Omg you guys have no idea how excited I am to reach this chapter. You should already know what it is. The major start of the best ship that is Romione!

With this story, there will for sure be a lot of Romione behind the scene moments since Harry did things on his own and left them being a lot, as well as Hermione spending time around Ron in the summers before Harry arrived. Most will be friends based of course, especially starting out. But in will also include arguments, banter, and create that buildup. And in later books, the love. Awwwwwwww!

Chapter 9: Halloween

The next morning, it was clear that Malfoy did indeed set last night completely up by the look of disappointment on his face that we didn't get expelled. That triumph there was enough to put a huge smile on my face.

At breakfast, Harry filled me in more about the package that Hagrid had moved from the bank to here, and it was beginning to raise a lot of questions within us. Such as why the bloody hell did it need a three headed dog to guard it.

"It's either really valuable or really dangerous." I said.

"Or both." said Harry.

It could have been anything. But without clues and without Hagrid telling us anything, we were coming up short on ideas of what it could be.

Neville nor Hermione didn't seem to care. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again. Too right he was. At least he had his priorities straight.

Hermione wasn't speaking to us at all, which made the situation even more delightful. I was done being nagged. If i wanted someone on my back scolding me, u would go back home to Mum.

A week later at breakfast, six large screech owls carried a long package and dropped it in front of Harry, attracting everybody's attention. Harry was about to open it, when another owl dropped a letter on top of it.

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.

It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.

Professor McGonagall

I felt like squealing like a schoolgirl. "A Nimbus Two Thousand!" I said. I couldn't help but feel jealous, but my jealousy was overshadowed by the sheer joy that Harry had received one. "I've never even touched one."

We left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before our first class, but halfway across the entrance hall, we ran into Crabbe, Goyle, and fucking Malfoy, who snatched the package out of Harry's hand.

"That's a broomstick," he said.

"Aren't we smart this morning." I said sarcastically as Malfoy threw it back at Harry.

"You'll be in for it this time, Potter" sneered Malfoy. "First years aren't allowed them."

I knew I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't help it. The words just flew out of my mouth.

"It's not any old broomstick, you prat." I said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy. A Comet Two Sixty? Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

Harry and I grinned at each other.

"What would you know about it, Weasley? You couldn't afford half the handle " said Malfoy, voice dripping with poison. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

I was about to give that son of a bitch a piece of my mind, when Professor Flitwick came up behind Malfoy.

"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he asked.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly. Bloody snitch.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand, it is," said Harry, trying not to laugh at the metaphorical egg on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it."

We headed upstairs, laughing at the fact that we left Malfoy looking like a bloody fool.

"Well, it's true," Harry chuckled as we made it to the top."If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall, I wouldn't be on the team."

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry, nails on a chalkboard voice from behind us. It was her. It's always her. Hermione, looking disapprovingly at Harry's package.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.

"Yes, don't stop now." I said "It's doing us so much good and I was enjoying the silence "

Hermione stormed off with nose in the air.

Later on, after classes, dinner, and drooling over the Nimbus 2000, Harry had to leave and meet up with Oliver Wood, the quidditch captain. I decided to stay back and catch up on some homework.

After finishing my essay for Defense Against The Dark Arts, I decided to write Bill a letter. I had been writing Mum and Dad a few times, but I had completely forgotten about writing Bill.

I took out a piece of parchment, smoothed it over the desk, and began to write.

Dear Bill,

Sorry I haven't written to you. I had promised I would write the first week. Guess I bombed on that one. It's just, there has been so much happening to me, I haven't had the time to sit down and actually write to you.

First things first. As you probably already know, I got sorted into Gryffindor. I actually couldn't believe it. I thought I was going to end up a Puff or something, but I guess the hat saw something in me. Or maybe it was because I'm a Weasley. The hat was pretty nice, but who knows. Maybe he was being polite.

You'll never guess who my best mate is, Bill. Harry Potter! We met at the station, but sat together and got to know each other on the train. He's a really great bloke to be around. He didn't even know he was famous, nor did he know he was a wizard until his birthday in July. His horrid muggle relatives didn't tell him anything. But yeah he is alright. We talk about a lot of things like Quidditch (which by the way, he made seeker. Can you believe that?) and our different worlds, and people that annoy us.

Speaking of that, let me tell you about this very bothersome girl. Her name is Hermione Granger. She is the most insufferable girl I have ever met in my entire existence. She's a Gryffindor too, although I can't imagine why. She is a bloody know it all that has read a ton of books so she feels like she is smarter than everyone around her. Being smart is about the only good quality she has. She would probably be tolerable if she wasn't always nagging Harry and I like she's Mum.

