Happy reading Guys!

Chapter 1: Where it all began

Eleven years old Harry James Potter was completely new to the wizarding world. His new friend Hagrid had asked him to board the Hogwarts Express at platform 9^3/4 but unfortunately had vanished somewhere without telling him how to get there. So here he stood confused and thinking to himself as to what he was supposed to do to find such an unusual platform. Suddenly he was taken aback by some loud blabbering about bad shoes, he saw that it was coming from a bushy haired girl, she had chocolate brown eyes and a very lovely face. She didn't seem at all happy with her shoes that were of the shape of a mouse.

"How many times have I told mum that I have grown up now and need not to wear these weird shoes meant for the two years old but she won't listen!" she fussed to herself as she passed by Harry. He noticed that she had a ticket in her small hand with platform 9^3/4 written on it, he knew what to do next.

"Excuse me!" Harry called out to her.

The girl turned to find rather a very cute looking boy with round glasses, approaching her.

"Listen if you are here to make fun of my shoes then don't you dare…" but before she could complete,

"No, I am not here for that! I have just been wanting to ask if you can tell me how to get to…." Harry said before pausing and raising his ticket to her.

"Oh! I am so sorry, actually I feel quite embarrassed in these shoes that I can even imagine people coming to me just for making fun of them, silly me!" she said giving a sheepish smile.

"Anyways as far as your problem is concerned it's really easy, just watch me." she said and the very next moment she made a run towards a huge pillar vanishing into it. Harry wasn't surprised a lot, as such strange things had been occurring to him quite frequently since he learned he was a wizard. He made a tight grip at his trolley and began to run towards the pillar and then into it. The next moment he was standing at platform 9^3/4, he lost himself admiring the awesome Hogwarts express but soon was out of his trance as a girl's voice stuck into his head saying,

"Hey you, round glasses! Are you going to stand there or find yourself a compartment before the entire train gets crowded…"

Harry saw that it was the bushy haired girl, she made a gesture with her hand telling him to follow her and so he did, almost chuckling to himself at the new name he was addressed with, round glasses. After rummaging through four or five compartments they finally found a completely vacant one, suitable for them and their luggage. Harry went and sat near the window while the girl sat opposite to him at the other window.

"I am Hermione Jean Granger and you?"

"Harry Potter."

"I knew it, since I saw you, I had this feeling that you must be the famous Harry Potter, I have read about you."

Harry knew he was popular but people even read about him made him feel a bit awkward.

The train started and during half of the journey both the kids talked about Hogwarts and magical stuff, they also ate some of the delicious candies Hermione was carrying, gradually their conversation moved to each other's respective lives. Hermione always had her mouth dropped open in surprise as she came to know what a harsh and miserable life Harry had with his cruel aunt and uncle. Suddenly a chocolate frog came jumping in their compartment followed by a fat looking boy who was shouting,

"Trevor! Please come back!"

But the frog didn't seem to listen and jumped to another compartment with the boy yelling after it.

"I think he needs a little help, I'll be back." exclaimed Hermione as she walked out of the compartment.

Harry really found it so nice of her, always trying to help others. He sat staring out of the train's window and enjoying the beautiful views passing by when someone entered the compartment, he thought it had to be Hermione but turned to find that it was instead a blonde-haired boy with stormy grey eyes. He came and sat opposite to Harry.

"Hello Harry, my name is Draco Malfoy, I have been searching for you since we got on the train and finally here you are." he said holding his hand out to Harry.

Harry took his hand wondering why this guy was saying so, what did he want from him?

"You must be thinking how I recognized you, simple, by your scar, which is as famous as you." He paused then continued,

"Since my father told that you too are going to be at Hogwarts this year, I have been thinking that we both will turn out to be great friends. Just imagine the famous Harry potter and the royal, rich, high class- Draco Malfoy, how great it sounds!" he said, his eyes shining brightly.

