Seeing John walk into the great hall talking to Hermione Granger, making her laugh no less, certainly gave Harry pause when he arrived; so much so that it made him forget about asking why Snape kept him back.
Stranger still, John was now making something of a habit of sitting next to her in almost as many classes as he sat with Harry or Ron. When asked about it, he simply replied with a noncomittal "She's not as bad as she seems. All bark and no bite, something like that".
Thankfully, it didn't stop John from spending the majority of non-lesson time with him and Ron, but it clearly wasn't something John felt warranted much discussion. The first few days did result in a lot of pointing and whispering among their fellow first years but they got over it quickly enough.
More pressingly however, was the upcoming start to their flying lessons. Previously, potions was the only lesson shared by Gryffindor first years and Slytherin first years, but apparently flying was to join Potions in that regard.
"Brilliant. I was looking forward to this too, now I get to make a fool of myself on a broom in front of Malfoy", said Harry, grumpily.
"You might not. Some people just get flying naturally. Charlie was always brilliant, even before he started really training", said Ron.
"And practice makes perfect. I reckon Malfoy isn't the type to actually work at something, he's obviously been handed everything on a plate his whole life", said John.
"Hope you're right", said Harry.
Most of the students did have something or the other to say about flying. Draco Malfoy certainly talked about flying a lot - he spoke of (clearly exaggerated) times where he'd outflown muggle helicopters and how his father expected he'd be on the Quidditch team as early as next year with his talent.
Elena Malfoy wasn't quite as vocal, but she exuded the same type of confidence about her own flying skills, albeit without the obvious exaggerations. Ron and Seamus often spoke of their adventures zooming around the countryside on their own brooms and Hermione spouted dozens of flying tips that she'd read in what must have been about nine separate books.
Her lecture at breakfast was interrupted in a timely manner by the arrival of the mail. Malfoy had been quick to notice that Harry never received any and so opened his in a theatrical manner, trying to spite Harry.
Neville too, had a small package that day and when he opened it, he surveyed it with a very pleased expression on his face.
"A remembrall? Brilliant! They help you remember stuff, gran knows I forget things a lot. If you hold it tightly when you've forgotten something, the smoke goes red if-" he started as the ball did as he described. "You've forgotten something", he finished miserably.
The expression on his face told Harry that Neville couldn't remember what it was that he'd forgotten.
"Check your bag", advised Liu Fei who was quite the opposite to Neville with his own organisational skills.
Neville bent over to pick up his bag, dropping his remembrall in the process. It rolled straight into the hands of Draco Malfoy.
"Give it back", said Neville, who was going slightly pink already.
"Not yet Longbottom, I'm curious. Did your gran send this to remind you to fall on your arse next time you run into Crabbe?" Malfoy asked, sneering. Neville's flush intensified as Elena Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and some of their other fellow first year Slytherins laughed mean-spiritedly.
"Probably to remind him how much he needs to pity you Malfoy. Hand it over", said John, stepping right up to him.
"What's going on here?" came the sharp voice of professor McGonagall before anything further could be said.
"Malfoy's got my remembrall professor", Neville said quickly, clearly trying to get this situation over with as quickly as possible.
"I was just having a look", mumbled Malfoy defensively, handing the ball back to Neville.
"Hope I don't make a fool of myself tomorrow", said Neville nervously once both Malfoy and McGonagall were far enough away.
"You'll be fine", said Sam Wood. "It's why they're teaching us, isn't it? Just do as the teacher says and you'll be good"
"Doesn't work in potions", said Neville miserably.
Their flying lesson later that afternoon was far from ordinary. Between Neville finding the most spectacular way possible to break his wrist and Harry catching his remembrall after a fifty foot dive (followed by his inclusion on the Gryffindor Quidditch team), it was rapidly becoming obvious that Harry wasn't having a normal Hogwarts student's experience thus far. Not that he was complaining. He was fully expecting to be expelled in his first week when McGonagall showed up outside, but instead he found himself recounting the story to a stunned Ron and a thoroughly impressed John.
"Of all the ways to get out of trouble... Christ Harry, you're going to have to teach me your ways", said John, smirking at him.
"I got lucky", said Harry, smirking back at John and echoing his own first words to Snape earlier that week.
"Let's not tell Malfoy yet! Imagine the look on his face when he finds out you're playing for Gryffindor!" said Ron eagerly.
"Oh right! Remember when he was talking about how he thinks it'd be a crime if he didn't end up playing for Slytherin?" John asked, remembering their encounter with Malfoy in Madam Malkins' shop.
