Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 5

The trio eventually sat back at the table to finish their breakfast, once everything died down. Harry could tell Hermione was still bothered by Parker. He wished he could do or say something that make her laugh or even just smile. He sighed as he looked down at his half eaten blueberry pancakes, topped with whip cream. He grinned to himself, as he dipped his finger into the white cream and dabbed it on his nose.

He cleared his throat and turned to her. "Hey Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she murmured as she stopped picking at her food and turned to him. She immediately pressed her lips together as she held back a laugh. "Harry," she tried to say in a serious tone.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Do I have food on my face or something?"

"You know very well that you do," she said as she felt the rumble of laughter threatening to escape.

"I do? Where?" he asked as he wiped his mouth.

"I don't see anything on his face," Ron said.

Hermione turned to see that Ron had a big glob of jelly on his cheek. "Ron," she said sternly.

"What?!"

She looked at both of them, trying hard not to laugh, but they looked so ridiculous she finally busted out laughing. "You guys are nuts," She giggled and then reached over to wipe the whip cream off of Harry's nose.

Harry grinned. "There she is...she's back."

"Mission accomplished," Ron said as he wiped the jelly off.

"Such dorks," she laughed as she stood up. "Come on, we're gonna be late for Hagrid's class."

The grabbed their books and headed out of the Great Hall. Harry reached over with his free hand and grabbed Hermione's as they trotted down the front steps towards Hagrid's hut. Hagrid's large form stepped out of the hut and grinned brightly at Harry and Hermione. "The two of ye are finally together I see," he beamed. "I remember when your Mum and Da, finally admitted their feelings...took them forever yes they did..."

"Er thanks Hagrid," Hermione said as she felt herself turn red. Why did everyone think we'd get together? She never thought it would be this way, she expected their close friends to be completely shocked. But they weren't. They were the complete opposite.

They had Care for Magical Creatures with the Hufflepuffs, so Parker was near, glaring at both Harry and Hermione whenever he had the chance. Harry held onto her hand, giving her a slight squeeze of reassurance that he was there. Hermione smiled and rested her head on his shoulder while they continued to listen to Hagrid talk about Stinkywinks. These animals were a ball of fur, who's weapon of defense was a high stench of odor, similar to the skunk, but the smell was ten times worse. However, they give off pleasant smells if they are comfortable or trust a person. It all depended on the person, since Stinkywinks are a good judge of character. You can't be fake with them.

Hermione, Ron and Harry took a Stinkywink to play with, who were in fact cute little animals that almost looked like rabbits, except their ears were shorter, tail longer and had no whiskers. "Mmm, I smell cookies...exactly the kind of cookies my mom bakes," Hermione said as she buried her face in the fur.

"I smell Julia's perfume," Ron said slightly confused as he patted it's head.

"Stinkywinks have their own smell for each person," Hagrid began to explain. "They sense yer favorite smells. That is...if they like yeh, that is....yeh don't want to know what they do to yeh if they don't like yeh..."

"Harry what do you smell?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked puzzled. "Um...I smell...er...i don't know what it is...it smells good though."

"How can you not know? You had to have smelled it before?" Hermione asked confused.

"I guess I have, but didn't realize it," he said as he took a whiff. "It smells wonderful...some kind of rosemary scent and..."

"Uuuuugh!"

The three suddenly turned to see Parker stumbling off the grass just when a Stinkywink fell to the ground and scampered over to Hagrid. "Ew! Parker smells!" a Hufflepuff shrieked as she waved a hand in front of her face.

Everyone giggled when Parker looked like he was about to gag. "Get those things away from me...that thing bit me!"

"It bet ye?!" Hagrid asked. "What you do to it? It never bites....unless it's been provoked...nasty bite too, yeh'll be smellin' like that for a few days."

The trio stifled giggles as they looked at Parker's angry face, before he finally stalked off. They definitely enjoyed their class today, and finally were dismissed and they made their way back into the school. "So it IS true," a teasing voice said as they rounded the corner.

They looked up to see Draco grinning. "Hey Draco, and YES it is true," Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Bout time...."

"We did, right...we've heard it already," Hermione sighed.

"Hmm, hey Weasly, where's your sister?" he asked as he adjusted his books in his arms.

"I dunno, you're going out with her, you should know," he grumbled.

He grinned. "Still get under your skin do I?"

"No," he said unconvincingly. "Go bug Ginny."

"No, I'd rather bug this Weasly, a lot more fun," he said with a laugh.

"Draco, stop teasing my brother...that's my job," Ginny said as she appeared from around the corner.

"There you are, sweetie," he said as he kissed her on the cheek. "Where were you?"

"Just in the library, have a test on Arithmacy," she said as she held Draco's hand.

"Ugh, speaking of which, I have that next," Hermione said and turned to Harry. "I'll see you in Potions."

"Okay, good luck on your test," he said and then leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth.

She blushed slightly. "Thanks," she said sheepishly before she turned and walked away, practically floating.

"See you guys later," Draco said before he pulled Ginny along with him.

"Hmph," Ron grunted as he pouted.

