Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and I don't intend to earn any profit out of it.

The next day, Harry woke up with a huge smile on his face. He tried to remember what he was so happy about. Then, the events of yesterday evening came to his mind. His penis suddenly became erect as the image of a smiling blond haired, blue eyed Slytherin flashed before him.

"Mate, what are you so happy about?" asked Ron, as he observed the shit-eating grin on Harry's face.

Harry was brought back to reality by Ron's question and his penis deflated back. But that goofy grin never left Harry's face.

"Ron, you have Lavender always sucking you in your mouth and you seem to really enjoy it. I was just imagining someone doing the same for me" said Harry with a dream like smile.

Ron guffawed with laughter.

"Mate, so you finally found someone after Cho, huh? Tell me who is it" remarked Ron with an unusually excited look on his face.

Harry looked shyly down his feet.

"Oh Harry, you are 16 now. Don't be shy. Look at me when I snog Lavender. Do you see a trace of shyness in me? Come on Harry, be a man" said Ron thumping him playfully on his back.

Truthfully speaking, Harry was afraid of Ron's reaction on hearing that Harry fancied a Slytherin girl. Ron was well known for his outspoken hatred against the Slytherin house. But Harry decided to give his first friend the benefit of doubt and replied.

"Ron, it is Daphne Greengrass. I met her yesterday evening. She was being harassed by some boys from her own house and I had to stun them to save her. She was grateful to me for that and we spent some time talking to each other. I found her to be very nice. She even agreed to help me find out whether Malfoy is planning anything nefarious. We agreed to meet again in the Room of Requirement on Saturday morning after 5 days" explained Harry, waiting for Ron's explosive reaction to come.

Ron's face was completely inscrutable as he stared unblinkingly at Harry for 10 seconds. Harry prepared himself for comments like 'She is a stinking slytherin', 'She gave you love potions' and things of such sort and was prepared to counter those arguments fiercely, as he waited in tense anticipation.

After what felt like eternity, a small smile broke out on Ron's face that eventually turned into a full blown laughter. Now, Harry was the one staring unblinkingly at Ron. Whatever reaction that he had expected from Ron, this certainly wasn't one.

"Harry, you lucky young man, you have no idea how lucky you are" said Ron laughing at him.

"What?" asked Harry bewildered, unable to process what Ron had just said to him.

"Now, just wait a minute Harry. I will make you understand" replied Ron before he dove into his bag and pulled out a book titled "12 fail safe way to charm witches".

"Harry, rescuing a damsel in distress is one of the best fool-proof ways to charm witches. It is mentioned clearly in this book. That is why I said you were lucky" said Ron grinning at Harry.

"But Ron, do you have no problem that it is a Slytherin whom I am fancying? I expected you to rant about stinking slytherins or accuse her of feeding me love potions" said Harry in a confused voice.

In reply, Ron sighed deeply and said "Harry, do you think that I am prejudiced git as Malfoy? Only Malfoy and the gits that agree with his bigoted views are the ones who stink, I don't have a problem with the rest of them. I remember that there were quite a number of Slytherins who didn't wear the "Weasley is our King" badges last year. And mate, you are capable of resisting You-Know-Who's imperius. So, what can ordinary love potions do to you?" asked Ron rheoterically as he smiled at Harry.

Harry didn't say anything for a few moments. But suddenly, he hugged Ron fiercely and Ron returned the hug back.

"Thank you brother" said Harry emotionally before asking "Ron, since when you become so mature? And, where did you get this book?"

"Actually, Bill gave it to me during Christmas. He used this to woo Fleur" said Ron.

"Can I borrow this?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Sorry Harry, Bill has placed runes on this book in such a way that this book will open only to a Weasley male. Only when Bill modifies the runes for you will you be able to read it. But anyway Harry, you won't need the book at all. This book is especially meant for idiotic males who don't know how to speak to girls and I am sorry to say that I was one of them. If I had this book earlier, I wouldn't have screwed up so badly with Hermione" said Ron regretfully with a bit of shame.

Harry looked sadly at Ron before replying "Ron, I spoke with Hermione yesterday"

Ron looked up morosely and said "She must be very angry with me, right?"