Harry not at all liked how this guy laid so much emphasis on being a high class and from some royal society. He was never going to make friends with a boy who wanted to be his companion just because he was very famous. He was about to convey it to Malfoy when Hermione came back, while standing at the entrance door of the compartment, she began saying,

"That frog was so stubborn Harry, we tried a lot to catch it but it jumped out of the train, Neville is so upset…" though she had to say much more, she paused, realizing that Harry was not alone but there was some other boy too staring at her strangely.

"Who is she?" asked Draco looking at Harry.

But before Harry could say anything,

"Hermione Granger." Hermione answered casually.

"Granger!" Draco mouthed out in surprise, frowning badly as if even in saying this title he felt sick.

"Granger? A mudblood! Why on earth is this low class talking to you as if she is your friend?" he asked Harry.

"Because she is my friend! and she isn't like you, arrogant and selfish, judging people by their class which actually doesn't counts while making a friend, so I better prefer to be her friend rather than being with a fool like you." Replied Harry, he was very angry at Draco for calling his new friend a low class though he didn't know the meaning of mudblood .

"So that's it, I thought so high of you Potter but now I see how wrong I was! You need not tell me that you don't want to be my friend as now I myself don't want to be the friend of such a brainless idiot as you are, making friends with disgusting Grangers!" Draco spat as he walked out of the compartment.

Harry saw how insulted and hurt Hermione looked now, her face has turned so dull and she stood with her eyes constantly looking down at the floor.

"Hermione, you should not think about whatever that monkey was saying, it was all rubbish! High class-low class? It doesn't even matter, what matters is what kind of a person you are and trust me Mione, you are a great person! Always helping out others, which I think will be considered as a really good quality, and you have it." Said harry.

Instantly Hermione seemed a little merrier than before, she came and sat facing Harry, now she had a little smile on her face.

"Thanks Harry, I didn't know you were so good at convincing." she said, playfully hitting his arm.

"My pleasure." he replied happily.

"Well about that frog, did it really jumped out?" he confirmed.

Hermione nodded.

"He was a Malfoy, isn't it? They all are the same, high headed and rude to our kinds." said Hermione, again bringing back the topic Harry wanted her to forget.

"Your kinds?" Harry made a face giving her a questioning look.

"My parents are muggles, that is, they can't do magic. And that's why the so-called high classes like that of Malfoy's call our kinds, mudbloods, they think our blood is dirty as we come from parents who are not connected to magic." Hemione told, anger evident in her voice.

"If that's so then you know it's all wrong Hermione. Just because you come from a family of muggles don't mean you are this….this mudblood or something, you know better, isn't it?" Harry said giving Hermione an encouraging smile, which she returned with a nod. Then a silence followed. As they neared Hogwarts,

"We are about to reach Hogwarts, better get dressed in your uniform." Hermione told Harry as she walked out to the girl's changing compartment for doing the same.

…

As the train came to a halt at it's destination, Harry and Hermione came down along with other students. Everyone was surprised to see a giant telling them to get into the boats that were supposed to take them to the huge and grand castle standing in front of them a few meters away.

"He's Hagrid, remember I told you about him!" Harry said excitedly to Hermione who just stared at the huge man with wide eyes.

When Hagrid saw Harry, he waved to him smiling, Harry waved back.

Soon after, the two kids were sitting in a boat with a few other students, it is when they got acquainted with a red-haired boy named Ronald Weasley.

At Hogwarts after some formalities and introductions, the students got sorted to various houses, Malfoy got Slytherin while Harry, Hermione, and Ron got chosen to Gryffindor.

