Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter franchise...

A/N: This is a fic that I am actually taking pretty seriously. It's not a parody, shock and amaze (lol), and I have intentions of finishing it, unlike the Fifth Summer. (The Fifth Summer would have been good if I had not been lazy and had actually gotten around to posting once in awhile. Instead, I waited around and eventually the fifth book came out. ::Sighs:: It's a terribly long and confusing story. Anyway!) I hope you enjoy it and I hope it's worthwhile! I've always wanted to do a Harry/Hermione fic, but have just now gotten the balls to do it. Enjoy.

Lock and Key

He couldn't help but look at her. In the beginning he hadn't noticed that he gazed at her quite often, or if he had, he wrote it off as simply paying attention to his best friend... being attentive. But now things had changed, and he found immense pleasure in looking at her, studying her delicate, pretty face. But the truth was, his looking was borderline staring. And Harry definitely had to be careful to not be caught staring, least of all by Hermione. Moody's reminder bounded through his head: constant vigilance.

"...unbelievable!" the red-head vehemently finished.

"W-what?" Harry asked, snapping out of his daze. Ron looked at him dubiously.

"I just said I can't believe that wanker's made Head Boy. You should have seen him on train, in the meeting. Disgusting." he replied angrily, referring to Draco Malfoy, who sat contently at the Slytherin table.

"I know." Harry added, shooting daggers in Malfoy's direction. It was the Welcoming Feast of their seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had given his expected speech 10 minutes ago, introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (Sarai Higgins), and now everyone was eating.

Many things had happened since Harry's fifth year, or the end of it. The wizarding world, aware that Voldemort was back, had put itself on an extremely high state of alarm. Cornelius Fudge was still the Minister of Magic, though under different conditions. The Wizengamot kept an excessively close watch on him while appointing Amelia Bones the position of Vice Minister of Magic. As for the Dark Lord himself, Harry's escapade at the end of his fifth year had deterred Voldemort's plans tremendously. His power was not progressing as he had hoped now that everyone was alert. His Death Eaters whom had been in Azkaban had been released the summer Harry turned 16, and had not really resurfaced since. (The dementors did indeed leave their posts at the prison). It was rumored that they were under the Fidelius Charm with Voldemort himself as the Secret Keeper. Attacks still occurred but there weren't nearly as many as there had been in his previous days; he had to be careful, after all. The Order of the Phoenix continued to thrive, with the loss of two and addition of three. Remus Lupin had taken up residency in Grimmauld Place, though it belonged to the Order. Naturally, Dumbledore held no objections.

As for Harry, pretty much everything up to this point, returning to Hogwarts for the final time, had been hell. The first summer had been a disaster. Forced to stay with the Dursleys the entire summer for precaution, Harry had nothing to dwell on but Sirius' death. Probably even if given the opportunity to leave Privet Drive, he wouldn't have done so. He had kept entirely to himself, letting his entourage know he was fine only when they began to worry. By the time the start of the sixth year had rolled around, Harry had decided he wasn't going to beat himself up over his godfather—he was going to try to make his death not have gone in vain. He committed himself heavily to the fight against Voldemort in his own way. He did the work in all of his classes, did it well, in order to reach his goal of becoming an Auror. Even Snape, whom had been furious to discover Harry had somehow managed to squirm his way into N.E.W.T potions, noticed the vicious change in him. Harry did, however, manage to build a brick wall between him and everyone else. Because of this every relationship he had suffered, especially the one between himself, Ron, & Hermione.

As far as romance went, Cho Chang had tried to approach him once again and Harry had quickly dismissed her, ending that or any other hopefuls. It had taken Ron and Hermione the entire sixth year to get back into Harry's life, for him to let his guard down. There had been much arguing, yelling, convincing, pleading (Hermione), and crying (Hermione). This summer, Harry spent a week at the Dursley's before heading off to Grimmauld Place. He felt be could now handle going there, and besides, he wanted to give Lupin company. The Weasleys and Hermione were there as well. Now, as things stood, school had started again and Harry was slowly returning to himself.

"How is Hermione going to work with that little snot? How am I going to stand being under him?!" Ron gruffly questioned. Hermione had been named Head Girl to Malfoy's Head Boy and Ron was still a prefect, along with Lavender Brown.

"Dunno..." Harry replied, feeling his stomach clench at the mention of Hermione. Speaking of which, she came bounding up to her two best friends a moment later.

"Sorry," she breathlessly apologized, sitting across from them and next to Ginny Weaslsey, "But a first year got lost and I had to help him."
"Fascinating." Ron commented, helping himself to his fourth roll. She frowned. Harry quickly glanced at her before returning to his plate. She hadn't really changed much, besides getting older and better looking. Her brown hair wasn't so much bushy as it was wavy anymore, but she still had a dazzling smile. She came in about 5'6", whereas Ron was a staggering 6'3" and showed no signs of stopping. Harry was six feet even (a feat he would have thought impossible when he was 11 & quite small), still wore glasses, and still had the infamous disheveled Potter hair.

"You okay Harry?" Hermione suddenly questioned. He looked at her, now with a reason to, and wondered what had prompted her to ask that question. He pushed it aside, simply glad she had focused her attention on him.

