Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters, But the plot is all mine evil laugh

Chapter 2: Only She Could Make Bookworms Hot

The next day brung the first day of classes. At breakfast, Professor McGonagall handed out the timetables, and he saw that they had Charms first, with the Ravenclaws.

"Hey, that Hermione chick will be in our class again" Cho said unenthusiastically, politely nibbling at her toast.

"Hmmmm" Harry said. this was all Harry could manage at that moment, his mouth was full of bacon and eggs. Ron had so much scrambled egg in his mouth he couldn't even manage a sound. Cho rolled her eyes at the twosome

"You are, like, sooooo, gross" she said, and she deliberately looked the other way.

"That's why you love us" Harry said after he had finished his mouthful, and he tickled her. She giggled, and tried to wiggle out of his reach.

"Nope, come here you" Harry said, whispering in her ear and pulling her close. she hugged him gently, and he let her go.

"You Wish! That's like saying that that Hermione chick likes you for your personality" Cho said, laughing. Harry said nothing, put stood up, put his bag over his shoulder, and walking away without a word. All he heard as he walked away was Ron

"I think you went to far, Cho" he said. Harry walked out of the Great Hall, and towards the Charms classroom. When he arrived, he saw that he wasn't the only earlybird.

"Why, Hello, Miss Granger" He said, and she looked up from her book expecting a teacher, but it was Harry.

"Hi Harry!" she said excitedly, grinning. "Why aren't you with Cho and Ron?" she asked, looking around him to see if there was anyone else.

"Well, It's quite a story" he said, leaning against the wall.

"Well sit down and tell me about it." She said, closing her book and placing it in her bag.

"Okay, When we were looking at our timetables, Cho said that you were in our Charms class, and Ron and I were stuffing our faces with food" Hermione rolled her eyes as he said this, and he prodded her arm and continued "and then I told Cho that that che loved us becasue we were pigs. She said, quote: You wish, thats like saying that Hermione likes you for your personality" As Harry concluded, Hermione's smile fell off her face, and naturally, her eyes filled with tears.

"'Mione" he said, and put his arm loosely around her shoulders.

"What did you call me?" She said, wiping her tears with a little white handkercheif she conjured up.

"'Mione, silly" he said, elbowing her lightly

"No-ones called me that before. I guess, it's because I've never really had a friend like you Harry" She said, looking at her knees and blushing ever so lightly.

"Yeah, well those people were stupid, not to realise the personality, and the amazing girl behind the book" Harry said, standing up, he could hear people walking around on the floor around him, and he pulled her up. She wiped more tears away, and he pulled her close to him.

"One of the positives of being friends with an over-emotional girl is that you get used to these situations." he whispered in her delicte ear, and she hiccoughed.

"What's going on?" Cho was yelling down the corridor.

"Nothing, Hermione was simply a bit upset." Harry replied, stepping forward.

"Harry, I'm Sorry, I just don't want you to get hurt." Cho said, throwing herself into Harry's arms.

"It's Okay, Cho" he said, hugging her back. Cho was sobbing into his shoulder, and he rolled his eyes at Hermione, who stiffled her giggles as coughs. The rest of the class had arrived by now, and no-one really took any notice of Cho. Every knew she was a bit of a drama queen. When Professor Flitwick opened the doors, Harry and Hermione were the first to enter the classroom. Harry followed Hermione, ignoring the aggitated whispers from Cho.

"Is this seat taken?" Harry asked Hermione, indicating to the seat right next to her. Hermione shook her bushy head, and her hair lightly tossed around her head. God, She looks gorgeous! once he had sat down, he casually glanced around the classroom, his usual seat was taken by Ron, and Cho was in a big rant to him, glaring as she spoke. Harry slowly pushed his chair over just a little bit closer to Hermione's chair.

"I'm not that good at Charms, so if you lose some of your beautiful hair, I'll pay for the replacement" he warned her, grinning at Hermione, who after she realised it to be a joke, giggled slightly, and smiled.

The class had to practise their Summoning Charms, which Harry had had no previous experience at.

"Okay, Harry, you need to visualise the object coming to your hand. concerntrate hard on the object." Hermione instructed, and Harry grinned.

"Accio quill" he said loudly, and the quill shook a little bit, but didn't move.

"Focus, Harry, you can do it!" Hermione coaxed him

"It'd be easy if there wasn't a gorgeous girl next to me, its a tiny bit of a distraction" Harry was flirting with her, grinning as he watched the quill. She didn't really see that he was flirting with her, but she still blushed.

