Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter


Chapter 2

"How is Mr. Potter doing?" Albus Dumbledore asked as he glanced around the table. Minerva was seated at his left, Filius next to her, while Severus and Pomona were on the other side. He had specifically called this meeting to find out about Harry and how the students were treating him. He had heard some terrible things from the portraits about his treatment.

"It seems that the whole school is convinced Mr. Potter has placed his name in the tournament. Some of the words they are calling him..." Minerva trailed off, her face turning solemn.

"Not the whole school. It seems that one of my Eagles, Hermione Granger, has been helping him. She and Mr. Potter came looking for books to prepare for the tournament," Flilis said with blatant pride in his voice. Many of the Ravenclaws thought that Harry had put his name in, thanks in part to Cho Chang, but Hermione didn't allow them her views to be compromised by the House's favor.

"She's the brightest witch in the school. They should make a formidable team," Dumbledore admitted, his beard twitching as he grinned.

"Do we have any leads on who could have placed his name in the Goblet?" Pomona piped up, he eyes full of concern. She was one of the professors who thought that Harry did not put his name in the tournament, even though one of her own Badgers were in it. She was also disappointed with the way her House was acting.

"Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing. I've looked for a way to pull him out of the tournament, but Harry's name entry binded him. Whoever entered him is irrelevant," Dumbledore sadly admitted, regretting ever bringing back this tournament.

"The brat probably got an older student to do it," Snape muttered, all the other Heads rolling their eyes in irritation.

The Headmaster ignored the Potions Master's comment and his eyes twinkled at the thought of Harry and Miss Granger training together. Some of the portraits that were keeping an eye on Harry informed him of Harry and Miss Granger walking to the library after Charms class. She would help prepare him for the tournament and she would be a good influence on him as Ronald Weasley, bless his soul, was a hinderance. He was immature, selfish, and lazy and it had rubbed off on Harry quite a bit.

Maybe with Miss Granger's help, she could help him achieve the greatness he was born to.

-oOo-

"You want me to do what?"

Harry stared at Hermione after her odd instructions and considered her mental health for a second. Knowing that she was sane, he was sure that she was pulling a joke on him, but her face was dead serious which concerned him even more. She sighed deeply and repeated herself, "I said, I want you to walk up and down this corridor three times thinking 'I need someplace to train'."

He blinked once before asking, "Why?"

"Just...humor me," Hermione said, her patience wearing thin. Harry just shook his head and followed her instructions, thinking the sentence over and over again in his head. He felt ridiculous and waiting for Hermione to start bursting out laughing at him, but she just kept her eyes on a spot on the wall.

When he had finished pacing, he stopped in front of Hermione, "Now what?"

She just smiled and walked around him, right over to the spot she was staring at. It now had a door, that he knew wasn't there when he started pacing.

"Where...where did that come from?" Harry asked Hermione, who just smiled at him and opened the door. He followed her in the newly discovered room, before sucking in a short breath.

"Wow," Harry whispered as he and Hermione looked around, "What is this place?"

"It's called the Room of Requirement, or the Come-and-Go-Room. It's when someone really needs something. Like if you needed a place to sleep, you would pace the hallway three times, thinking about a bedroom and it would fill your requirements."

Harry glanced all around the room, some training dummies, bookshelves full of books, everything they would need to train. It was also quite large, the size of the Quidditch Pitch, giving him plenty of space. Harry saw that there was a fireplace with a plush deep blue couch in front of it that he assumed was for Hermione. Harry had only one word to describe the room, "Brilliant."

"Let's get started," Hermione said with a small smile. Harry nodded and followed Hermione over to a table, much like the ones int he library, and sat his things down next to hers.

"First things I think you should learn, and you won't learn this in Charms until later, the Summoning Charm. I think that it will probably help you in the tournament," Harry nodded his agreement.

"Okay, the incantation is Accio and the name of the object. The movement is like this," Hermione created a horizontal half-moon curved upwards. "Professor Flitwick says that it's all about intent and picturing the exact object that you are trying to summon."

She walked over to her bag and took out a quill, before placing it on the ground a couple of steps away fro Harry. "Okay, Summon the quill."

Harry collected his thoughts and pointed his wand toward the quill, "Accio quill!"