"Yeah," he retorted.

"Good," she smiled then turned to join Ginny in conversation. (Ron was speaking with Seamus Finnigan about something). Harry thought back to when exactly he had begun to have feelings for Hermione. Well, he had certainly realized it during last Christmas. He and Hermione had spent their sixth year winter vacation at the Burrow with the entire Weasley family, excluding Percy. He had noticed how truly pretty she was how, how nice of a smile she had, how compassionate she was, how cute she was when she was angry, and how all of it affected his stomach. Of course, an unpleasant event had also taken place that break. Ron had confessed to Harry his own feelings for their female counterpart. It had been a blow in the chest for Harry but Ron had never mentioned it after that, so Harry had his hopes. What was more, could he really be mad at Ron for what he felt? He himself was coming to terms with being ensnared by Hermione, and Ron had liked her longer.

Neville Longbottom then brought Harry out of his thoughts, wanting to talk to him. When the feast was over, everyone rose to head to their respective dorms.

"Ugh. I have to find the flying ferret so we can help the new students." Hermione told Ron and Harry, shuddering.

"Well what's Gryffindor's password? So I can let everyone in?" Ron asked her.

"Desdefuniron, Weasley." Minerva McGonagall answered, walking up to them. Lavender came over as well. (Parvati Patil was walking away with one their roommates).

"Weasley, you and Ms. Brown take the Gryffindor first year students up to the tower. I need Ms. Granger. They're waiting for you, "She turned to leave with Hermione before adding, "Ah yes, you too Potter." Harry was alarmed by this but followed nonetheless, leaving a surprised Ron behind.

"Come on, Ron." Lavender commanded, roughly grabbing his arm.

"We need to gather Malfoy then head to the High Table." McGonagall informed them. Hermione looked at Harry and they both grimaced. At the Slytherin table a crowd had formed around Malfoy.

"...being Head Boy would be a challenge to most, but I know I can handle it. Dumbledore was right for picking a Slytherin to be in charge." they heard him brag. McGonagall frowned heavily then said:
"All right, break it up! Head to the dungeons! Ms. Parkinson, Mr. Khan, lead the way for the first years. Mr. Malfoy should have already given you your password," The group dispersed, muttering amongst itself, "Come with me Malfoy." She led the way, with the other three at her heels. Harry could hear the Slytherins behind him and knew he was the subject. He gritted his teeth. Malfoy smirked slyly and cruelly at the both of them. When they reached the High Table, McGonagall told the Heads to go see Dumbledore.

"No need to follow them Potter," she said. He looked at her, puzzled, "I just wanted to tell you that you are the Gryffindor Quidditch captain."

"I... wha—I'm... I'm captain?!" Harry inquired, utterly perplexed.

"Yes. Congratulations. You deserve it, you know. On the team since first year, most all of the Cup acquisitions because of you... yes, it's about time."

"Uh, thanks Professor!" he stammered, feeling a dumb smile playing on his lips.

"Not a problem Potter. Just be sure to square away that Cup again—six years in a row!" McGonagall looked at him, smiled, then murmured proudly:

"He was captain as well... yes, so much like your father." She waved her hand impatiently then quickly strode off.

Wow, he was captain. As he made his way out of the Great Hall, a grin spread across his face. Captain. He then remembered to stop and wait for Hermione. He passed the wait by thinking of tactics, moves, and plays for the team—his team—to try.

"Hi Harry!" came Hermione's voice. The image of Ron punching Malfoy in the face, which wasn't exactly legal, stopped.

"Hey," he greeted.

"You waited for me?"

"Of course!"

"How sweet!" They began walking to the tower. Harry looked back to make sure Malfoy wasn't anywhere near them.

"So what'd Dumbledore want?" he questioned.

"Oh, to tell us more about our expectations and duties, like rounds and such. And to tell us about the Head Room." she retorted.

"The Head Room?"

"Yeah, it's our own common room. Chairs, sofas, desks... it even has its own small library. There are two bathrooms in it as well, one for me and one for him." Hermione explained.

"No beds?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Gonna be all right working with Malfoy?" She made a face.

"I'm going to have to try," she grimly said, "Anyway, what did Professor McGonagall want with you?"

"She told me I'm Quidditch captain." he smiled.

"Oh Harry, that's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, stopping to hug him. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself discreetly smelling her hair. It reminded him of fruit. Her perfume also came to his attention. It smelled like warm cinnamon. He wouldn't have minded at all if Hermione decided not to let go. In fact, he didn't want her to. But she inevitably did.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited." Harry commented, smiling again. A little later, they arrived at the Fat Lady. Hermione gave the password and they walked in the common room. Some students were milling about.

"I'll see you in the morning Harry." Hermione told him, heading to the girls' dormitories.

"Good night Hermione." he answered, watching her walk up the staircase. When she was out of sight, he started to his own room. A second year near the fireplace, whom had been gazing at him, gave a small squeak and diverted his eyes when he saw Harry pass by. He rolled his eyes in good humor and continued on his way.

A/N: First chapter done! I had Draco and Hermione living in their old dorms, instead of their own rooms, because I don't like that idea of Heads having their own rooms.