"You're right! Oh that'll be fun!", said Harry.
"Rich of you to talk about fun, Potter. Isn't this your last meal here?" came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" asked John in a very bored voice.
"You're awfully brave now that you've got your two pets following you around", said Harry, remembering the pause he was given when it was just himself and Harry.
"Oh please... I'd take you on one-on-one any day", said Malfoy.
"Want to put your money where your mouth is?" asked Harry, standing up, his roast chicken forgotten. Malfoy smirked.
"Alright. Meet me at the trophy room at midnight. No one ever patrols in there. Wizard's duel", said Malfoy.
The look on Harry's face made Malfoy's smirk broaden.
"Don't tell me you don't know what a wizard's duel is!", he scoffed.
"Of course he does, I'm his second, who's yours?" Ron said quickly.
Malfoy looked between Crabbe and Goyle for a moment, considering them both.
"Crabbe", he said, finally.
"We'll see you at midnight then", said Ron.
"I suppose we will", said Malfoy, smirking and walking away.
"Er... what's a second? How does a duel work? What are the rules? Why did we agree to that?" Harry asked rapidly, feeling slightly stupid.
"Don't worry about it honestly. A second is the person who takes your place if you die", said Ron simply. He continued quickly upon noticing the looks of horror on Harry and John's faces. "But you and Malfoy don't know the spells that can kill a person. At worst, you might give each other nose bleeds or tie each others' legs together"
"Okay... what are the rules of a wizard's duel then?" asked John, quite interested.
"No contact. Wands only. That's about it. But honestly, we all know about... zero fighting spells so you might as well punch him in the face if you can't properly cast a spell to attack with", said Ron, simply.
"Easy enough then", said John, satisfied.
Harry felt a bit better about it too. He knew that Malfoy was no better than he was with casting spells from everything he'd seen thus far.
That evening, Harry, Ron and John waited until all of the other beds were filled with sleeping occupants before heading down the common room stairs, ready to go and meet Draco Malfoy.
Only, they weren't, it turned out, the only Gryffindors who were still awake.
"I should have known", came a voice from one of the armchairs. It was Hermione.
"Hermione, what the hell are you doing?", asked John incredulously.
"Trying to keep Gryffindor out of trouble!", said Hermione stubbornly.
"Look, this hasn't got anything to do with you, just go back to bed", said John pleadingly.
"No! I'm putting a stop to this!", she insisted angrily.
"Right. Good luck with that", said Ron. With no further hesitation, the three boys continued walking towards the portrait hole.
Hermione gaped at them and trotted along behind them, her temper rising very obviously.
"I won't let you get our whole house into trouble!", she said, stepping out of the portrait hole.
"Are you still following us?" Ron asked angrily.
Before she could respond, John tripped over something and a yelp was heard on the floor.
"Wha-" John started.
"Oh finally! I was stuck out here for ages! I couldn't remember the password!"
It was Neville. Apparently, he was sleeping on the floor having got back to the common room late without any memory of the password.
"It's 'pig snout', but it won't help you because the fat lady's not in her portrait right now", said Ron, looking back at the portrait.
Hermione blanched.
"What? How do I get back?" asked Hermione.
"Your problem, not ours", said Ron.
"Don't be ridiculous! I'm following you and if we're caught I'll tell them I tried to stop you and you can back me up!", said Hermione.
John groaned.
"Hermione, are you crazy? Look, you can follow us if you want but that's just not on!", said John.
A few minutes later, there was a very uncomfortable silence as the five youngsters were tiptoeing around the castle towards the trophy room, but before they could reach it, they heard a croaky 'meow' sound.
"Shit, that's Filch's cat, isn't it?" John pointed out.
"Run!", Harry hissed, not feeling up to severe punishments from the very anti-student old caretaker.
The others didn't need telling twice. They ran through the first door the could find and positively sprinted down the corridor towards another door, this one being locked however.
"Open up damnit!" John grunted, trying to yank the door open.
Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand.
"Alohamora!", she said, pointing her wand at the lock. The door swung open on its own and all five of them scurried through, slamming it shut behind them.
"Alohamora?" asked Harry.
"It's in the Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1, haven't you read it?" asked Hermione.
The look that Harry and Ron gave her told her very clearly that they hadn't. John and Neville however, were looking elsewhere. Neville gave a little whimper.
"Guys wha-", Harry asked, but he didn't need to finish the question. He followed their eyes and he knew exactly what they were staring at. On the floor was a dog. But not a normal dog.