"Your not next to Cho today Harry" Hermione replied, and she held his wrist. "It's more of a swishing movement" she commented, swishing his wrist.

"I know that I'm not, Hermione" he said, and he practised his swishing. "Accio Quill" he exclaimed, and the quill picked itself up, and flew into his hand.

"Nice one Harry!" she said excitedly.

"You're more excited than me 'Mione" he said, and he nudged her. "Does it work on people?" He asked interestedly Wouldn't mind summoning her to me on a lonely night he thought, looking her up and down.

"Yeah, I guess, I don't really know. Would you like to try summoning someone in the classroom?" She said, looking mildly amused. Who will he summon? she thought, watching him intently. Harry got up, and moved along a couple of seats, until there was a nice clear space between the two. Oh No! she thought horridly.

"Accio Hermione!" he shouted, and most of the class had stopped to watch. Hermione felt her body tingling, and she was lifted off the ground. she looked frightened as she flew the 3 or so metres to Harry. she landed on his knee, with his hand on her chest. they both blushed, and the class exchanged looks and got back to work. Harry moved his hand after what seemed like an eternity to the two of them, and Hermione looked into his emerald eyes.

"Cho's wrong, I do like you for your personality" she whispered, and she stood up. he followed her back to his original seat, and he looked around the room, and saw Cho glaring at him and Hermione.

"What's she glaring at?" Hermione said, slightly nudging her head in Cho's direction.

"Meh. Maybe she's falling for you 'Mione" he said, and the two of them laughed. Cho deliberately looked away, and Harry resolved to apologise after he had said goodbye to Hermione

"See ya 'Mione" He said, after he had finished collecting his things.

"Catch you later Harry" Hermione replied, grinning at him, and exiting the classroom quickly.

The final class of the day was Transfiguration. Harry sat with Cho and Ron, but he waved and smiled at Hermione as she entered the classroom. Professor McGonagall spent the first quarter of the class lecturing everyone on the importance of their upcoming O.W.Ls, which took place the following June. Harry gazed at Hermione, who was writing notes intently, and he also heard Parvati and Lavender giggling behind him, which irritated him. Professor McGonagall then got them started on conjuring water using a handing little spell,

"Well done Miss Granger, take a well earned twenty points for Ravenclaw" Professor McGonagall's voice rung out across the classroom, no longer than ten seconds after everyone had started. Hermione had managed to get water in her goblet on her first try. She was blushing, her ivory complexion glowing rosy. Harry had also managed to conjurer water half way through the period. He stood up, but managed to half crouch so McGonagall wouldn't notice him, he wandered through the rows of desks, and tapped Hermione's shoulder, before sitting in the vacant seat next to her.

"Hey" he said, and she looked at him

"If Professor McGonagall saw you she'd---" Hermione started

"What? give me a detention? I'd rather get to talk to you for a couple of minutes" He interupted, and making her blush again.

"So?" Hermione said, turning slightly to get a better look at him.

"What are you up to after this lesson?" Harry asked her interestedly.

"I'm going to the common room to get my Homework, then going to the library to do my homework" she said simply

"Why the library? Why not your common room?" he asked her, feigning interest.

"Becuase, well I only get insulted in the common room, by those pratts behind us" she said, nudging her head backwards, and seeing her hair bouncing made him want to stroke it.

"How could anyone insult my 'Mione?" Harry said thoughtfully, more to himself than to her.

"Return to your desk please Mr Potter" Professor McGonagall had spotted him sitting next to Hermione, the two of them chatting animatedly. so he stood up, smiled at his Transfiguration Professor, and returning to his spot next to Cho. There was still 15 minutes left in the lesson, so Harry leaned back on his chair and enveloped himself in his thoughts. I should go and stuy with Hermione in the library. It could be fun. It would get me out of the common room anyway, Fred and George aren't exactly the best study conditions. Yeah, I think I'll do that. Hermione, she's great. Maybe I should ask her out. No! she can hardly speak to you without blushing, like Ginny used to in third year. hmm. I'd talk to Cho about that, but she doesn't really like Hermione. Ron, well he's completely tactless. Parvati and Lavender, well the whole school would know in about ten minutes after i asked them about it, they're such gossips. Fred and George, well they might be good with jokes, but not that great with girls. SIRIUS! he's like cassanova, flirting with all the witches in the Leaky Cauldron, or in Diagon Alley. The period had just finished. Everyone had started packing up when Harry was bought back to earth. Hermione had already left. Bugger, he thought. Cho was especially chatty, she was pleased that Harry was in a good mood, and she had managed to conjure water towards the end of the period.