The quill puffed off the ground a bit, but that was it. Harry was slightly disappointed and frowned, before looking up to Hermione's encouraging face.

"Try again," Hermione repeated after each failed attempt. They were going on ten minutes without success and Harry was getting more and more frustrated. She could see his hands shaking in agitation and his breathing shortening, which she knew wouldn't help his concentration.

"Er...okay, I know," Hermione walked over to Harry and stood next to him, "Close your eyes. Okay, now picture the quill in your mind, the color, the shape, the feel of it as you write. You want the quill to come to you, now make it!"

Harry pictured the quill in his mind, he saw it coming to him, he saw himself holding in his hand, he memorized what it looked like and snapped his eyes open, "Accio quill!"

The quill flew right into Harry's hand and he stared down at it with a large smile on his face, Hermione mirroring the expression.

"Good job. Let's try that again."

-oOo-

"I think that's enough for today," Hermione said after Harry had banished a training dummy across the room. She was jealous; while she had the knowledge in her corner, Harry had raw magical power behind him. He didn't pick up summoning and banishing as quickly as her, but he could summon and banish objects at further distances. More than being a little green with envy, she was a little proud of him.

Harry to admit that he was having fun learning these new spells and that Hermione was a good teacher. She gave him clear instructions and kept on his case in a second when he would whine and moan about him being 'hopeless'. He found it to be annoying when he was frustrated, but realized that it gave him a swift kick in the arse and got him going. She motivated him to keep going and to not quit. He couldn't help but think of Ron, and how he would have given up after a couple of failed attempts. Hermione didn't even give him that option.

Another thing, he was having fun for the first time since his named was pulled. He liked banishing and summoning, banishing things far away. He also liked seeing the impressed look on Hermione's face when he did so.

His mood dampened when he realized that they had to go to dinner. The night before, he sat alone at the Gryffindor table, everyone making sure to keep their distance from him like he was going to snap at any time. The first and second years gawked at him, the third years looked like they were being cautious, while the fourth through seventh years glared at him.

He was especially upset when the Quidditch team wouldn't say anything to him, not even the Weasley twins. To be honest, it seriously pissed him off, and he didn't know if he wanted them to talk to him anymore.

"If they didn't believe you over this, were they really your friends to begin with?"

Professor Flitwick's words seemed to be making a lot of sense to him. Were they really his friends, or did they just care about all the 'Boy-Who-Lived' fame?

He had glanced up and saw Hermione in almost the same situation as him, though her classmates weren't that far away from her. She was also sitting near a blonde girl, but they weren't talking to each other. She was ostracized from her own House, and he didn't know why. Who cares if she was bossy or because she was a 'know-it-all', she was a genuinely nice person. She was picked on constantly, and she didn't deserve it. He even laughed about it before, and it further fueled the karma idea. He was getting his comeuppance with all his friends being taken away.

He had another thought as he watched her eat her dinner; would it be better to be in Hermione's situation, where she didn't have that many friends to begin with, or to be in his and have them all taken away because of some stupid tournament?

The grass is always greener...

"I don't think I want to go to the Great Hall," Harry muttered.

Hermione looked up to Harry, remembering how he was being treated by his House at dinner. Truthfully, she didn't care to go down to the Great Hall anyway, "Well...why don't we go down, get our food, and then bring it back here?"

She saw his eyes brighten at the idea and he smiled, "I have a better idea. Dobby!"

With a crack, a house elf appeared, surprising Hermione, "Great Master Harry Potter calls Dobby!" the little elf squeaked out, bouncing up and down in excitement as he waited for his orders.

"Dobby this is Hermione Granger, Hermione, this is Dobby," the elf turned toward Hermione tentatively, before seeing the gentle smile on the witch's face.

"Hello, Dobby. How do you do?" Hermione said, offering the elf her hand to shake, but she wasn't prepared for the tears accompanying the introduction and thought she had done something wrong, until the elf opened his mouth.

"Great Master's Grangy treats Dobby kind," he said, tears falling from his tennis ball like eyes. Hermione was a little taken back from the name, but gently took Dobby's hand and shook it in greeting, the same soft smile on her face. Inside, she was fuming that an act of general politeness had such an impact on the elf. It also made her sad because it obviously wasn't normal of him to be treated like someone deserving of it, when he did.