It was enormous. It was asleep, but the dog was big enough to swallow a grown man whole. That wasn't even the most absurd aspect of the gargantuan animal in front of them.
It had three heads.
The rasping, putrid breath of the sleeping animal made Ron go slightly green and John put a finger to his lips and then pointed at the door.
Harry agreed; between Filch and becoming a snack for the dog, he'd take Filch.
They scurried through the door and shut it immediately, hearing the dog begin growling. Apparently shutting the door had awoken it.
All five present looked at each other, white-faced and relieved.
"Let's... get back to the common room. I think it's pretty obvious that Malfoy was trying to get us in trouble", said Harry in a low voice, checking over his shoulder for signs of Filch or his cat.
"Don't need to tell me twice", said John.
The five of them eventually made it back to the common room where the fat lady had thankfully returned to her portrait. Neville scurried off to his bed silently and immediately.
"What are they thinking? Keeping a monster like that in a school?" Ron asked incredulously.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You're not very observant, are you? Couldn't you see what that dog was sat on top of?" she asked.
"The floor?" John asked, grinning weakly. Harry and Ron, in spite of themselves gave small chuckles.
"I wasn't paying attention to that, I was a bit busy looking at its heads. All three of its heads", said Ron.
"It was guarding something! There was a trapdoor under one of its paws! Obviously Dumbledore wants that dog in the way of something valuable underneath it! Now... if you don't mind, I'm off to bed before you come up with other bright ideas to get us killed, or worse... expelled!", said Hermione, before turning on her heel and angrily stomping up the stairs, leaving three very confused boys looking up after her.
"You'd think we dragged her along!" Ron said as he led the other two back up the stairs
Harry however, wasn't listening. Hermione had given him something to think about. Hagrid had once said that the only place safer than Gringotts if one needed to hide something was in fact, Hogwarts. The desire to know what it was that Hagrid took from vault seven-hundred and thirteen was rekindled.
The next day, in spite of being tired, Harry, John and Ron were quite pleased with their adventure from the previous night and found themselves keen for further adventures. Neville wanted to pretend it had never happened and to keep his head down and focus on school. Hermione was refusing to talk to Harry, Ron and John. Harry and Ron considered it an improvement and John seemed to barely notice - at least for the first day.
During the second day however, Hermione sat next to John during breakfast and John had just noticed that he hadn't spoken to her in over twenty-four hours.
"Are you talking to me again then?" John asked, smirking at her.
Hermione bit her lip, looking slightly worried. John's smirk faded and his eyebrows were furrowed.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I just... I didn't have anyone else to sit with or talk to. I suppose that I didn't want to deal with that. Not today at least", said Hermione.
"Is there something going on today then?" asked John looking more confused.
"It's my birthday", said Hermione quietly, going slightly pink.
Suddenly, John felt awful again; the stark reminder of Hermione's inexperience in the field of friendship weighed on him.
"Shit", said John.
Hermione raised her eyebrow.
"I don't have a present", said John sheepishly, making Hermione laugh.
"That's fine, you didn't know", she said after coming down from her laughter.
"I'll get you two for Christmas then", said John quickly.
"That's sweet, but you don't have to", said Hermione.
"Alright. I'll do it anyway then", John insisted.
"Do you even have your own money?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, in the muggle world. I just hope my sister doesn't steal it", said John, thoughtfully.
"You have a sister?" Hermione asked, rather surprised.
"Yeah, my mum found out that she couldn't have another baby after my sister, so adopted me. I guess she didn't realise she was adopting a wizard", said John, smirking.
"It'd be nice to meet her some day. You've probably worked out that I don't get along too well with the other girls in our housei", said Hermione.
"I'm not girly enough for you?" John asked, grinning. Hermione laughed again and as was customary for John and Hermione's friendly interactions, Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks and shrugs.
Nothing further was made of it however, as Harry received a package in the post at that moment; a particularly rare occurrence. It did come with a note however.
Mr. Potter,
Do not open this at the table. It contains your new Nimbus 2000 broomstick.
Prof. M. McGonagall
"Nimb... Nimbus 2000? I've never even touched one of those", Ron whispered enviously.
"Right... let's take this to the common room", said John eagerly.
Not another word needed to be said; Harry, Ron and John stood up and walked out of the hall, leaving Hermione behind, looking slightly put-out.
Malfoy however, headed them off at the entrance to the hall.
"Oh you're for it now Potter, first-years aren't allowed broomsticks!" he said.
Ron grinned.