The next day first class was of flying lessons taken by Hamster faced Madam Hooch. She was about to began when a Hogwarts assistant came running to tell her that the headmaster had summoned her. She told everyone that they were to stay at ground till she was back. Hermione stood holding her broom in hand when suddenly it started to rise up on its own, carrying her with it. It all happened so fast that before she could think or act, she was flying high up and all over Hogwarts with her hands holding onto the long wooden part of the broom while the rest of her body hanged in free air. Soon she started to lose her grip as her hands were getting tired and starting to pain, she tried to mount over the broom but being a complete novice she couldn't do it, also the highly fast speed of the broom was making it difficult for her to stick to it. There was a chaos at the ground, where the boys stood worried and horrified less by the situation but more by the howling and screaming of the girls. The Slytherin house laughed and mocked at Hermione with Malfoy being the loudest one at it. Harry sent Ron to call Madam Hooch but it was taking him very long. Harry knew that if he waited any longer then Hermione was going to fall down, so he had no other choice but to save her himself. He sat onto his broom making it fly towards Hermione, as fast as possible. On the other hand Hermione could not take it anymore, her hand slipped off the broom, she closed her eyes, waiting to face the dirt and pain of breaking bones. But it never happened, she felt something really soft holding her wrist, instantly she knew it was Harry's hand. He pulled her up onto his own broom and holding her tightly with one hand headed downwards to the ground. As Soon as they landed and Hermione's feet touched the ground she collapsed onto her knees, everyone crowded around her while Harry sat by her side rubbing her hands. Hermione felt as if every part of her body was knocked out, she gently tilted her head on Harry's shoulder. Malfoy walked to her,

"Enjoyed the ride Granger?" he mocked as he bent down on one knee to reach her level.

Harry was about to hit Malfoy for being a nuisance at such a critical moment but before that, something happened, Hermione puked at his robes! Though she didn't do it on purpose as she was in a condition too wretched to realize what she did and to whom. Malfoy could hear students laughing at him, specially the ones from his own house.

"Shut up you fools! And Granger? What the….yaak!" he exclaimed in disgust as he looked at the white slimy liquid at his robes.

"What's going on here? Mr Weasley told me that Miss Granger was flying." Suddenly Hooch's voice caught everyone's attention as she approached the students, Ron following behind. She sat down and carefully examined Hermione.

"Oh! poor child, she immediately needs to be taken to the hospital wing, and students, the class is dismissed for today." she said turning to everyone as she lifted up Hermione in her arms and began towards the infirmary with Harry following her.

As they were passing through one of the corridors, they came across Professor Mcgonagall.

"Hey Minerva! You know Miss Granger got hurt…" Hooch began, when,

"I know what happened Rolanda. Infact by now the news has reached almost everyone. Don't worry, just take her to Pomfrey and soon she will be fine." Mcgonagall said with concern.

Hooch gave her a tight smile and again started for the infirmary, Harry too was about to follow but Mcgonagall stopped him.

"Mr Potter, you need to come with me. " she said.

Harry wondered as to what did Mcgonagall want from him, nevertheless he nodded at her and began following her lead.

Mcgonagall walked through several corridors finally stopping by a classroom. She knocked at its door, in response of which a very feeble voice answered a yes.

And so the lady walked inside along with Harry.

"Sorry to disturb you professor Quirrel. But can I have a word with 'Mr Wood' please?" she asked.

" Yes, yes sure." he replied.

Thus a very handsome boy around seventeen years of age stood up from among the students and made his way towards Mcgonagall.

"Mr Potter, he is Oliver wood, the senior head boy, and Oliver this is your new seeker!" said Mcgonagall smiling at Harry.

"Alright, seems I am gonna be your teacher little one." Oliver exclaimed, shuffling through Harry's jet black hair.

Harry didn't understand what they were talking about, but just gave a faint smile, feeling like some small chicken on being called little.

"I saw it from my office window when you saved Miss Granger from falling. You did it so skilfully without having any experience in flying brooms before, which sure is praiseworthy. Thus I thought of this for you, I can see that you want to know what a seeker is, but you have to wait, Oliver will explain you everything." said Mcgonagall smiling at Harry, and then she was gone.

…

A week passed, Hermione was back completely healed now. About Harry, he was quite busy with the addition of seeker's lessons to his schedule. He always had a great time learning to be a seeker, which he now knew was a player who had the job of catching a golden ball, called snitch, while flying on the broom, in a game called Quidditch. He and Oliver enjoyed each other's company a lot. Hermione found that as for a while she hadn't been with Harry because of her time in the infirmary, Harry had grown really close to Ron, so much so that the red haired never left him. During the classes also, Ron shared the seat with both of them, which resulted in both the boys chatting and laughing with each other while Hermione sat quietly like a dumb. Now it wasn't like Hermione didn't want Harry to befriend anyone except her, infact it was quite the opposite, Hermione obviously was a very social type of person but when it came to Ron, though she couldn't put a finger onto what exactly, but something about him seemed off to her, besides he behaved quite mean with her, the reason whenever he was around she couldn't be herself with Harry.

