I began this project a long time ago as a high school student. As high school went on, I gradually became busy and wrote less, read less, got involved with other things. Now that I'm older, almost finished with college, I feel as though I'm ready to get back into it again. I have fresh ideas, I'm a more seasoned writer, and I'm looking forward to the writing and editing process as I rework this story into something I want to be proud of.

The FF community is so encouraging, and there are many talented people out there. I'm bound and determined to see this through to the end. Thank you all for your support, for the kind words that I received when I was working on this story the first time, and thanks in advance for the support I hope to receive for round two.

This will be a Hermione/Percy friendship story, beginning during CoS and continuing through DH. I plan on it being mostly Canon-compliant.

The day that two unlikely people would begin an unlikely friendship began with a book.

Twelve-year-old Hermione Granger sat in the library doing homework, as usual. The two books Professor Sprout had instructed their Herbology class to reference for writing an essay were sitting on the table in front of her. One of the books was thin, with cartoon-like diagrams that moved, animating the growth cycle of Leaping Toadstools from start to finish. The second book was thick, with small print and scientific diagrams. While paging through some of the sections of the thicker book, Hermione found a footnote that referenced another title. Wanting more information for her essay, and curious about the sporulation process of the Leaping Toadstools (did the spores leap too?), she began searching the shelves nearest her. The library was nearly empty at this time of day. Hermione enjoyed browsing the collections, running her fingers over well-worn leather-bound texts.

The book in question was sitting on a high shelf. Hermione stood on her tiptoes to try and pull it down. Just as her fingers brushed the spine, another hand came out of nowhere, reached over her, and grabbed it, jostling her shoulder a bit. Startled, Hermione lost her balance and fell backwards, knocking into the mystery book-snatcher and landing in his lap as they both tumbled to the floor. He didn't remain a mystery for long.

"Hermione!" Percy Weasley sounded disgruntled from underneath Hermione. They both flailed for a moment, limbs and robes tangled.

"Sorry Percy, I didn't mean to," she scrambled up off his lap and picked up the book that had landed a few feet away. Percy stood as well. After brushing himself off and readjusting his robes, he turned to face her. There was a stand off. Hermione got the mental image of two cowboys in an old Western, and she fought the urge to giggle.

"Hermione," Percy began, "Why do you require that book? It was assigned to my sixth year potions class. Surely, you are not taking sixth year potions. Although you probably could manage it," That last comment was more to himself than to her, but she blushed all the same.

"It's for a bit of background reading for my essay about Leaping Toadstools, for Herbology. We're learning about the physical properties about magical fungi," She refused to relinquish her hold on the book. Percy took a step forward, his face somewhere between a smirk and a smile. Hermione couldn't remember having seen him smile before, but thought to herself that it was a much more pleasant look for him than his usual concerned scowl.

"I remember that essay. The book you are holding does have information on that topic...but don't you already have the two reference books that Professor Sprout gave you?"

"Yes, I do,"

"The books you already have contain more than enough information for the requirements of that essay. Especially if you read the side panels and footnotes by the editors. Those always have the best information. I remember that assignment. Actually, I chose to write about Leaping Toadstools as well, back in the day," Percy looked nostalgic at the thought of his assignment from four years previous. Hermione was struck with the happy thought that Percy was just as much of a academic-oriented person as she was.

"Really? I think they're fascinating. Especially how their leaping properties can be distilled and used in pepper-up potions,"

"That's exactly what I'm writing about for my potions essay," Percy truly smiled then, and Hermione couldn't help but smile back. Percy turned his attention to the book still in her hand, "I really do need that text, Hermione, it is the main source for my assignment. If you'd like to take a look at it when I am finished, I will gladly let you," Hermione thought for a moment.

"Alright, Percy. Here it is." she handed it over. It was getting heavy anyways.

"Thank you. Have a good evening, Hermione," Percy pushed his glasses higher on his nose and walked away. Hermione returned to her seat, and began paging through the thick title she already had. She had to find the side panels Percy was talking about.

Though their initial interaction had been brief, from that moment onward, Percy and Hermione formed a quiet friendship. The two could frequently be found sitting at the same table near the back of the library, studying silently together. As the winter term came to a close, one redhead and one bushy brunette could be found nearly every day at the corner table in the back by the statue of Barnabas Bartleby, studying for winter exams.

