Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 3: Maturing
Harry always knew Hermione was a cute girl. Not hot. He reserved that word for vain girls who wore make-up on every inch of their body. No, Hermione was always cute. The Hermione standing before him was a different kind of cute. Dare he say a sexy cute? Yes, he dare.
Instead of fighting her hair, she decided to fight curls with curls. Her long hair that came down to her mid back was full or beautiful curls. Harry suspected her hair would have gone down to her waist had it not been done up like that. She wore a jean skirt that went down to her knees, which normally would have looked prudish, but Hermione pulled it off. She wore a light blue tank top, and Harry could see a little bit of her bra strap. Her brown eyes were filled with joy, and were looking at him for some reason.
Harry was glad that over the summer he learned how to mask major emotions. It was a necessity if your name was Harry Potter and lived with Dursleys. Harry was sure his mouth would have been slightly askew, which would have showed Hermione how much he enjoyed her ensemble.
"Ta-da!" she said throwing her arms in the air.
Harry chuckled at the very un-Hermione antics while saying, "Like your outfit. It really looks nice on you."
"Thank you Harry. I wasn't sure if I was going to look like a fool going out of my normal librarian clothing."
"Don't worry. You look fine. By the way, what brought up this sudden change?" Harry questioned.
"Well, I found out that I was more comfortable in these clothes when an old friend from elementary school visited this summer. I thought, `what the heck,' and did it. I didn't want to study all summer and not get a tan or miss the beautiful weather, and I wasn't going to Viktor's, and… I'm rambling." She finished lamely.
"Good to know that the old Hermione is still in there somewhere." Harry joked with her.
"Shut-up, have you seen Ron?" it looked like she had a little spark in her eye when she said that. It made Harry feel bad for an unknown reason.
"No, you know the Weasely's-"
"What, there poor?" asked a drawl from behind Harry. There stood Draco Malfoy, the kid Harry, didn't want to say hated, because that was such a strong word, but yeah that word was perfect for the way Harry felt about him. Especially the comments he left the trio with at the end of last term. He was a little taller than last term, not much more muscle, but his voice got deeper, and a blonde strand of his hair was in his eyes that he cleared away lazily, but just fell back into them. Harry guessed this must be attractive since girls behind him were looking at him and giggling or they were remembering when he was turned into a ferret last year. Harry figured it was the first since when he glanced at Hermione she had a light blush on her cheeks, despite the furious face she put on.
Harry let out a little chuckle remembering the ferret incident. This angered Malfoy since he didn't get a menacing look from Harry but instead a chuckle.
"What's so funny Pots-and Pans?" he questioned angrily.
"A new nick-name you spent probably your whole summer trying to come up with, and that's the best you can do?" Harry chuckled again at the barely noticeable tinge of red on his cheeks, which suggested he did.
"Well let's hear yours." He retorted.
"Sorry Malfoy, I actually have a life I was living over the summer, so I didn't have much time for you. I know how much that must hurt, having a lesser human than your self not thinking about you, but it was the truth," Harry countered, "but you want a nick-name so bad, and I'm really not that much of a witty person, we'll just call you… Willy Rodent for now? Hope you like."
"Don't mock me Potter. You and Granger," he said looking at Hermione without his normal loathing voice, which Harry didn't like at all, "better watch out. Let it be a fair warning. You may think I'm a Junior Deatheater, but I'm not, and I did hear some interesting things over the summer." With that, Draco Malfoy tried to strut away with as much dignity as one could, having just been insulted in front of a bunch of first years.
"Wow, he called me Granger," Hermione said with a dreamy look in her eye, which sent another pang through Harry. Harry was beginning to think he was becoming a bit jealous. Having Hermione not talk of him with a spark in her eye, or an appraising look in his direction was starting to make his skin crawl.
"Yeah, well, I don't know why it would matter?" Harry questioned a Hermione checking out Malfoy's butt.
"Huh, oh, I don't know why either." She said trying to avoid the question while hiding a blush that made Harry a little angrier.
"Hey, guys. What's up?" Ron asked coming up to them from just getting there with his family who beat finally managed to arrive before ten fifty-five. Hermione's eyes lit up at hearing his voice and she flung her arms around him, lingering there a little longer than here hug with Harry. It also looked like Ron was enjoying the hug, as his eyes were closed with contentment. Harry's eyes had a tinge of jealousy that he quickly covered up with a fake smile. Harry thanked his new ability.
Harry looked Ron over. He grew even more, reaching six two. His hair was short and spiked, and it looked like he was wearing new robes. It also looked like he hadn't put on any muscle over the summer. Harry figured he was probably the only boy who did put on a little muscle. Harry also noticed the Prefect badge on Ron's chest. `So that's the Prefect who took over my spot,' Harry thought. He just hoped he didn't turn into another Percy.
Ron and Hermione finally broke the hug, with each of them beaming. It made Harry a little sick at his friends' show of affection, and the admiring glances Ron kept getting. Harry was a little sick of that too. No girls had done that to him. Not that Harry was jealous or vain, well he was a little jealous, every guy likes to know that they're appreciated. He just didn't think it was fair. He was giggled at because of an ugly old scar on his forehead, and Ron and Malfoy are looked at because of their bodies. He really wished he was twenty-five, dealing with mature woman, not giggly girls.
"Come on guys, lets go," Harry said in his fake smile, as he almost let his cringe show as Hermione linked arms with Ron. He turned and walked off before she got a chance to do the same to Harry. Oh well, at least she got to look at his bum!