"Dobby, could you go bring Hermione and I dinner?"

"It would be Dobby's honor to," he said before popping out. Harry and Hermione walked over to the table in the room and sat facing each other.

"You have a house elf?" Hermione asked, somewhat disappointed in Harry. It was what she stood against, and didn't know if she could continue to help Harry if he did have one.

"Oh, no, I uh, well, Dobby used to work for the Malfoy family," Harry said and Hermione grimaced at the thought of what that family probably did to the poor elf, "I...kind of...tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing him."

Hermione's eyes widened, the disappointment completely disappearing as she stared at Harry in admiration. "How?"

Before she could answer, Dobby popped back in with two plates full of food, along with utensils, two plates of treacle tart, and two goblets of pumpkin juice. Harry thanked Dobby with a large smile, and Hermione couldn't help but smile at how Dobby straightened up slightly at the gratitude, looking incredibly accomplished.

"Thank you, Dobby," Hermione told the elf, whose cheeks took on a rosy hue as he wrung his hands in front of him.

"It was Dobby's pleasure, Master's Grangy," he said, before popping away. Hermione wrinkled her nose at the name, before grabbing the fork and following Harry's lead, digging into the food.

"How much do you know about what happened in second year?" Harry asked, a couple of minutes after they started eating.

Hermione finished chewing before answering him, "Well, I was one of the students petrified. I heard that you opened the Chamber of Secrets, went down into it with Ron Weasley and Professor Lockhart, used Gryffindors sword to kill the Basilisk, were bitten in the process, almost died, but Dumbledore's Phoenix saved you."

Harry startled at the first piece of information she said. He then remembered how she was petrified alongside Penelope Clearwater because she was inside the castle during the Qudditch match.

He laughed at the other information, since the crazy rumors seemed to spread around the school, and shook his head, "Most of that is fabricated. I did nothing that heroic as it was pretty anti-climactic actually. After everyone started getting petrified, I tried to figure out what the monster was. I figured that if was Slytherin's chamber, then the beast would be a snake. That was the most amount of time I had ever spent in a library, looking for what kind of snake it could be. I found it in Most Macabre Monstrosities about the Basilisk, the King of Snakes, which can kill with a stare. Since everyone didn't see it head on, it only petrified them."

Hermione smiled, impressed with him that he was able to figure it out. She never really believed the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' rubbish. He didn't look menacing when talking to that snake during the duel with Malfoy, he looked desperate to stop it from attacking Justin.

All she could remember about her petrification was yellow eyes in the mirror after she was walking back from the library. Everyone was at the Quidditch game, but she was never a fan so stayed inside. She ran into Penelope Clearwater, who offered to escort her back to the common room. When she had gone home, she knew that her parents would pull her out of Hogwarts, so she just omitted the fact that she was petrified to them. She loved being a witch too much and it took months of begging to them to not pull her out after the troll incident.

"I told Professor Dumbledore, who confirmed it from the portraits and he called Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE. She and a couple of Aurors came to the school and since I'm the only one who can open the chamber because I'm a parselmouth, we all went into the chamber.

"I read that the crow of a rooster is fatal to a Basilisk and Dumbledore used to teach Transfiguration so he transfigured a rooster. When we got into the chamber, we found Ginny Weasley unconscious and a boy in Slytherin robes. The Aurors tried to arrest him, but he wasn't corporeal, all their spells went right through him. Professor Dumbledore called him 'Tom', and the boy showed that his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort'. It was him in his sixteen year old form from when the chamber was last opened and it killed a student. Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin, and a parselmouth.

"Tom was using his diary to bring himself back, using Ginny's life. When he tried to release the basilisk, the rooster crowed and it just dropped dead. Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, delivered the sorting hat and I pulled Gryffindor's sword out of it and Dumbledore told me to stab the diary. When I did, it 'killed' Riddle, but Voldemort is still out there.