Harry sighed before replying "Yes Ron, I won't deny that. But she was also missing your presence. She started crying badly when she saw you openly snogging Lavender and I had to comfort her. Ron, don't feel bad when I say this, but most of it was your fault. You were so rude to everyone and especially to her before our first quidditch match this year, you were very harsh with her regarding her friendship with Krum. What do you think she feels when you copy her homework without showing any gratitude to her?

And Ron, I am happy that you are happy with Lavender, but openly snogging someone in front of everyone is shamelessness and that makes everyone in the vicinity uncomfortable. That is why, most of the couples go to broom closets Ron. I admit that Hermione snogging Krum might have hurt your feelings, but snapping at Hermione for that and taking revenge on her by openly snogging Lavender in the common room will not make things better.

In my opinion Ron, you and Hermione are completely polar opposites of each other. You are fun loving and she is studious. So, a relationship between both of you is less likely to work out in the long run. But even if there is no romantic interest between the two of you, it is undeniable that Hermione is our friend and she has helped both of us a lot in the past. I really miss the adventures that the three of us had together. I want the three of us to become the Golden Gryffindor trio again. And for that, I request you Ron, to please apologize to Hermione" said Harry sincerely.

Ron looked down at his feet in shame and mumbled "You are right Harry. Even the book said almost the same things. But I am afraid that she will send those birds at me again"

"Ron, I assure you that it won't happen. I will cast a shield before you if it does so happen. Now, please be a man and do the right thing" said Harry.

Ron nodded and both of them walked towards the common room intending to meet Hermione.

After finishing their morning duties, Harry and Ron found Hermione sitting in the sofa near the fireplace in the common room. As soon as she saw Ron along with Harry, she turned away. But Harry called out to her.

"Hermione, Ron has something very important to say to you" said Harry.

Hermione's first instinct was to refuse to even listen to Ron but Harry always had her best interests at heart and he would never let her down.

"Okay, what is it?" asked Hermione in a tense voice.

Ron gulped, before clearing his throat and said "Hermione, I have been a big prat to you this year. You have done nothing to deserve my scorn and contempt. You have always helped me out in doing homework and academics and what did I do? I hurt your feelings very badly. Hermione, you can be friendly with any boy that you want, even Krum. I will not hold that against you. I just want you to be very happy. I just never want you to shed tears again. Please forgive me Hermione. I just want to be your friend again" said Ron, before holding out his hand for her to shake.

The people in the common room were astounded on hearing Ron's words. They never thought Ron would publicily apologize to someone else. Ginny, in particular, was proud of her brother. She was happy that he was acting very maturely for once.

Everyone waited in tense anticipation for Hermione's response. Hermione stared scrutinizingly at Ron for a few seconds while Ron fidgeted with his hands.

Then, suddenly without warning, she hugged Ron fiercely much to the surprise of Ron. Ron returned the hug back. Harry gave an inner dance of joy on seeing the reconciliation of his 2 friends and he too joined the hug making it a three way hug. There were a few claps from their fellow Gryffindors and finally the three of them parted from the hug.

Hermione, who looked much happier now said happily "Let us go to breakfast"

On the way to breakfast, Harry told Hermione about Daphne. To Harry's immense relief, Hermione too didn't object to Harry's friendship with Daphne.

"I have done a group project with Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Dravis in Arithmancy during my fourth year. I found both of them to be likeable and very good students. And, they did not wear those badges. You have chosen well Harry. She is definitely a better choice than Cho, in case you want to make her your girl friend" said Hermione smiling warmly at him.

Finally, they sat down for breakfast. Harry opened the daily prophet in front of him, and saw the regular news of destruction brought upon the wizarding and muggle worlds by Voldemort and his deatheaters. He grit his teeth in anger. Something had to be done about Voldemort. What the hell was the ministry doing about this? Anyway, as long as people like Umbridge and Fudge worked in the ministry, no real help could be expected from the ministry. Harry hoped that at least Dumbledore and the order were doing something about it. But that too was uncertain, because even though they were better than the ministry, Harry found Dumbledore's approach to be too soft. Even last year, Voldemort had mocked Dumbledore that Dumbledore was not even trying to kill him. This year, murder attempt on Katie Bell had already happened and Harry had mentioned about his suspictions about Draco Malfoy to Dumbledore, but the headmaster didn't seem to be taking the issue with the required amount of seriousness. Moreever, Dumbledore's blind trust in Snape was totally ridiculous.