Hagrid has said he remembers you and Charlie very well and sends his regards. He's great fun to talk to. He has a big dog. Actually, I won't talk about dogs. I've had enough of them to last me a lifetime. I'm glad we never had one.

I hope to hear from you soon. Will I be able to see you over Christmas holiday? That would be brilliant.

Our brothers are fine. Gits, but fine. Percy is running around like he owns the bloody place, but I guess he's just doing his job, so I can't blame him. I just wish he was less...Percy about it. Free and George hang out with Lee Jordan and that Johnson girl that came over during the summer that one day, so I don't interact with them much. Which is fine. Less I have to endure with teasing. Actually, they haven't really teased me much here. Maybe they are growing up. Yeah right.

Well, I gotta go. I was waiting on Harry to finish quidditch practice. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Ron.

I rolled the parchment up after the ink dried and made my way to the owlery. It was a huge tower of a building, filled with all the school and student owls. I had tried to get one of the school owl's attentions, but instead, Hedwig came flying down and stuck out her leg. Harry didn't mind me using her for letters, so I tied the parchment to her leg, gave her a quick rub, and she took off into the sky.

I watched her as she flew over the lake, the giant squid that we had in there tried to swat at her with his tentacles. I made my way back to Gryffindor tower, tired.

On Halloween morning, we woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin weaving it's way through the corridors. It reminded me of home, when mum would bake pumpkin pies for Ginny and I.

Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought we were ready to start making objects fly, something we all had been dying to try since he made Neville's toad zoom around the classroom, much to Neville's horror.

Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry got Seamus, which sucked. I got Hermione. Which sucked even more.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

It was hard. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be levitating, didn't move at all causing Seamus to grow impatient with it and ending up setting it on fire.

I wasn't doing so hot either.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted, waving my arms madly in frustration.

"You're saying it wrong," snapped Hermione. "It's Wing- gar -dium Levi- o -sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. The know it all strikes again.

Even though I knew she was attempting to help me, the tone of her voice said otherwise. She always had to know everything. Why did she have to know everything?

"You do it, then, if you're so clever. I said. "Go on. Do it."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she said flawlessly doing the movement.

Our feather rose off the desk and hovered in the air. I couldn't have been more disgusted. She looked so bloody smug about it as she raised it higher and higher.

I felt like calling her a very unladylike name. But Mum's voice ringed in my head not to.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Hermione looked even more smug as she made the bloody feather dance in the air. Why did she have to be such a show off? She could have just done it and left it at that. She made me look like a bloody idiot.

I hated her. She always made me feel like I was less than smart. True that there was nothing wrong with being intelligent, but she didn't have to flaunt it, and she didn't have to use it to put others down and make them feel like shit. Sometimes she made me feel like Malfoy did when he would make fun of me and my family for being poor.

I was beyond done with Hermione Granger.

"It's levi-OOOOOOOOO- sa, not levi-o-SAAAAAAA." I mocked her as Harry and I walked out of class and down the crowded corridor."It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. And she looked like she had been crying.

"I think she heard you." said Harry.

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends." I said, however, I was starting to feel bad.

I had made Ginny cry once in her 10 years of living. And I remember that seeing her upset over something that I had done to her broke my heart.

I may not have been heartbroken over Hermione, but I did feel like I had taken things way too far. Sure, she annoyed the hell out of me. But I never meant to make her cry. However, I had done just that. And from the looks of how she was, I didn't think I would be able to tell her I was sorry. She would have never accepted it.

Hermione didn't come to our next class, nor to the common room. On the way to dinner, Harry and I overheard Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Great. Now I really felt like a bloody prat. O allowed my temper to get the best of me and really really hurt her feelings.

I was thinking about how I could make it up to her when we stepped into the Great Hall. Both Harry and I gasped in delight

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins flicker. Our tables filled with all kinds of Halloween themed treats, candies, pastries, and drinks. I didn't know what to eat first.

I picked up a chicken leg (I loved chicken so much) and was about to tear into it, when Professor Quirrell came running into the hall, looking like he had encounters that three headed dog. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped.

"Troll in the dungeons! Thought you ought to know."

Then, he fainted.

Everyone started screaming in a panic. It took a few seconds for Dumbledore to gain our attention and give out instructions.

"Prefects," he yelled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy sprang into action screaming orders, like a muggle jack in the box."Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!" he barked.

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as we climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid." I said. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

As we passed by some Hufflepuffs going towards their house in a panic, Harry grabbed my arm tightly.