"Apparently Ginny was being controlled all year by Riddle through the diary that was slipped to her by Lucius Malfoy in Flourish and Blotts. After that happened, I went to Dumbledore's office and saw Lucius there with Dobby. After they left, I slipped my sock into the diary and gave it to Lucius, saying that he forgot it, who then gave it to Dobby-"

"If you give your elf an article of clothing, then they're freed. Wow...Harry, that's...that's still incredibly heroic! You know how many people you probably saved? You probably saved Dobby's life as well!"

Harry just shrugged shyly, a pink color tinting his cheeks, "It wasn't just me. It was Professor Dumbledore, Madam Bones, and those Aurors."

"Don't sell yourself short. I don't think I would have the courage to do what you did," Hermione saw Harry blushing under her praise, so she changed the subject so she didn't make him uncomfortable, "Wait why wasn't it put all over newspapers?"

"Professor Dumbledore and Madam Bones agreed it would cause more panic than needed, so they kept it under wraps."

"What about in first year? You went against Voldemort then, right?"

"No, not exactly. You heard about the Cerberus guarding the stone, right?" she nodded and he went on to explain every single 'test' they had to go through, watching as her eyes became wide and wider, "I couldn't get past the last 'test', a logic puzzle, but Professor Dumbledore found us and brought us back. We thought that Snape was trying to steal the stone, but Snape wasn't even in the castle at the time. Hermione, I'm about to tell you something I've never told anybody and I'm not really supposed to tell anybody, so you can't tell anybody about anything I've told you and what I'm about to tell you."

Hermione saw his grave look and nodded, taking out her wand, "I, Hermione Jane Granger, swear on my magic to never disclose any information that Harry Potter has entrusted to me to anyone without his permission, so mote it be."

Harry's jaw dropped as a white light surrounded Hermione before disappearing, "What the hell was that?"

"A magical oath," Hermione said, but Harry just stared at her with a blank look, "You've never heard of magical oaths?"

"No."

"Well, if I ever tell anybody what you're about to tell me or anything you've told me that you don't want me to, then I'll lose my magic."

"What?! Why would you do that?!"

"So you know that I won't tell anybody. Now you know that I'll never tell anybody," she then frowned, "You know, you should have just sworn a magical oath when your name came out of the goblet. There would be no way for people to not believe you then."

"How would I do that?"

"'I, state your name, swear on my magic that I did not enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament, so mote it be.' Then you would do the lighting spell or whatever you wanted to prove that you still have your magic and in turn, weren't lying. We've gotten off topic," Hermione said, watching as Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Right. Voldemort was sharing a body with Professor Quirrel the whole year. His face was in the back of his head and he was using unicorn blood to preserve him, to give him strength, to keep him alive."

"That's why he would sometimes talk to himself," Hermione muttered, before glancing back up, "Did Dumbledore know that whole time that Voldemort was 'in' the guy teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"He told me, and I quote, 'I believe the saying is to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer'. He felt better knowing where Voldemort was, where he could watch him, instead of him being out there and doing..."

"Wow," Hermione breathed out, in awe of what this boy had to go through in the past. She couldn't even imagine going through all that, and being able to live to talk about it.

"Anyway, Quirrel eventually died because he couldn't get the stone as it was safe in the Mirror of Erised. The mirror is-"

"I know what it is," Hermione said, having read about it in passing before.

"Right, well it was in the mirror and Quirrel had no idea how to get it, so supporting not only his soul, but Voldemorts spirit, put too much strain on his body and he just dropped dead one day. His 'spirit' is still out there, though."

Hermione was in awe as she looked at the boy sitting across from her, chewing on a piece of treacle tart like they had been talking about the weather. She used to have a quiet respect for him, but that respect has shot up off the scale with all that he had done.

"Why did you seem disappointed when you thought that I had an elf?"

Hermione smiled somewhat sheepishly, "I want to work on getting equal rights for elves. Well, not just elves, but werewolves, centaurs, and giants. All magical creatures who are treated lower than their worth. I'm looked down upon because I'm muggleborn and I know that, if this world doesn't change its views, I might be denied job opportunities in the future. Like Professor Lupin, he was the greatest defense professor we've ever had, but fired because of his lycanthropy, that's not his fault and furthermo-why are you smiling?"

"Professor Lupin was one of my dad's best friends. I actually live with him and my godfather, Sirius. You heard about last year, right?" at her nod, he continued, "I think he would like your views and so would my godfather. They would support you wholeheartedly."

