Chapter 3.

Harry woke early the next morning and noticed that the sun had only just risen. He watched the slow glow of the sun spill over the grounds of Hogwarts, rolling back some of the mist that had formed during the night. He took this time to seriously think about his first year at Hogwarts and compared it to what he had imagined it would be like. He quickly realized that no matter what you could anticipate, reality never comes close to any assumptions you make. Now that he had found the reason why he was famous in the wizarding world, he did not feel comfortable with the fact that he was considered famous for something his mother had done for him. He was glad that he had at least 2 friends in Hogwarts who saw through the boy who lived hero fantasy and saw just Harry, well almost anyhow. He knew completely that Hermione knew and loved him for the person he was, but he also knew that Ron, being raised in a magical home with the stories of the boy who lived constantly told to him, still got that rose colored glass look from time to time when they found themselves in a dangerous situation. He quickly decided that for this reason he really should not rely on Ron to be his back up if he ever got into serious trouble, as he was likely to believe so much in his mythological status, that he would be an ineffective ally.

Harry then thought about his encounter with the possessed Professor Quirrel and the succubus that Voldemort had become. So it was like Hagrid said, he thought to himself, Voldemort had not truly died. He was still around in spirit and there were obviously ways that he could come back, the Philosopher's stone being only one of many ways, he suspected. Being the only person who had defeated Voldemort as well, he knew that this put him right at the top of Voldemort's hit list when he came back to power, because Harry now knew it was not if, but when. He knew now that the mediocre performance he had given in school this year, which was partly due to his fear of losing Ron as a friend if he proved to be better than Ron, as his jealousy was clearly shown with the whole troll incident; but also because he, like most boys his age, didn't think that studying was the top priority in his life. He had quidditch to practice, Chess to play with his best mate and mysteries to solve around the school. He now knew that all of these reasons were stupid and childish. If Ron could not deal with the person who Harry was, then he wasn't worth being a friend, he thought of Neville and how brave he had been to try and warn himself and Hermione about Drako Malfoy trying to get them into trouble and knew that this boy was indeed potential best friend material. He would give Ron a chance though, while developing his relationship with Neville.

He could only blame himself for his other reasons for not succeeding this year as well as he could have. He was so used to coasting along in classes, due to the fact that he did not want to out perform Dudley, or face a beating and an extended stay in his cupboard, that it had become second nature. This situation was different though, he did not need the camouflage now and he knew he merely had become lazy. It was at this point in his thinking, while he was looking out the window that a pair of small, warm hands wrapped themselves around his waist and the scent of his favorite girl in Hogwarts filled his nostrils as she kissed him lightly on the cheek, whispering

"Good morning, love."

Harry smiled and turned around and took Hermione into his arms. She sat on his lap with her arms about his neck, while he had his own hands about her waist.

"Good morning yourself my sweetheart." He murmured softly, leaning forward and kissing her softly on the lips, then pressing his forehead against hers as he looked deeply into her eyes.

"I missed you." He said sincerely and Hermione blushed slightly, but smiled hugging him closer to her and responded, saying

"I missed you too. You seemed to be in deep thought when I came into the hospital wing as I noticed you didn't even realize I was here until I touched you. Want to share?" She asked tentatively, not sure what their new relationship meant as in their openness with each other. Harry seemed to notice the look on her face and he smiled softly and caressed her cheek, before returning his hand to her waist and saying

"Hermione, I never want you to feel that you can't ask me anything you want to. We are together and I do love you, as much as I know what that word means, but I am quite sure that I do. I don't want to hide anything from you."." and I will gladly tell you anything you want to know, no matter how painful, silly, or stupid you may think the question, ok?"

Hermione's smile grew wider at this point and she kissed him softly once more, saying

"Thank you Harry. You have no idea how much hearing that means to me." She then waited expectantly and Harry then remembered suddenly her original question and with a wry grin, said

"

I guess what I have been doing this morning is going over the past year and critiquing my performance in regards to my schoolwork and my reasons for my performance. I've also been thinking about what happened with Quirrel and Voldemort and now realize that some day, he probably will manage to return to a body of his own, and so I need to be prepared. I can't rely on my mother's protection forever, as I am sure there is some way it can be overcome. I've decided therefore, that I am going to push myself very hard in my school work from now on and do my best to learn everything I can and learn how to apply it practically. I would love it if you would help me like you have been trying this year, Hermione nad I do appreciate your efforts this year, even though I did not take your help or advice to heart.