It wasn't that they were keeping it a secret that they studied together, but putting it to words never seemed necessary. Hermione purposefully never chose to mention to Ron and Harry that when she went off to do her homework, she did not work alone. Ron was often at odds with Percy, Harry often echoed Ron's sentiments, and Hermione disliked the twins' and Ron's attitudes toward their elder brother. She felt that she understood Percy, and that if she hadn't become friends with Harry and Ron, she might actually have become a "Percy" herself. She knew he had acquaintances and that he was friendly with the other Gryffindors in his year, but Percy was nearly always alone when she saw him, or with the prefects. Outside of raising his voice to use his authority as a one of the Gryffindor prefects, she could rarely recall a time when she'd seen him in conversation with anyone. Percy and Hermione rarely talked outside of basic pleasantries, being completely absorbed in their own work, but the lack of conversation was always comfortable, never awkward.

One Tuesday in mid-December, Hermione happened to glance over at Percy's work. He was studying Polyjuice potion for an essay for Professor Snape's class, and kept flipping through a small stack of textbooks on the table, adding inches of thin, neat handwriting to his parchment. Having heard of the potion while doing some extra reading but not knowing much about it, she was eager to learn more.

"Percy," She began, hoping she wasn't being distracting, "With Polyjuice Potion, could one who consumed it transform into, say, a bunny?"

"What?" He startled, unaccustomed to questions being posed, "Oh, No. Polyjuice Potion can only be used for fully human-human transformations. If you tried to transform into a bunny, you might be stuck with long ears and fluffy tail permanently. It's complicated to explain; that's what I'm writing about now. But if I were to break it down for you: because the essence of human in the potion is consumed physically by a person, rather than transferred magically through a charm or a transfiguration, there are limits to how long the potion's dose of human essence can bind without permanently mutating the essence of the person consuming it. The potion itself is designed to wear off in an amount of time that will not cause permanent magical harm to the wearer; that's what the fluxweed does. Did that make sense?" She was absorbed, hooked onto his every word.

"Yes, it made perfect sense," Her mind was spinning with the new information.

"Good, because that's what the last ten inches of this parchment describes," They both chuckled, softly.

"How long does Polyjuice take to brew?" Knowing now that he would answer her questions willingly, she was eager for more information.

"About four weeks, and one of the stages has to be done during the full moon,"

"Is it illegal to use in some places?" She barged on.

"Countries in eastern Europe and a few provinces in Canada have banned the commercial production and retail sale of Polyjuice because there was an excess in criminals impersonating other people in order to appear innocent in their crimes. Here, the Ministry of Magic hasn't prohibited the production or sales, but there quite a few restrictions on its use, particularly in the Ministry. Because of that, most people must be screened for recent potion usage before legal proceedings,"

"Wow," Hermione absorbed this new information and was contemplating.

"Any more questions?" He had a half-smirk on his face that helped him appear more his own age. Hermione once again thought that he should smile more. He looked so much more relaxed and happy that way.

"Well, not at the moment, but maybe later," she realized a split second later that he was teasing her, hence the smirk. He was normally so formal around his peers but, like most of the other teenaged boys she knew, he did have a sense of humor, even if it was more understated than most. She wrinkled her nose at him, and they both chuckled again.

"If you'd like to know more, there is a book you could read," He offered.

"Really?"

"Yes, hold on a moment," Percy leaned over and dug around in his book bag. Only the top of his head, the tuft of red curls, was visible from over the edge of the table. He pulled out a worn textbook and began flipping through its pages, "Now...technically, I shouldn't be giving you this. It is from the restricted section. But since I'm here, and since you're...well, you are you, Hermione. I trust you," She glowed inwardly at the compliment, "Now, the rest of this book does contain potion recipes, spells, and in-depth descriptions of darker magic, but the section on Polyjuice is relatively tame. Here it is," He held the open book up to her.

"Thank you, Percy," she began reading at once, quickly skimming the paragraphs and jotting down notes on a spare bit of parchment. Percy returned to his work as well, but a few minutes later, he glanced up, and immediately stood, attempting to smooth his curly red hair and straighten his impeccably pressed robes.

"If you'll excuse me, Hermione, I need to speak to someone. I'll be back in a moment," Hermione followed his line of sight to a curly-haired Ravenclaw girl with a prefect's badge. She was standing a few feet away, searching through the book titles on a shelf full of Charms books. Percy suddenly looked flustered.

"Alright," She watched him walk away. Her mind worked quickly. She watched as Percy walked right up to her and murmured a greeting. The girl smiled at him. They stood close together, murmuring as they began to walk down the aisle of shelves. Percy's pink-tipped ears were unmistakable, and as the pair walked side by side, the backs of their hands brushed together a few times before Percy reached out and closed the gap, taking her hand and causing both of them to blush even deeper. Hermione smiled to herself at the two of them before returning to her reading.