"He was our best teacher. He didn't use Unforgivables on us," Hermione grimaced, remembering Professor Moody casting the Imperius on them during their lesson. She then shook her head, "Enough heavy stuff...why don't we play the question game?"

"How do you play?"

"You ask a question, I answer; I ask a question, you answer and so on and so forth. It's a way to get to know someone better, so you ask simple questions like favorite color, food, etc."

"Okay, you start," Harry said to Hermione as he wiped his hands on the napkin Dobby provided.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red...what's your favorite food?"

The two went back and forth, answering each other's questions, finding out their likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. Harry had never done this before and liked finding out things about Hermione, who was taking the time to get to know him. He sometimes felt like people assumed that they already knew him because of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' fame, but Hermione just wanted to know Harry, and he appreciated it.

"What are your parents like?" Harry asked Hermione, after hearing her talk about her mum.

"They're both dentists and they own their own practice in Kent. Everyone always says I look exactly like my mum, but I have my dad's eyes-what's so funny?"

Harry was still chuckling, "Everyone always says that I look exactly like my dad, but I have my mum's eyes. It's the opposite."

"All of my mum's friends say that I'm her mini, since we're both bookworms. She's also my best friend...is that pathetic?"

"Not at all," Harry said, shaking his head with smile. He was happy that Hermione had a good relationship with her parents, and also a little jealous. Knowing those thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere, he shook his head. "How do you know so much already? The Charms, the spells..."

"Professor Flitwick taught me many of them already."

"Really?"

"He is my Head of House. Whenever I...I was teased and I didn't want to be in the Great Hall, I would go to Professor Flitwick's and he would teach me all advanced Charms. His classroom was a sanctuary...still is and then he showed me this place, where I could escape to," Hermione admitted quietly, that lapsed them into a pregnant silence. Harry squirmed a bit, before raising his eyes to Hermione.

"Can I ask you what happened Halloween in first year?" Harry asked, his voice barely audible over the cackling of the fire.

The witch gave a sad smile, before looking down at her lap. Harry was about to tell her that it was okay to not tell him, but she started anyway, "I ran right to the bathroom after I heard Ron's words, I stayed in there all day...I heard a loud noise and a smelled a really bad stench. When I walked out of the stall, I came face to face with an eleven foot forest troll. I screamed and he started swinging his club wildly, blocking the exit. I kept evading him and he was getting frustrated and then I saw an opening to the door. I tried to take it, but the troll saw and swung his club.

"He caught me and it threw me into the wall...I lost consciousness after that but Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape found me. I woke up in the hospital wing a week later with a broken leg, broken arm, cracked ribs, and a concussion. I was lucky I didn't crack my skull open...but I guess I had pretty good padding with all this bushy hair," she half-heartedly joked, trying to smile that came out as more of a grimace.

"Madam Pomfrey healed everything okay, but she had some difficulty with my leg, hence the limp."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Harry felt as if he had been punched in the gut. That must have been terrifying for her, and no one thought to go check on her. He never even gave her a second thought on Halloween. He was a selfish git and he felt shame. Shame like he had never felt before, "I'm so sorry. I should have stopped Ron from talking, I should have come for you, I could-"

"Woulda, coulda, shoulda," Hermione shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring Harry's surprised look, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't live in the past, or it will eat you alive. All you can do is pick yourself up and move forward."

Harry glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost curfew.

"I guess we should head back," Harry sighed, not wanting to leave just yet. "I had fun."

"Me too," Hermione said with a smile, "We should...do this again."

"Definitely," Harry agreed. Both of them cleaned up their things, Dobby popping in to bring the plates, goblets, and utensils back to the kitchens. Harry and Hermione grabbed their things and walked to the door. They walked together in a comfortable silence, all the way to where they separate to go to their towers.

"Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Harry."

-oOo-

Harry had a smile on his face as he strolled back to the Gryffindor tower, feeling the perpetual weight on his shoulders growing even lighter with each step. He wasn't even dreading walking into the tower where he knew the glares and stares would wait for him. As soon as he walked into the dorm, he saw that it was empty, save for Neville Longbottom. He walked over to his bed, stopping up short when he heard Neville's timid voice.