For that I am sorry."

Hermione was startled by the depth of thinking that Harry had been doing and now was not surprised that he did not realize she was approaching him. She smiled in happiness when she heard of his studying commitments for the next year and happily accepted the role as his study buddy. She was also scared of what he said about Voldemort eventually finding a way to get a body, but realized logically, that there is always more than one way to do things within the magical world and agreed that Harry did need to prepare himself.

"I'll help you in any way I can Harry. I'm going to approach Professor McGonagall this morning and ask her what she would recommend as second year reading for us in preparation for next year and I think we should order the books and study during the holidays as much as possible."

Harry nodded, agreeing with Hermione's reasoning and her idea about asking McGonagall, but then the thought of the Dursleys brought a frown to his face. When Hermione asked him what was wrong, he sighed and said

"I am afraid of what is going to happen when I go back home Hermione. They'll probably lock away my trunk and everything in it and would probably lock me away too if they could."

Hermione looked horrified at his statement and Harry sighed, realizing it was time to tell her everything about his past 11 years with the Dursleys. He started off haltingly at first, retelling the parts that Hagrid told him about finding him in the ruins of the house and taking him to meet

Dumbledore at the front of his Aunt and Uncle's place and how he was left on their doorstep. He then started to relay to Hermione how it was to grow up with the bully Dudley Dursley as well as the violent Vernon and his acid tongued Petunia. Hermione audible gasped when he told her his bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs until he was 11 and his first Hogwarts letter came. He pulled up his top to show her the many scars he had on his body from the beatings he often endured and told of being blamed for things that at the time he didn't know he had done.

Tears were falling freely down Hermione's face when Harry was done with his story and she pulled him into a tight hug and said softly into his ear "I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that your relatives will never hurt you again."

Harry was unsure what to make of these words, but just smiled and hugged Hermione close to him again. They relayed to each other stories about their bouts of accidental magic when they were kids, especially the funniest ones. Hermione gasped in surprise when Harry talked about accidentally setting the boa constrictor onto his cousin and friend, letting her know that he had actually talked to the snake and how it had told him that it would like to see Brazil. Harry looked puzzled at Hermione's response to this and asked

"What's up Sweet heart?"

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself before saying quite steadily

"Harry the way you talked to that snake, that is a very rare gift called parcel mouth. It you to talk to any reptile in their language and for you to understand them when they talk back. It is very rare and is often considered a mark of a dark wizard. I know your not of course, but you may want to keep the gift to yourself as everyone tends to jump to wild conclusions around this castle."

Harry chuckled at this and had to agree with Hermione on that point. They spent the rest of the day talking about their lives before Hogwarts and finding out everything they could about each other. This resulted in the couple feeling even more closely attached to the other by the end of the day. Hermione went off to dinner and came back shortly with a plate filled with food for herself and pulled up a spare table and smiled at Harry's enquiring look, she said

"I would much rather talk to you during meals than listen to all the gossip at the Gryffindor table about what happened to you, or worse yet being put through the inquisition by the 2 biggest gossips in Gryffindor tower."

Harry laughed out loud, but answered, saying

"I'm glad you came back, love. I feel so much closer to you now that I feel quite lonely when you are gone."

Hermione answered that she too felt that level of connection with Harry. They ate in companionable silence and talked for a little while longer, until Madame Pomfrey told Hermione that visiting hours were over for the day, but again invited Hermione to visit again in the morning. She leant over Harry, who was now lying in bed and kissing him softly, said

"I love you Harry. Sweet dreams and I'll see you in the morning."

Harry smiled and said

"Love you sweetheart and sweet dreams for you as well."

After Hermione had left, Harry sat back on his bed and drifted off, thinking about the brown eyed, bushy haired witch that consumed most of his waking thoughts now.