Things went on like this when one day both Ron and Hermione got late for the class, they found that not only Harry's but all the seats were occupied except for the one at the back with the place of two people on it. So they both went and took it, Hermione felt so irritated having to sit with him. The class started, Ron was not able to pronounce correctly the spell being taught and thus Hermione tried to help by showing him how to cast the spell properly, and thus making the feather lying at her desk fly high up in air, but Ron took it as an insult.

After the class was over, Ron walked down the hallway with a group of boys including Harry, he made fun of Hermione, imitating her voice in a funny manner and making faces, even Harry chuckled at that while the others laughed loudly. But then he noticed that Hermione was seeing all this, her eyes brimming with tears ready to burst out. Harry now felt ashamed of himself, but before he could act or say anything she ran away with tears now flooding down her entire cheeks. Harry searched for her everywhere but couldn't find her. Later that day he heard Neville saying that Hermione had locked herself in the girl's wash room and was crying badly. Harry quickly got up to go when professor Quirrel came running into the hall and fainted after telling that a giant had entered Hogwarts. The headmaster asked everyone to be at peace and to move to their rooms with the prefects. Harry pulled out Ron from the line of students,

"Ron, Mione is still in the girl's washroom, we need to save her!" Harry exclaimed, getting totally worried.

"Have you lost your mind Harry? We cannot put our life in danger for that girl! You are going to get yourself killed along with her! " Ron exclaimed before joining back the line and asking Harry to do the same.

But Harry headed towards the corridor that led to the girl's washroom, hiding himself from the prefects and other students. Suddenly he heard a deafening scream, he followed it and came to witness a huge monster who was moving his heavy log in all directions finally aiming it at the sink Hermione was hiding under. Somehow she dodged the attack after the sink was shattered to pieces. Harry picked up one of a medium sized piece of the broken sink and threw it at the giant distracting it's attention towards him but didn't know what to do next. The angry giant seized Harry by one leg and making him hang in upside down position, charged again and again for his head with his log, the young wizard somehow managed to dodge it all. Both the kids had left their wands in their respective rooms thus there was no way they could use magic to get out of the situation. Then suddenly someone chanted out the spell "Winggardium Laviosaa!"

It caused the log to float into air out of the giant's hand and above it's head. To the utmost surprise of both Harry and Hermione, this someone was no other but Draco. He removed the spell from the log and it fell down on the giant's head making it lose its grip at Harry who landed at the floor dragging himself away from the giant as it collapsed down. As soon as it happened the teachers arrived at the spot.

"Oh Merlin! What are you three kids doing out here and what is this?" asked Mcgonagall, shocked and horrified at the look of the fainted giant. The other teachers had the same expression on their faces.

"It was me responsible for all this professor, I had read about a giant and was determined to defeat it but practically found it so difficult, if Harry and Draco had not arrived, I would have died." said Hermione taking the entire blame on herself.

"Miss Granger, I didn't expect that from you, and you two boys are given 50 points for your luck, now better get going to your dormitories." Mcgonagall said in a strict voice.

So all the three left, with Harry and Hermione walking together whereas Draco walked ahead of them, he obviously was headed for the Slytherin hall when Hermione's polite words made him halt in his steps,

"Thanks Draco." She said.

"Don't be so grateful Granger! I did it all for myself. I saw Potter when he got separated from the line and headed in the opposite direction, I knew what he was up to- defeating a giant and becoming the hero of Hogwarts. But I couldn't let him take the entire credit for himself so I secretly followed him, finally ending up in defeating the giant all by myself. I suppose it would turn out to be of great profit to me as I have planned, already I got 50 points for my house and the fame that I am about to get when very soon the news of this small incident spreads like wild fire, so don't think that I have turned into some kind hearted fool like you two! " Draco exclaimed with hatred evident in his voice.