"Hey, Harry?"

"Neville."

"Listen, I j-just want you to know that...I thought about it and I don't believe that you put your name in. I'm sorry for believing it at first though and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I really am sorry," Neville said quietly, not meeting Harry's gaze.

The green-eyed boy studied Neville, who was fidgeting nervously, but trying to be brave. He was close to snapping and asking why he didn't defend him or at least speak up for him, when he remembered how shy and insecure Neville was. He sighed and nodded his head with a small smile, extending his hand.

"Thanks, Neville."

The slightly pudgy boy took Harry's hand and shook it, nodding his head, "I tried talking to Ron, to get him to see reason...you can probably guess how that went."

"Don't worry about it," Harry shook him off, before throwing his things in his trunk and starting to get ready for bed.

Harry felt himself changing through all of this. He wasn't sure if he would even want to be friends again with all who abandoned him after the tournament. He wasn't sure if he could forgive them, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to. If they were true friends, they would have taken his word for it, right?

-oOo-

It was a couple of days later that the whole school, minus a few like Hermione and Neville, had been wearing badges that read 'Support Cedric Diggory, the true Hogwarts Champion' before switching to the ever clever 'Potter Stinks'. They had taunted him as they showed him the badges, though her had ignored it quite well. It was just an irritation. Neville had taken a seat across from Harry in the Great Hall the day after he apologized, showing his views. People were now glaring at him as well.

Glancing across the table, he saw Hermione eating her lunch at the Ravenclaw table, the fifth year Charms book in her hand as she diligently read, researching spells for him. For him.

They had been training in the Room of Requirement every night and he had already had the Summoning and Banishing Charms down. They had started on the Blasting Hex with training dummies, which Harry liked as it helped him vent out a lot of frustration. He figured it was just regular teenaged boy stuff with blowing things up. When he told this to Hermione, he smiled when she just rolled her eyes and muttered, "Boys."

He kept questioning why he had never tried to get to know her, why he had never tried to befriend. She was a genuinely nice person, someone who should have millions of friends around her. He had liked talking to her in the Room of Requirement, he had liked training with her, and found himself excited to do it again every day.

Shifting his eyes, he saw some fellow schoolmates averting their stares when they saw him looking and he sighed in annoyance. He remembered Hermione's magical oath and a small smile tugged at his lips. Summoning all of his Gryffindor courage, he stood up on the table, capturing the attention of everyone in the Hall. He saw Professor Dumbledore regarded him curiously, while the other Professors looked like they wanted to snap at him to get down.

He caught Hermione's eye at the Ravenclaw table and smiled, before yelling, "I, Harry James Potter, swear on my magic that I did not enter the Tri-Wizard tournament and that I did not have anybody enter my name for me, so mote it be. Expecto Patronum!"

A stag burst from Harry's wand, proving that Harry was telling the truth. The Patronus pranced around the Hall for a bit, before disappearing. The Hall was stunned into silence, no one daring to talk, no one eating, all of them were gaping at Harry.

The Gryffindors squirmed in their seats as they realized that there was no way the 'cheater' could go around a magical oath, as displayed when he produced his Patronus. Cedric Diggory, who was torn between wanting to defend Harry to his friends, and believing that he put his name in, was reevaluating his choices.

Everyone watched as Harry got down from the table and shouldered his bag, before walking right over to the Ravenclaw table, stopping in front of know-it-all bookworm, Hermione Granger.

"Are you ready for Potions?"

Hermione shook her head to clear her thoughts and couldn't help but give Harry a small smile, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking out of the stunned Great Hall with Harry. They walked to Potions with smiles on their faces, before Hermione commented, "That was brilliant."

She saw that he looked quite satisfied with himself and he caught her look. They both laughed as they made their way toward the dungeons.

-oOo-

All the Gryffindors were in tense silence during Potions as they brewed the Draught of Peace. They looked like they wanted to say something to Harry, but he never paid any attention to them. He and Hermione decided to partner up together and brewed a perfect potion that Snape couldn't even sneer at, though he did try to accuse Harry of copying off Hermione's work.