"I've just thought! Hermione."

"What about her?" I asked.

"She doesn't know about the troll."

I groaned. "Oh, all right. But Percy better not see us."

Ducking down, we joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. We had just turned the corner when we heard footsteps behind us.

"Percy!" I hissed, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.

We perked around it and instead of Percy, we saw Snape. He walked down the corridor and then disappeared around the corner

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"The hell if I know." I whispered back. "Let's tail him."

We quietly crept after him.

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said. I stopped and threw up my hand. Something smelled absolutely foul.

"Can you smell something?" I whispered

Harry sniffed and quickly held his nose. I did the same. It smelled like a mix between Fred's dirty socks, ass, and a backed up toilet that had overflowed.

Then we heard the thumping of gigantic feet. We looked down the hall, and almost screamed.

A twelve foot tall troll was walking past. It looked hideous, with sickly gray skin, a lumpy body that had huge boil looking things sticking on it, with a small bald head that probably housed a brain the size of a quaffle. The smell had gotten worse, i felt as if i was going to hurl. It was dragging a huge club that had to be the size of a tree.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and looked inside. It slowly walked in.

"The keys in the lock." Harry whispered. "We could lock it in."

"Good idea." I said, taking a gulp.

We creeped toward the open door, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. Harry leaped, grabbed the key, slammed the door, and locked it.

"Yes!" I yelled.

We were about to run back up the corridor when a high, petrified scream echoed into the deserted hall. It came from the room we just foolishly locked.

"Oh, no." I said, color draining from my face

"It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.

"Hermione!" we yelled.

We ran back and unlocked the door and bravely stepped into the bathroom Hermione was crouched down against the wall opposite looking terrified as the troll was walking towards her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately as he started throwing random broken pieces at the troll.

I didn't know what to do. I had frozen up. Think Ron, THINK!

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It turned around and eyed Harry, and began to go towards him

"Oy, pea-brain!" I yelled from the other side of the bathroom. I threw a metal pipe at him as hard as I could. He hardly notices it hitting his shoulder. It did however, hear me yell, so it turned around and started barreling towards me

"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door. She wouldn't budge. She was in shock.

All the noises seemed to have driven the troll mental It roared again and started toward me.

Next thing I saw was Harry jumping and latching onto the troll's neck from behind, sticking his wand up it's nose

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life. Hermione had made herself as small as she could on the floor behind me. I pulled out my wand, flicked it, and cried out "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high into the air, and then dropped onto the troll's head The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face.

I couldn't believe what I had done. I stood like a statue with my end still in the air, looking at the troll. Harry got up and walked over beside me, shaking.

"Is it...dead?" asked Hermione in a croaky and upset voice.

"I don't think so, I think it's just been knocked out. Urgh! Troll boogers." said Harry as he pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in a thick and nasty green slime. He wiped it on the troll's pants.

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, followed by Snape, and Professor Quirrell. He took one look at the troll and whimpered loudly

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Harry and I with a look so stern and so mean, that I felt our clothes were packing themselves up as we stood.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at me, but I was still frozen in the same pose. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

"Please, Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me." said Hermione in a low voice.

"Miss Granger!" gasped McGonagall.

"I went looking for the troll because I ...I thought I could deal with it on my own you know, because I've read all about them."

That made me drop my wand. Did Hermione just tell a lie? To a teacher? Her favorite teacher? You could have knocked me over with a feather from the disbelief.

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." explained Hermione.

Harry and I nodded as if everything she said was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Well, in that case, Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" asked McGonagall, a bit softer, but still angrily.

Hermione hung her head. I still couldn't believe that she had just lies like that to protect us. Didn't she not like us?

Well, maybe she was somewhat okay with Harry. But I knew she couldn't stand me.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this." said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione hung her head and walked off. I couldn't help but feel like giving her a pat on the back for a job well done.

Professor McGonagall then turned to us.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

We took off before anyone else could speak. We headed toward Gryffindor Tower, astonished that we were still here.

"We should have gotten more than ten points." I said. "Hell, we should have gotten like 100!"

"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." said Harry, doing the math.

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that when she didn't have to." I said with a twinge of guilt. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.

"That's true. Our mistake, of course."

When we reached the tower, we gave the password and walked in. It was packed with everyone eating the food that had been sent up.

Hermione came up to us, looking like she didn't know what to say. We all were a bit speechless, but we all said thank you to each other, laughed a bit, then went to get our food.

From that day on, Hermione had grown onto us. She had became our friend if you could imagine that. Then again, we had to become something after taking down a troll together.

I mean really, she wasn't all that bad after all.