"You freak!" Harry yelled, giving him an angry stare.

Draco smirked at him before walking away. When he found himself out of the sight of the two, he paused for a minute thinking to himself,

Hermione called me by my first name! Draco, it sounded so nice coming from her mouth, the way she said it, so soft and simple.

But quickly he was snapped out of the thought landing into another one,

How is it even possible that I thought of that Granger by her first name? And how could I think that my first name sounded nice from her mouth! No! coming from her, it sounded weird, no, horrible, in fact venomous!

He felt satisfied after cursing whatever little good he was thinking about Hermione. He felt his head for fever but found none, still not believing that even for a moment he could think good of those whom he hated so much if he was being in a normal state. Though finally he did come up with a reason and it consoled him.

Oh boy, you need rest, your tired mind and body are leading you to such weird thoughts.

He thought to himself as he retired to his dormitory.

…..

Harry and Hermione walked upstairs, neither of them had said anything till they came to the Gryffindor common room when Harry broke out the silence.

"I am sorry Mione, so sorry for everything, when you saw me laughing with Ron I wasn't mocking at you, it was just that the faces he made, he looked so funny…." Harry tried to explain.

"It's ok Harry, I understand now, the moment I saw you joined in my mockery along with Ron, I felt like you have changed, like I have lost the friend who once cared so much for me but when you came to save me from the Giant not caring for your own life, I realized that I was wrong."

Harry turned Hermione to face him and began,

"Mione never ever think that I will change for you, you are my best friend since day one and I will never stop caring for you like I do now."

"Then what will you say about ignoring me for almost a week? Always hanging around that Ron Weasley and treating me as if I never existed?" she said making a face.

"Really! I didn't know it, believe me Mione I didn't do it on purpose! I was such a fool, so busy with Ron that I never realized, and you should have told me if you felt that way, please forgive me Mione…."

But Hermione asked him to calm down before he could go on reciting an entire essay asking for forgiveness from her. How cute and innocent he looked when he was confused and worried at the same time, she thought amusedly.

"I was just playing around Harry." She giggled.

"I no more feel hurt for all that after what you did for me tonight. All my doubts about you are gone and I firmly believe now that you are my true friend and will always be." she said smiling at him.

"Well then its ok." he said returning a wide smile.

"About Ron, I must tell you that he turned out to be a big coward leaving me alone in my need, while I thought of him as a great friend." said Harry sounding quite disappointed.

"I always had a feeling that he was like this, that's the reason I disliked him so much. I know Harry how it feels when someone whom we trust so much breaks it, but forget about him, he was a prêt and it's good you got to see his true face." said Hermione putting a consoling hand on his shoulder.

There was silence for a moment, this time Hermione being the one breaking it,

"What do you think of Draco?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?" Harry exclaimed giving her a curious stare.

"Harry, I think he isn't that bad as much he pretends to be." Said Hermione.

"Pretends?" Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Harry look, I am not saying I am very sure of this but I was just suggesting a possibility."

Harry looked pensive for a while, then,

"Hermione you are a pure soul, and thus you find good in everything, but understand this, Malfoy himself said that he was there for his own selfish motives and not to save us. So stop wasting your thoughts over a nuisance like him." He laid out.

"Maybe you are right, Harry." Hermione sighed.

"Alright, I think we should retire for sleep now." she stated further.

Harry too agreed as he himself was really tired and weary.

"Good night Mione." he said as he moved to his dormitory.

"Night Harry." she replied as she headed for her own.

Hermione sat on her bed in deep thoughts,

Harry you won't understand but somehow I can feel it, Draco is not the person he tries to be. When he gave that reason for saving us from the Giant, I could see that his eyes reflected opposite of his words, it's not like I have any experience in reading people's eyes, in fact I have never been able to do so, but to my surprise, it seemed as if I could clearly read Draco's eyes and they said that he was not there for him but for us. I don't know, maybe it was just my imagination, cause it's really hard for me too to believe that Draco can have a good side…

With this and some similar thoughts in mind she found herself curling into her bed finally ending up in heavy sleep.

Review plzzz…