They had received their grades for their essays and Harry immediately smiled when he saw his. He glanced up to see the greasy git sneering at him, but couldn't find it in him to care. He and Hermione cleaned up their station and walked out of class after they were dismissed.

"How did you do?" Hermione asked and Harry handed over the essay, displaying his 'Exceeds Expectations' grade. She frowned when she saw the grade, handing the essay back to Harry. "Oh, I thought that it was O worthy."

"I don't care about that, this is the first EE I've gotten on an essay in his class. Thanks, Hermione," Harry said with a broad grin, which Hermione couldn't help but return, ignoring the fluttering of her stomach as she looked at him.

"You're welcome," she smiled, both of them lapsing into silence as they walked down the hallway. Hermione kept giving Harry side-glances, before finding it within her to ask him a question she had been wanting to.

"Harry, can I ask you something?" she asked and at his nod, she continued, "Could...could you teach me..."

"Teach you what?"

"The Patronus Charm."

Harry stopped up short walking, causing Hermione to stop as well. He glanced over a little unsure, but saw her looking at him hopefully and knew that this could be his chance to start repaying her for helping him. With a large smile, he nodded, "Sure."

Another perk of agreeing was that it put a large excited smile on Hermione's face, he felt the corners of his lips quirking at the sight. He was basking in the good emotions he was feeling, until they heard a loathed voice, "Well, look at this riff-raff: Scarhead hanging out with the Mudblood. You know, I didn't think you could find anyone worse than the Weasel to hang out with, I guess I was wrong."

They turned to see Malfoy standing there, everlasting sneer present on his face, only it was more prominent as he looked at Hermione, 'the Mudblood'. His two bodyguards were at their posts, Crabbe and Goyle laughing at their boss' 'clever words'.

Harry glared at Malfoy the name that he called Hermione actually sparking his temper for once. Someone's circumstances of birth had no effect on the kind of person they were...actually, it might, considering most of the purebloods he knew were arseholes. His hand itched toward his wand and he was about to snap back, before Hermione opened her mouth.

"You know, I wouldn't talk about people to hang out with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum flanking you there, Malfoy," Hermione said, and Harry had to grin at her words as he saw Crabbe and Goyle share a confused look. Malfoy's face had darkened to a shade of red, his face curling into a snarl as he looked at Hermione as if she was dirt at the bottom of his shoe.

"How dare you speak to me, filthy little Mudblood."

"Don't you dare call her that," Harry seethed at Malfoy, his wand now in his hand while Malfoy took out his own. Getting to know Hermione over the week and then hearing Malfoy call her that made something snap in him. Malfoy was a prick, simple fact, but he had to resist the urge to beat him to a pulp. He was only stopped by a soft hand on his arm.

"It's okay, Harry. He can't help that they're the only words he knows. Oh wait, you also know, 'Wait till my father hears about this!' Malfoy, your lack of vocabulary is just proof how breeding within lines is harmful to brain function," Hermione said, causing Harry to laugh at the look on Malfoy's face. He and Hermione walked around the the three goons.

"Densaugeo!"

They weren't even prepared for the spell, because only a coward curses someone behind their back. It hit Hermione in the back of the head, causing her to stumble forward and fall to her knees. She felt her two front teeth start growing and started whimpering in panic and fear.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled in concern, before turning around to see a smug looking Malfoy. Something snapped as he saw his ferret looking face satisfied and Hermione on the ground. He pointed his wand to the unassuming Malfoy as he was still celebrating his victory and all but roared, "Furnunculus"

Malfoy's perfect alabaster skin turned red as huge painful boils started popping all over his body, appearing on his face, neck, hands, and arms. He started screeching like a little girl, which alerted some of the Professors to come over. Many students had already gathered around to watch the show, while Harry walked over to Hemione and helped her up. He winced as he saw her teeth were growing below her hands as she tried to cover them up.

Professors Flitwick and Snape came rushing over to see the commotion, the Head of Slytherin bearing a snarl on his face as he looked at the spawn of James Potter, "Potter! A hundred points from Gryffindor and a weeks detention for attacking a student!"

"What about him? He cursed Hermione! Look!" Hermione was completely embarrassed but raised her head and removed her hand for Snape to see the evidence.