Harry was anger. He didn't let it show, but he was. He kept seeing girls look behind him, giggling, no doubt looking at Ron. He didn't blame Ron, and surprisingly, he was letting go of how well Ron supposedly looked. It was the damn giggling. He couldn't stand it. It was just getting to him for some reason. It was almost like he was starting to hear the impure thoughts of the girls he walked by. Weird.
He finally reached the compartment he was leading Ron and Hermione to. He pulled the darts from his dartboard and began to throw them again. Ron and Hermione came in finally, laughing their heads off at something, which distracted his throw, making the dart end up in the wall five feet away from the intended target. `This just isn't my day,' Harry thought.
Ron and Hermione saw Harry's angered face, which he didn't feel like masking now, startling them a bit.
"Whoa, Harry. What's the matter?" Ron asked.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Harry snapped.
Ron displayed some maturity that he didn't have last year by not blowing up and continuing the particularly touchy subject, so asked, "What's that you got there?"
'Just a little something I found," he again said in a snap.
"Harry, I don't know what your problem is, but it's very unbecoming," Hermione said, then directed herself at Ron, "it's a muggle game called darts. You throw the darts and try and hit the bulls-eye."
"Oh, can I give it a go Harry?" Ron questioned trying to be on friendlier terms with his best friend.
Harry really wanted to keep from biting Ron's head off, and it was hard, after all, it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to be a good friend. Harry responded with, "Not right now, later after I cool down a bit." He said in a friendlier tone, which still didn't sound too friendly.
Ron seemed fine with that answer and continued his conversation with Hermione as Harry summoned his darts.
Harry was now thinking about Hermione. She was never like that before. Course Harry was acting a little like a baby, but still, she changed a lot over the summer. Not just her looks either, but her attitude. If that was another result of this mysterious friend from over the summer, Harry was going to have a talk with this person. `It could just be puberty,' Harry reasoned. Ron for one seemed more mature. Malfoy also seemed a bit off. Harry betted himself that by seventh year Malfoy would be like Gilderoy Lockheart.
Harry finally seemed to get some of his excess anger out of his system, and handed his darts to Ron, who was eager to have his turn. Hermione turned to Harry and asked in a voice that seemed to be trying to start a conversation that she really didn't want, and that she would be rather talking again with Ron, "So Harry, how was your summer?" it sounded like she was a little peeved at him for disrupting her conversation with Ron.
Harry figured that he wasn't going to hold a conversation with someone who didn't want a conversation with him and replied with a nonchalant, "Maybe later Hermione, I'm a little tired and I want to get some rest before we get to Hogwarts." He closed his eyes, not noticing the hurt look in Hermione's eyes.
Harry really was not that tired, but figured that this would be better than a forced conversation with Hermione. He pondered if he had started to like one of his best friends as more than a friend. He decided that he was, but wasn't going to do anything about it. He liked to think that relationships were above him. After all, what had they done for him? His relationship with his parents, was well, probably nice, but caused more heartache than anything. The relationship with the Dursley's left more to be desired, and his relationship with Sirius was strained. The one with his former professor, Remus Lupin was almost non-existent, and his relationship with Ron almost broke him with the whole goblet of fire fiasco. The only one that really seemed impervious to all that was the one with Hermione, except for that little bump in the road in third year.
Harry decided that it would be better for everyone if he started to distance himself from everyone else. First, would be to stop Ron from hanging out with him, which would lead to Hermione following around. It would be difficult to get into the chamber with them around. He just had to prod Ron into asking out Hermione, leading them to want alone time, leaving Harry by himself to pursue anything he wanted! Yes he was a genius. He just now had to get over the feeling of seeing his best friends together, especially one you have a crush on. Harry figured that if no one knows and he keeps it hidden long enough, the pain would go away, or be bearable.
Harry finally opened his eyes from his schemes to see Ron having a blast with the darts, and Hermione looking at him wistfully. Well one thing about Ron didn't change, he was still oblivious. What Harry didn't know was that Hermione also had a crush on one of her best friend's. Not the one Harry was thinking about, but Harry himself. Instead of distancing herself though, she figured if she went out with other boys, they would sweep Harry under the mat, and that would be that. It hurt her more though because to keep her resolve, she had to start distancing herself from him so her resolve wouldn't crack. It almost did when he told her that he liked her out fit, and his newly acquired muscles didn't help, even though they weren't incredibly noticeable, they were easy to notice standing next to him and comparing him with the rest of the Hogwarts male population, when Malfoy came. She was finally thankful Willy Rodent came, and turned out to be easy on the eyes. In addition, she got little butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her and called her Granger instead of mud blood.
Harry wasn't like Malfoy in looks. Malfoy had a rich charm to him, which was attractive, but you could tell he was a wuss. Ron had looks too and was a good distraction quality about him, and his charm was a more of a happy go lucky attitude. Harry, well, it wasn't that he wasn't attractive; no Hermione thought he was quite cute. He just wasn't… hot. She wasn't shallow; she just didn't know why that the past summer gave her these feelings about her friend. She also didn't know why she was fighting them. She would willingly have a relationship with Ron, but not Harry. It was just like something told her to wait. Oh well, she figured that if they were meant to be it would happen, and if not, it was just a silly schoolgirl crush.
She looked over at Harry, who looked like he was just waking up, and offered him small smile. He gave her a little wave and gestured that he was going to go change into his robes. She nodded, and watched with longing as he left.
(AN: Updated sooner than I thought. A little confusion on the romantic front. It's not the main focus, and won't be an H/HR for a while. Any feed back welcome. Peace).