Disclaimer: Harry Potter…not mine.

So Hermione paced herself for the excitement of seeing her friends again. Ron and Harry, of course. To her, nothing in Florida mattered. The theme parks and the whole trivia of sunshine and bliss that her Aunt and Uncle had come to savour didn't mean a thing. But now at last, she could be happy. The American foursome were absolutely delightful; apparently it had been Chad and Sara who had sneaked up to her villa in the night and put a charm on the air conditioning so that it only worked for Hermione. Cassie muttered goodnight to her parents and shunted past Hermione for bed which, unbeknown to her, would be an absolute nightmare again.

It was of course quite mean of them to do that…but Hermione found herself thinking about the smug look Cassie gave her cousin every time Robert and Jane talked about another trip out.

It was five minutes to midnight. She sat nervously in an arm chair that her Uncle usually occupied in the evenings. Everyone was in bed, unaware of what she was doing. Luckily, they had a fire – used mainly in the winter time when the rain came in. She stared into the fire she just made herself. The crackling and popping of hot fire made her face warm.

Then suddenly –

'HERMIONE!'

Hermione shrieked and jumped out of her chair like she'd just sat on a mouse trap. She clapped a hand over her mouth and heaved in a sigh of relief. The heads of Harry and Ron were looking amusingly at her through the flames. She sat down on her knees and grinned at them.

'Hello!' She smiled.

Ron stuck up two thumbs in reply. Harry spoke, 'we wondered how you were!'

'Never mind that, how are you able to do this? Isn't there anybody else in the Common Room?' Hermione asked perplexedly.

'Well…'

Hermione leaned in closer and straight away she got a large slobbery lick on the side of her cheek. She pulled away fast and rubbed saliva off her face. She peered closely back into the fire and saw Fang drooling on the other side.

'Dozy dog!' She heard a booming voice say in the distance. 'Shoo! Off yer go! Let Harry and Ron talk to 'ermione!'

Hermione laughed and Harry and Ron pulled themselves back into the flames, laughing heartily.

'So you're in Hagrid's cabin?'

'Yeah. It's still early here and if we did it any later, it would be harsh on you!'

'Yeah, it's like 7PM here! The Gryffindor common room is still full obviously.'

Hermione made herself more comfortable and sat cross legged on the comfy floor. 'So what do you want to talk to me about?'

'We overhead McGonagall at dinner last night that you were using magic. You're not are you?' Harry said with a frown line appearing.

'No, no!' Hermione laughed. Then she looked frightened. 'Will I be in trouble? It's not me honestly; it's these American witches and wizards I've bumped into!'

'Oh!' Harry said. But Ron looked more interested.

'You've met some wizards? Really? There's not many who live in Florida, dad said. Most of them were banished by their Ministry cos of all the arguments with each other that led to hurricanes and such, disrupting muggle's lives…'

'No, these guys are from the North!' Hermione beamed. 'They've just left their wizard school,' and so Hermione sat by the fire, explaining how she met them and what they were like.

When she finished, Harry looked pleased but Ron scowled.

'Sounds like they're using way too much magic around you! Dad said they like to do that…show off in front of foreigners and it often leads to underage wizards being in trouble…'

'I don't think they're doing it to show off!' Hermione argued.

'Hey! Your hair Hermione!' Harry pointed out. 'It's straight! Wow!' He looked very impressed.

Hermione touched it and cleared her throat. 'Brian did that for me…'

'Brian?' Ron scowled at his name.

'YES Ron!' Hermione said through clenched teeth. 'He did me a favour, alright? Now go and tell Professor McGonagall that I've just made some friends, OK?'

'Yeah OK,' Harry said but Ron rolled his eyes.

'They're not beatin' yer around the bush ar' they 'ermione?' Hagrid's gruff voice called from somewhere above. Hermione snapped at this.

'NO Hagrid! Leave them alone! They're really nice people! In fact I'm seeing them again tomorrow night when I'm going with my family to see some fireworks!'

'Oh yeah that reminds me, how is Dizzy-land?' Ron asked.

'Disney World, Ron. It's OK I guess. Not my kind of thing really, you get sooo tired and I can't manage to read afterwards!' She complained.

'Oh no! Whatever will you do?' Ron jeered.

Hermione sighed and wanted to throw something at him. Ron got the hint and stopped talking.

'Right well, remember some people would trade anything to be where you are today Hermione!' Harry told her seriously.

'Yeah, sorry Harry…I forgot!' Hermione mumbled.

'OK, well we'd better get back before Filch comes and lynches us or something…'

'Yeah,' said Ron.

Hermione said goodbye to them and their faces washed away in the heat and dusty flames.

She sat looking at an empty fire and imagined the fury of her cousin in the morning when she would be woken up in a sweat again.

A/N: BTW I don't have the same opinion as Hermione on Disney and Florida! I actually love the place!