrs. Weasley was drying her eyes, and Mr. Weasley was congratulating Ron, who had decided to take Animal Studies as his profession. Charlie was going to tutor him as soon as Ron got out of school, as Ron had informed him in one of the letters. Even Percy was there, looking rather miffed that his own brother hadn't chosen working at the Ministry. Ron looked rather embarrassed that his whole family was there, but he was talking easily with them, occasionally casting around a watchful eye for friends. Ron wasn't the string bean he had once been…he had filled out a lot, yet girls still seemed to like him a lot. Fred and George were there, too. Fred was hugging Ginny, and George was chatting with Ron with his arm was around his now 3 year girlfriend, who was Harry and Ron's age. Bella, who was a pretty round-faced blonde, was grinning and talking with Charlie, but she still had her arm around George. It was an amusing sight, and looked like fun. Harry smiled to himself and was about to head over there when a shriek stopped him.

"HARRY!! DEAR!! OH MY GOODNESS! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN SO LONG, DARLING!" Harry looked around, confused, but before he could see who had called out he was nearly knocked to the ground by a girl flying into his arms. The girl was VERY outgoing, having wrapped her legs around Harry's waist so that she was just being held up by Harry's strength. Harry was clueless as to who it was, although the thick chestnut brown hair that was cut in a stylish, short fashion seemed oddly familiar…

"Hermione?!" he said, a statement along with a question. The girl took her face away from Harry's chest, where it had been buried, and she beamed. No doubt…this girl was Hermione. Dropping gracefully to the ground, Hermione said in a loud voice to Harry,

"Harry! Dear! You remember me! Oh my goodness, I just LOVE you!! Why didn't you write, doll? Dear…" but Harry blocked out the rest. This was not at ALL like Hermione! What was wrong?

But before his brain could wonder, his eyes started going berserk. Last year, Hermione had still been a rather awkward-looking chick. Thin like a stick, with an oddly large face for such a small body and HUGE hair that seemed to swallow her up, Hermione hardly seemed like the girl that would attract much attention. Now, however…well, those three months that Harry hadn't seen Hermione…wow, had she CHANGED!! She had spectacular curves that would drive any guy wild, her breasts had blossomed from the nothing last year, and just kept on blossoming! Her face was thin in a beautiful way, and she looked so gorgeous that she would drive any guy wild just as she was, but that apparently was not enough for Hermione. Her face was plastered with lipstick, eye shadow, eyeliner, blush…you name it, was on her face. And instead of Hermione's nice little pleated skirts that she had worn last year…she was wearing a skin-tight black miniskirt that looked PAINTED on! Her shirt was no better…a small tank-to that covered her belly button, but it came down far enough to make ANY girl walk off in a huff of jealousy. It made Harry's breath catch in his throat, but it WASN'T HERMIONE!

And before Harry could question what had happened or ANYTHING, they heard a deep voice call out,

"Oi! Harry! 'Sat you, mate? Long time no see! And who's that…HERMIONE??" Ron stepped up beside them and stared at Hermione with a mixture of wondrous confusion and attraction. The rest of the Weasley family wasn't far behind.

"Harry! Nice to see you again, lad." Said Mr. Weasley, and he and Harry shook hands. But before he could greet the rest of the Weasley family, Mrs. Weasley said sharply,

"Ron, dear? Are you…?" But she didn't need to continue. Ron's eyes were practically spinning out of his head at the sight of Hermione.

"Her-Her-Hermy! Is it…you? Wow, I-I-hello!" choked out Ron, seeing no one but Hermione, who giggled, obviously used to the attention.

"Hello, Ron, dear. Come, Harry, let's get on the train, shall we?" she replied, not even bothering to hide the fact that she would much rather be with Harry.

"Is THIS the little beauty that taught us so much so many years ago? Wow!" cried Fred, eyeing Hermione with something a little less than attraction.

"For once I have nothing to add! Wow! That's all that really describes it!" stuttered George, who was glared at by Bella. Bella hadn't like Hermione as an annoying little know-it-all, and she obviously despised THIS Hermione even more. But before she could voice her opinion, Hermione said,

"Come, COME! Let's go. We must get on the train. COME!" And she dragged Harry onto the Hogwarts Express, with Ron following close behind, him practically drooling.

"I'll be right there!" cried Bella as she started to kiss George good-bye.

In their compartment, Hermione wasn't even TRYING to hide her attraction to Harry, and it was creeping him out. Ron didn't even seem to notice, he hung on everything Hermione said. Girls had always liked Harry…he was, after all, the Boy Who Lived, but this year was different. Having sprouted several inches over the summer, Harry was taller than most boys his age. With his mussed dark hair and blue contacts, Harry had that exact laid-back look that drove most girls wild. His face was lean and handsome, with a great smile that opened up lines on his face. Hermione, like all the muggle girls Harry had attracted over the summer, obviously LOVED this new Harry. And that was how it started. A little start-of-term attraction, a little flirting, and now…

Harry sighed, dragging a hand through his hair in an exact imitation of his late father at his age. He knew it was no use hiding…Hermione would find him, eventually, and then what could he do? When she had first showing off to him that she had been researching sex-related spells, ones that tied people to a bed until they were screwed, or ones that ensured birth control, etc. etc., THAT was when he had started being REALLY freaked out, and started thinking that something was going down a LITTLE too seriously then he would like. And now look at him. Running away from his stalker through blank hallways like a rat. With another sigh, he raised his wand to check out the room again. The walls weren't as hard as they had appeared…in fact; they seemed to be changing from a hard, solid gray to a wobbly, light gray. Mystified, Harry instinctively jumped to his feet as the wall began to move beneath him. Reaching for the door, he found it wasn't there anymore; there was just the gray gloop in which grabbed his hand and sucked it in. He couldn't run away, anyhow…his feet were being sucked in. With a sheepish "uh-oh", Harry waited bravely to be sucked in to wherever this wall was taking him…whether to death, or some place else.