Harry was brought out of his musings by somebody tapping him from behind.

Harry looked behind to see Daphne who was smiling at him brightly. There was another girl also with Daphne and she too smiled at Harry.

"Good morning Harry" Daphne said.

Harry smiled in return.

"Ooh, it is Harry. You too are already close huh?" teased Tracey, to which Daphne blushed and nudged Tracey's elbows in irritation.

"Good morning Daphne" returned Harry and he gave a small nod to the other girl too as he made space for both of them to sit beside him.

The other Gryffindors were staring slack jawed at the two Slytherin girls who had dared to sit at the Gryffindor table. Many of them had heard about Daphne's fierce reputation as the Ice Queen of Slytherin and a few of them started inching away from their seats leaving a wide berth for Daphne.

Even the professors and the people from the other three houses were watching this unusual scene open-mouthed. The Slytherins in particular were glaring fiercely at Daphne and Tracey for daring to betray their house like that.

Then, Tracey turned to Harry and spoke seriously "I wanted to thank you for saving Daphne yesterday. She is my best friend and is as good to me as my own sister. I owe you a debt for this"

In reply, Harry smiled warmly and replied "I was only too happy to help. You don't owe me anything. No woman deserves to be taken advantage of and harassed in such a manner. I did what any decent person should have done in that situation" replied Harry.

"No Harry, what you did was something really extraordinary. I will never forget your help. It is your humility that is making you say this" said Daphne smiling warmly at him.

Harry replied "If both of you really want to repay me for my help, then all that I want is your friendship. I am really tired of all this Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry. It is finally time that we build a bridge between both our houses. Don't you agree?" asked Harry playfully.

While Tracey started slack-jawed at Harry, Daphne laughed and told Tracey "See Tracey, didn't I tell you that he won't accept any payment. I won the bet. So, you have to pay me up" and then turned to Harry "Tracey was almost expecting that you might ask for even a betrothal contract in return for saving my honour" Daphne explained.

"What? I will never do that" Harry almost shouted in a shocked voice.

"Harry, this seems very shocking to you Gryffindors, but it is usually the norm in Slytherin. Backstabbing, Exchange of unpleasant sexual favours, marriage contracts, calling of debts, etc are so common in the viper pit. That is why, I am so happy that an idiotic, chivalrous Gryffindor saved me yesterday" said Daphne smiling miscieviously at him.

Harry just smiled and nodded back, not knowing what to say.

Their pleasant moment was interrupted when Cormac McLaggen shouted "What the hell are two stinking Snakes doing in our table?" Some Gryffindors nodded at McLaggen's question.

Harry's expression darkened and so did Daphne's, Ron's and Hermione's.

"May be we should go back…" Tracey started saying, but Hermione held her back.

"No Davis, you can sit here if you want. He has no right to order you away" Hermione said before turning back to McLaggen.

"And McLaggen, except for the Halloween feast, the opening feast and the leaving feast, the students can sit in any house table that they prefer. It is given in the Hogwarts charter" said Hermione emphatically.

"And Miss Granger is absolutely right Mr McLaggen" chimed in Dumbledore, from the head table.

"I award 25 points each to Harry Potter, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis for displaying inter house unity in these troubled times. 10 points from McLaggen for usage of improper language in addressing Slytherin house members and 10 points to Hermione Granger for properly quoting the Hogwarts charter. Have a great day" smiled Dumbledore genially.

McLaggen gritted his teeth but sat down not wanting to embarrass himself further.

"Thanks a lot Granger" chorused Daphne and Tracey.

"Anytime" said Hermione smiling.

"It is nice to meet both of you" said Ron warmly.

"Thanks Weasley" said Daphne surprised by Weasley's behavior. She had expected him to be the most vocal against their presence here.

"Potter, I and Daphne would be glad to be your friend" said Tracey smiling at the three Gryffindors who returned the smile.