"It's not just a broomstick Malfoy, it's a Nimbus 2000. Didn't you say you had a Comet two-sixty? Flashy looking, yeah but nothing like the Nimbus!", said Ron smugly.
"What would you know about it Weasley? You couldn't afford half the handle!", Malfoy snapped.
"Not arguing I hope boys!", came the squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick.
"Potter's been sent a broomstick sir!" said Malfoy quickly, a malicious glint in his eyes.
"Oh yes, Professor McGonagall has told me all about your special circumstances! What model is it then Potter?" asked Flitwick.
"A Nimbus 2000 sir. And actually it's all down to Malfoy that I have it in the first place!", said Harry, grinning at Malfoy who was reddening rapidly.
"We'll be sure to remind you how grateful we are when Harry's flying that thing around, don't worry", said John, clapping Malfoy's shoulder mockingly before heading up the stairs with Ron and Harry.
Harry's first attempts at Quidditch training went remarkably well, a fact which Draco Malfoy discovered very quickly, much to his chagrin. John made a point of loudly discussing Harry's training sessions whenever either Draco or Elena Malfoy were nearby. Elena Malfoy seemed to deem such topics beneath her and stuck her nose up at any mention of Quidditch, but Draco Malfoy always reddened slightly.
Lessons however, were not quite so easy for Harry, Ron or John. True, John seemed to master any transfiguration McGonagall ever threw at them, but charms for example, wasn't something quite so natural for them.
Professor Flitwick had partnered Ron with Hermione, something which neither of them were particularly pleased about. Ron was doing everything in his power to avoid her nowadays and Hermione only seemed to be able to get along with John.
While learning how to make objects fly, Hermione took it upon herself to lecture Ron into the correct incantation; something he wasn't inclined to appreciate.
"It's leviosa, not leviosar! You also need to make the 'gar' nice and long", she said.
Unsurprisingly, when Ron told Hermione to do it herself, she mastered it almost instantly.
This left Ron in a very bad mood for the rest of the lesson.
"She's a nightmare!", he fumed to Harry and John after it had ended. " How do you even stand her?" he added, looking at John, who looked rather uncomfortable.
"I guess if you make an effort she isn't so bad", John said uncertainty.
While Ron scoffed, something brown shoved past Harry's shoulder. Harry turned to see that it was Hermione. Her eyes were full of tears.
"I think she heard you", said Harry.
"So? she must've realised that John is the only person who spends time with her on purpose", Ron said, though he did look rather awkward and shaky as he said so.
Hermione, uncharacteristically was absent from lessons for the rest of the day. When John asked Parvati Patil if she'd seen Hermione, she told him that she'd gone to the girls' bathroom and that she'd been crying there. This served to make Ron look all the more guilty.
"You should probably apologise when she comes out. I think you've touched a nerve", said John.
"Yeah", Ron mumbled.
Hermione may not have appeared for the Halloween feast that evening, but with the food that was being served that day, she wasn't on anyone's mind.
From the near-perfect roast to the pumpkin tarts, the food was more than enough to occupy everyone's thoughts. That was, until professor Quirrell entered the hall, bellowing at the top of his voice.
"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" he yelled. The hall stared at him in shocked silence.
"Thought you ought to know", he added quietly, before fainting, falling flat on his back almost comically.
The hall erupted into utter pandemonium. Students from all four tables dropped whatever they were holding and rushed to their feet, before Dumbledore's voice, magically amplified filled the hall, silencing everyone at once.
"Everyone will stay calm. Panicking is the last thing we want to do in situations such as this. I will kindly ask the prefects to lead the students back to their common rooms, apart from Slytherin. You will remain here, listen to your prefects and professor Sinistra. The rest of the staff and I will head the troll off in the dungeons", Dumbledore explained.
"Guess that means the Slytherin common room is in the dungeons somewhere. Now that I know that..." John said, an evil smile spreading across his face.
"Wonder how the troll got in though? They're supposed to be really stupid, there's no way one of them got into the castle on its own. Besides, they're meant to be huge too, you could hardly miss them. At least that's what Charlie says", Ron explained.
Harry and John were both thinking the same thing. Did Snape let the troll in? Ron seemed to have the same idea as well once he finished speaking.
The three of them followed a very vocal Percy who was leading Gryffindor towards the marble staircase, before John stopped them.
"Shit", he said.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Hermione, she has no idea!", he whispered urgently, looking down the corridor towards the girls' bathroom.
"Oh alright, but Percy'd better not catch us!", said Ron.