"I see nothing different with Miss Granger's appearance," Snape sneered with a yellow-toothed smile, which brought tears to the witch's eyes. It was one thing for a student to make fun of her, they were immature and stupid, but for a Professor - an authority figure that she was supposed to trust - to do it, it fractured Hermione's already small confidence as she sobbed and ran toward the infirmary.

Harry stared at his hated Professor with green eyes that were glowing with magical energy. He didn't care what Snape said about him, he could handle it, but when he insulted Hermione, it set Harry off. He started charging to Snape, only to be stopped by a body coming between them. Harry was about to shove whoever it was out of the way, his magic cackling from his finger tips, before he heard something break through the foggy red haze of his mind, "Mate, go to Hermione. She needs you."

He looked up and saw Neville Longbottom, who was the one who stopped him from attacking Snape. He reluctantly nodded his head and with a last glare to the greasy git, took off in the direction Hermione ran. Neville glanced down to the still shrieking Draco Malfoy and smirked, knowing that he had gotten what was coming to him.

"Severus!" Professor Flitwick snapped, the half-goblin looking enraged that the Potions Master just insulted his favorite little Eagle, "That was out of line!"

"Yes, it was," a calm voice said and everyone turned to see the Headmaster, looking sternly at Snape, his usual twinkly blue eyes seemed cold. "My office, Severus. Now."

-oOo-

It was a still shocked Harry that walked into the library the day after the Malfoy incident. The points Snape took off were put right back on and Professor Flitwick assured him that there would be no detention for him. He also thanked Harry for defending Hermione, disclosing that he was close to challenging the greasy git to a duel for what he said.

Harry walked right over to 'Hermione's table' where he found the bushy haired witch already with a couple of books open, scribbling something down. He had followed her to the infirmary the day before where she had gotten her teeth shrunk by Madam Pomfrey. He had noticed they were a little smaller than before, but didn't comment on it. It was one of the things that she was picked on for, and given the chance to get rid of his scar, he would take it.

He thought that her smile was okay before, but now it was really nice looking. However, all warm and fuzzy thoughts were gone and replaced by pessimistic ones as he remembered his and Hagrid's expedition, where he had seen what the first task was going to be.

"Dragons," Harry whispered as soon as he took a seat next to Hermione, the girl raising her head with a confused look.

"What?"

"The first task, I have to face a dragon."

She blinked once, before realization dawned on her face, "A dragon?!" Hermione shrieked, Harry wincing as the volume cut through the silence like a knife.

"SHHH!"

Hermione snapped her head up to see Madam Pince with her finger over her lips in a shushing motion, glaring right at Harry and Hermione, the latter of whom mouthed 'sorry'. The bushy haired witch whipped her head around to Harry, "You have to fight a dragon?"

"I don't know, all I know is that there are going to be dragons in the first task."

"Come on," Hermione said, quickly packing up her things and shoving them in her bag. She grabbed Harry's arm and started pulling him out of the library, her legs moving at a fast rate that made her limp a little more prominent. She didn't let go of his arm all the way to the Room of Requirement and Harry found himself not minding the contact.

Once there, Hermione paced the corridor and Harry found a nice room with a plush couch and a roaring fire, a coffee table in front of it with a vase of roses, the same color as Hermione's House. There were a couple of bookshelves in the room, but before he could analyze the room even more, Hermione dragged him over to the couch and pushed him down, before plopping next to him.

"Okay, well, I don't think they're going to make you catch a dragon, but maybe they'd make you get past it to retrieve something...well, you have the Summoning Charm down. You could maybe just summon the object, but I have a feeling they'll put anti-Summoning Charms on them," Hermione thought aloud, slightly panicking when no ideas were coming to her. Usually she had an answer for everything, but she was speechless. The extent of how dangerous the tournament was going to be for him. Dragons, fire-breathing dragons that could incinerate him at any moment during the bloody task.

"We'll figure something out," Harry said, though didn't sound completely sure himself. Hermione just nodded and placed her hand over his, giving a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah, we will."


A/N: Hermione's middle name is Jane in this story. I tried to turn Dumbledore into a good guy. I tried so hard to turn his dumbass decisions into good ones. I hope that I succeeded.

Next Chapter: More preparations, more bonding time for Harry and Hermione, and the First Task.