The trunk was open and partly full as Hermione ran the boys out of the compartment and closed the door. She needed to get changed. She had expanded it to hold her entire wardrobe. Her parents had passed away in Australia while she was fighting a war in England and Scotland. Harry had made her move in with him for the summer, not wanting her to be alone. She'd just decided that she needed to go back to the muggle world and find work when she received an unexpected offer. McGonagall had already told her she would be Head Girl. Then she asked her if she would like to be a substitute teacher in her favorite class, Transfigurations. Hermione had jumped at the offer. It would be a place to live during the school year and she could use her salary to pay bills and support herself over the summer and holidays. She figured it would be a good idea to make sure she was already dressed appropriately for the position.
In all six years that she'd been doing this, there hadn't been any problems. This year, there was a problem. As soon as she was alone and only partly changed, the train had hit a bump. She was knocked towards her trunk. She squealed as she just barely hooked her feet on the sides. Now, she was hanging upside down, INSIDE her blasted trunk! Due to the depth of it, she was unable to pull herself up. She still didn't know wandless magic and she'd laid her wand down on the bench opposite of her trunk. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' She berated herself. She felt extremely vulnerable with her arse sticking up and her legs waving wildly, especially as she was wearing only a shirt and skimpy lace trimmed knickers! 'Merlin! Please don't let any students come along and catch her like this! She'd never hear the end of it!'
She grabbed her necklace and squeezed on the enchanted galleon that she never took off. "Harry! Ron! Help!" Hopefully, they weren't in the midst of changing themselves. Although it would be positively embarrassing for them to see her like this, it would be absolutely horrifying if she had to stay here until they reached Hogsmeade before they decided to come back to the compartment.
Harry and Ron jumped, not expecting the vibrations of the coins in their pockets. They had run into the Patil twins and were flirting up a storm. They had just invited them to Hogsmeade for dinner when they received the summons. They glanced up as two more former students walked by. They'd noticed a lot of their age mates as well as a couple of older ones were coming back to finish their education. These were two of the older ones. They had dropped out halfway through their seventh year and hadn't been the best students before then.
Harry recalled seeing one of them watching Hermione quite a bit in third and fourth year. As far as he could remember, though, the guy had never approached or even spoken to her. He tried to remember which one was the older twin. 'Was it the blond or the brunette?' He shrugged, it didn't really matter because he was about to play matchmaker and send the guy after her.
"Oi, Grey!" Then he cursed as both of them turned to look at him. He looked at the brunette. "Would you mind going by and checking on Hermione for me? We left her changing into school robes. No doubt she's probably waiting for us to get back."
Philip Grey stared at Potter with cool blue eyes. "Sure." He said and turned to walked off. Harry's mouth dropped at how easily he'd agreed. His brother, whose name Harry couldn't recall, told Harry.
"He doesn't speak much. He's the shy one, Potter. Don't worry about a thing. I'll keep an eye on him." With a small flip of his hand the boy walked off after his brother. Harry looked at Ron who smiled reassuringly at him.
"Can you believe that guy? Just sending you after some random bint?" Max Grey asked his brother. He fully expected Philip to just keep walking. It surprised him when Philip stopped abruptly outside a compartment. "Wait, you're actually going to check on her?"
"Do you know who he sent me after? Do you recall who I was obsessed with in school? You should. You and Thorfinn laughed at me every time I saw her because I'd walk into a bloody wall! Of course, I'm going to check on her!" Philip told him absently, staring at the door. "Wait here. Make sure nobody disturbs us. Knock if you see Potter or Weasley headed this way." He ordered him. Max threw his hands up but agreed as he turned to lean on the wall beside the door. Philip knocked and entered as she called out.
"Harry! Ron! Help me! Please? The train hit a bump and I fell in here!" She yelped, unable to see which of them had answered her. 'Please let it have been Harry'. She and Ron had gone on three disastrous dates before coming to the conclusion they were better off as friends. They were still embarrassed around each other.
His eyes were wide and fastened in her bottom as she desperately tried to pull herself up out of the trunk. He was suddenly glad for two things; one, that he was wearing loose pants and two, that his brother hadn't come in with him! He smiled and strolled over to her. Crouching beside the trunk he raised a hand and ran it along the length of one leg. Hermione froze as she registered that touch. Whoever had just come in here was definitely NOT Harry or Ron. Neither of them would touch her like that. Not without her permission anyway.
"W-who is this? Who are you?" She held her breath. 'Dear Merlin, do not let this be Malfoy or one of his cronies!' If it was, she might as well turn around and go back home. They would definitely never let her live it down.
Philip raised up on his knees and flopped into the trunk beside her. Being considerably taller than her, he was able to easily keep himself anchored. "Hello, Granger. Fancy meeting you here." He grinned wickedly at her. Hermione stared at the darkhaired boy in shock. His long brown hair draped down covering one eye momentarily.
"Philip Grey? What are you doing on the train? How did-?" She asked. He laughed at her as he explained.
"Potter sent me down here to check on you. He and Weasley were trying to chat up the Patils. He did think you would already be dressed, though." He watched as she turned red. He couldn't decide if it was because of her hanging upside down or because he'd mentioned her state of undress.
"I would have been, if I hadn't fallen in here." She rolled her eyes. "Since he did send you and you did show up, please tell me that means you're going to help me out of here?"
"I might be persuaded to help you." He shrugged. She narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled at her. "Dinner and a kiss. That's my price for helping you. Take it or leave it, Granger."
After stubbornly wriggling around some more, Hermione had to admit there was no way she was getting out of here on her own. "All right. Dinner and a kiss. But I get to decide when we go."
Philip raised up and grasped her around the waist. He easily pulled her up out of the trunk, setting her on her feet. Without warning, he swept her into his arms and kissed her. She gasped as he held her close enough to feel the effect she was having on his body. As he released her, she stepped back from him. "I didn't give you permission to kiss me!"
"You didn't tell me NOT to kiss you. You only told me YOU'D decide when we had dinner. I assumed that left me to decide when we kissed." He reasoned calmly. She opened her mouth to argue, then thought better about it. 'He was right, damnit! She hadn't mentioned the kiss, only the dinner.' She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Well, the next time, I get to decide about both!"
"Wow! I must be better at kissing than I thought. We're already discussing a second date and another kiss?" He smiled brightly at her. She huffed in annoyance but smiled at him anyway.
"I suppose we are, unless you want to back out of the whole thing." She gave him an opportunity to change his mind before getting involved. He backed her up to the wall.
"No way, Granger. I've already waited too long as it is." He ducked his head down to kiss her again. This time, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he lifted her up. They kissed until Max knocked, signaling the return of Harry and Ron. Hermione hurriedly slid into her skirt, and they were innocently sitting across from each other as Harry opened the door.