The three boys waited until no one was watching and quietly slipped away from the crowd of Gryffindors, heading towards the girls' bathroom. They reached the corridor in which the central door held the bathroom in question, but before they rounded the corner, they heard thunderous footsteps and quickly scurried behind the corner.
They smelled the troll long before they saw it and it smelled utterly rancid. It reminded John of the smell of mouldy cabbages and rotting eggs combined.
When the troll appeared however, it brought the whole grim picture together. It looked like an exceptionally large, grey, hairy potato. Only this potato was twelve feet tall, had nine foot arms carrying a club the size of a grown man. It did look stupid just as Ron said. It was following its nose, of that there was no doubt. Praying that they didn't smell tasty to the beast, they watched and waited as the troll stomped its way into the girls' bathroom and their hearts sank. Hermione was in there, all alone.
"Shit, shit, shit", Ron muttered as the three of them ran towards the door. Before they opened it, they heard an extremely loud, terrified, blood curdling scream. The troll had clearly found Hermione.
John threw the door open and the three boys sprinted inside.
"RUN!" John roared at the top of his lungs, but Hermione was stood, back against a wall, frozen with fear. The troll was edging towards her, trying to decide what to do with what it would see as the strange, small, brown-haired creature in front of it.
"Distract it!" Harry cried, though before anyone could do anything of the sort, the troll swung its massive club straight for Ron, who ducked just in time. The club missed his head by inches and instead, smashed multiple wooden bathroom stalls and a wall, bursting a pipe within, spraying the ground with water.
When the troll finished its swing, looking stupidly at its club as if shocked that the swing had not hurt anything, Harry, John and Ron began picking up pieces of debris and throwing it at the troll's head. This did indeed serve to confuse the troll; it couldn't focus on being hit by debris from multiple directions, though it seemed to realise that none of these projectiles were doing any damage. They merely bounced off its rhinoceros-like skin. The first thing the troll actually noticed after the projectiles were hurled at it was unfortunately Harry.
It lumbered towards Harry, club raised. The beast was slow however, giving Harry time to something remarkably brave and stupid. He managed to climb onto its back and as the troll panicked, jerking back and forth, Harry's wand found its way up the troll's left nostril. Troll or not, anyone would notice a wand stuck up their nose and this particular troll was less than pleased.
Ron meanwhile pulled his wand out and cast what looked like the first spell that came to his mind.
"Wingardium leviosa!" he cried and the troll's club left its hand, hovering a few feet above its head. Ron seemed shocked with what he just managed to do and the spell dropped, and dropping with it, was the troll's enormous club, which landed square on its head with a loud thud. The troll's eyes slid out of focus and it came tumbling to the floor with a great crash, Harry rolling off it just in time to remain unharmed by the fall.
"What the hell did we just do?" asked John, staring at the limp form of the troll.
"Is it... dead?" came Hermione's voice. She had just recovered from her stupor of fear.
"Don't think so. Knocked out though", said John, prodding it with his foot while Harry, a look of disgust on his face reclaimed his wand and washed it with the spraying burst pipe and wiped it on the troll's leather vest.
Before anyone could say anything else however, the sound of multiple footsteps froze all four of them in place. Sure enough, it was a group of the professors looking for the unconscious beast on the floor.
"Wha-" started Professor McGonagall, who stood at the front of them. "Potter! Explain this this instant!", said McGonagall, jumping to the relatively reasonable conclusion of John being the ringleader of what appeared to be a foolhardy, suicidal idea.
"Well... when the tro-" John started, though Hermione interrupted him.
"It's my fault professor", she said. Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked in shock.
"I went looking for the troll because I've read all about them and thought I could take it on myself, but I was wrong. If the boys hadn't come in when they did, I'd be dead", she said in a shockingly convincing manner.
That wasn't the most shocking aspect however. The fact that Hermione Granger was telling such a falsehood straight to a teacher's face was the true shock.
"Well... in that case, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgement. I expected better from you", said McGonagall. Hermione managed to convincingly look guilty.
"And as for you three... not many first years can take on a fully grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale! Five points will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck it seems", said McGonagall.
None of them could believe it. McGonagall escorted the four children back to Gryffindor tower with strict instructions to stay there for the remainder of the night, where the feast would be finished.
However, Harry, Ron, John and Hermione did have one last thing to say to each other before eating.
"Thanks", they all said at exactly the same time.
In life, there were a few things you couldn't do together without remaining friends for life. Knocking out a twelve foot mountain troll, Hermione learned, along with the three boys, was one of them. Needless to say, from that moment onwards, Hermione Granger was friends with not just John, but Harry and Ron as well.