Dinner was a plaicd affair, everyone more consumed in their own thoughts, than in each other. even Ron kept his talking-with-his-mouth-full dinner tradition to a bare minimum. Cho spent most of dinner twirling spaghetti bolognaise. Harry saw with amusement, that at the Ravenclaw table, Hermione was doing the same thing with her spaghetti. resolving not to let Cho see, he immediatley attempted to distract Cho

"Hey Cho, do you reckon O.W.Ls are really going to be that dificult?" Harry said, and he accomplished his ai. her full attention was on him

"Nah, But there's things we can do without qualifications, like modelling" Cho said, smirking and flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"What's the chance of it working out though?" Harry said, and then regretted it

"Are you implying that I'm not pretty enough to be a model?" Cho shreiked, people sitting at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables looked around to locate the shouting.

"No!" Harry said frustrated. Cho had turned the other way

"Just go Harry" she said firmly, her voice dropping to a mere whisper.

"Fine" he said, and stood up and stomped out of the Great Hall for the second time that day, and stormed up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia" he said to the Fat Lady, and the portrait opened, letting Harry into the Tower. Harry threw himself into the armchair by the fire. Harry thought about going to see Hermione in the Library and writing a letter to Sirius, so he collected up parchment, quills, and ink in his bag, with a list of his current homework assignments in his backpack, fiddled with his hair, and used a handy spell to get the dust of his robes. he pretty much sprinted down the spiral staircase, and sat at his favourite table int he common room.

Dear Sirius

How's things going at Grimmauld Place? hope Kreacher's not getting you down! Hogwarts is great as usual, but things between me and Cho are a bit shaky, must be that time of month, but I don't want to know.

I met this girl, Hermione Granger, in the prefect carriage on the train. We're good friends now, and I really like her, in fact, we're going to study together in the library, excpet that it's a surprise on her part. I want to ask her to Hogsmeade but I have no idea how. I didn't know how to ask, Cho doesn't like Hermione, and Ron, well, you know how tactless he is, and I couldn't think of anyone else, but I know you're a bit of a cassanova, so I thought I'd ask you, so any advice on how to ask this girl out, reply

Love,

Harry

he signed his name, and ran out of the tower. He took the long way to the Library, to avoid Cho and Ron and take his letter to the owlery for hedwig. Hermione was already in the Library, her nose almost on the parchment, scratching away with her quill, a huge pile of text books in front of her.

"'Mione?" he said, sitting down next to her. she jumped, and ended up with ink on her nose.

"Hey Harry" she said, and watched him take out his things.

"You have ink, right there" Harry licked his finger, and rubbed the ink on her nose.

"Oh, right thanks" she said, and she smiled. Harry set up his parchment and ink, and went to find some books.

"Hey, 'Mione?" Harry called, from a shelf over, he reappeared a second later, with a book in his hand.

"Yeah?" She replied, looking up to see him.

"What are you up to this weekend?" he asked innocently.

"Um, well, I've got lot's of study to do, Harry" she said. What's he suggesting? she thought,

"Oh, Okay, forget I asked" he said, and he settled down next to her, and opened a book. Harry sighed as he flicked a page in A History of Magic and Hermione looked up at him, but he was concerntrating hard on the page of his textbook.

"'Mione?" Harry said queitly as he finished his History of Magic essay.

"Yeah?" Hermione replied, flicking through a book that Harry coudn't see the name of.

"Have you finished your homework?" he asked her, looking up into her eyes, as he jabbed his wand at the parchment. his name wrote itself on the parchment, and it rolled itself up.

"Yes" she said shortly, still completely engrossed in her book.

"Then, no offence, but why are you still here?" he said, and then realised how rude he sounded

"I wanted to hang out with you" she said, though it was barely audible even by Harry, who was right next to her.

"That's nice of you" he said, and sqeeuzed her hand. She blushed crimson, something that Harry had seen Hermione do numerous times.

"You look so cute when you blush" he said, in a miniscule voice, so that she barely heard, and he worked on the second half of his potions essay (he had done the first half in the common room that afternoon.

Soon, Harry, like Hermione had completed all of his homework.

"So, I guess you'll be off now" Hermione muttered, surveying her page.

"Not if you aren't" he said, grinning across the table. Hermione merely smiled, and looked up at him, and their eyes met, and they froze. Harry leaned forward, towards Hermione to grab a textbook

"well then, I suppose we should get comfortable" said Hermione, and her eyes left his, and they settled into their books.