Harry shook his head. "Still haven't forgiven him for saving your life last year?"

"No....he only did it, to earn my trust so he could date Ginny," he grumbled.

Harry chuckled, because he knew that wasn't the reason why he saved Ron's life....well, not the only reason. Draco had done a 180 last year and completely changed, thanks to Ginny. She for some reason saw some good in him, and managed to spill it out. When they faced Voldemort at the end of the year, they had thought Draco had betrayed them, because he was standing by Voldemort's side that night. Ron was furious at him, and started to charge at him, so Voldemort raised his wand at him, preparing to say the death curse. He would have succeeded too, if Draco didn't knock Voldemort down with his body, catching him off guard. Truth was, he didn't betray them...he betrayed Voldemort. Risking his life, he pretended to be faithful to him, to keep the ones he loved safe. Namely Ginny. Ronald Weasly owes Draco his life. And although he was grateful, he never would admit it to Draco.

"You like him, you know you do," Harry snickered.

"I do not....ugh...okay, so he's definitely changed...for the better, but I don't have to be friends with him."

"Right...of course," Harry said not buying it. "Let's book it to Divination, we'll be late."

"Greeeat, another hour of listening to that wacko," he muttered as they made their way towards the Astronomy tower. "Thank Merlin it's Friday, that's all I have to say. I'm spending the entire weekend with Julia."

"When do you NOT spend time with Julia?" Harry asked amused.

Ron scowled. "Shut it, Potter. You're just jealous that you don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh, as a matter of fact Ron....I DO," he corrected with a grin.

"Hermione doesn't count," he said as they started climbing the long flight of stairs.

"Shut up someone will hear you," Harry hissed.

"I think it's so funny that people think your dating," he said quietly. "If they only knew....how you liking it by the way?"

He shrugged. "It's not bad...makes me feel good to know I'm helping Hermione. She's been through enough with Victor, I don't want her to go through that again."

"Ugh, don't ever say that name in my presence," Ron said as they finally reached the ladder that lead to the class.

"Tell me about it," he said as they climbed the ladder together.

"Good of you to join us," Trelawny said and then grinned at Harry. "I just knew you two would get together...it was destiny."

Harry blushed furiously when the whole class giggled at her remark. He quickly sunk low in his chair. He was still amazed at how fast news traveled here at Hogwarts.

Hermione had a smile plastered on her face as she left her Arithmacy class. She nailed it. There wasn't one question on that test that she did not know. Taking a late night dip with your best friends the night before, must really do the trick. She giggled softly to herself as she trotted up the steps to meet Ron and Harry before Transfiguration. She found them at their usual meeting spot just outside the class room. "Hey guys!"

Harry turned and grinned at the sight of her. "Hey smiley face, I take it the test went well?"

"Fabulous!" she said happily and then leaned up to kiss his cheek....just for show of course, since there were people around. "How was Divination?"

"Nothing special," Ron muttered.

"Yeah, she was still her quirky self," he said as he linked fingers with hers...a habit he was already getting use to. "We better head on in, looks like McGonagall is about to start."

They sat in their usual spots which were more towards the middle of the classroom. They didn't have assigned seating, but usually the way it worked was, the seat you choose on the first day, was your seat for the rest of the year. Hermione was sandwiched in between the boys, sitting straight up in her chair as she began her notes. Harry leaned slightly back in his chair and decided to give the people that were sitting behind them a show, so he placed his arm against the back of her chair and started to run his fingers through her long flowing hair.

Hermione jumped slightly at the first contact and turned around to see Harry grinning at her. He gave her a wink, which made her blush slightly so she quickly turned around so he wouldn't see. He was definitely going out of his way to convince people they were dating. She thought that they would just hold hands really, that was it. But he did other things for her as well. Like kissing her cheek or putting an arm around her, pulling her safely to his side. Or this....running his fingers casually through her hair while they listened to McGonagall's lecture on how to turn mice into pocket watches. For the first time, she actually found it difficult to concentrate.

After class, they went to lunch and thankfully weren't approached by Parker. Julia joined them for lunch, giving Ron a quick kiss as she sat down next to him. They told her what happened to Parker and she laughed a long with him. "That guy is such a git," she said as she speared her salad. "He thinks he's like the hottest thing in this school, which is such a crock. I can name three that are hotter."

"Really huh?" Ron asked as he took a break from shoveling food in his mouth and turned to her. "Who's that exactly?"

She grinned. "Well, you...of course," she said as she kissed his cheek. He blushed. "Then...Harry of course."

Harry grinned. "Why thank you, Julia," he said with a wink.

"Who's the third?" Ron asked.

"Draco."

"Draco? You think Draco's...HOT?"

"Hell yeah," she said casually and took a bite of her salad.

"I have to agree with her," Hermione said as she raised her hand.

"What?!" Harry asked shocked. "All those years you hated him?"

"I might of hated him, but I do have eyes, Harry," she said with a shrug. "Don't worry though, you're cuter."

Harry opened his mouth, but closed it when he felt himself turn red.