Just Good Friends

Hermione's back was to Harry, so she didn't see him walk up and jumped as she felt an arm go around her shoulder.

"Hermione dearest, it's just me. No need to be so jumpy." Harry then nodded to the group of people assembled around Hermione. "Hello."

She had looked at him a bit strangely when he called her dearest, but she saw the glint in his eyes and saw what he was trying to do. When he said hello, her attention was brought back to the group. "Oh gang, this is my..."

"Boyfriend. Harry Potter." He lifted his left arm up in a little wave. He didn't notice the smiles and looks of mock-jealousy that Hermione was getting. But he did notice (with some amusement) that the boy who had been attempting to flirt with Hermione looked a bit startled at this, then narrowed his eyes at Harry and gave Hermione an accusatory glare. Looking down at his "girlfriend", Harry said, "'Mione dear, we'd better get going, or we'll miss our train."

"Right, Harry. Well, it was great talking to you all, but I must go. Bye." And with that, Hermione and Harry walked off, his right arm around her shoulder, her left arm around his waist.

"Harry, I definitely owe you one."

"Oh don't mention it. I couldn't watch you suffer. Besides, I couldn't very well let you miss the train after I went to all the trouble of loading your luggage, now could I?" Hermione just lightly slapped him on the chest with her free hand. They continued walking until they reached Ron, who was trying not to laugh.

"Well done, Harry," he said, managing to suppress his laughter, but not choke back a huge grin. "Shall we go, then?"

Harry looked back to see that a few of the girls were still looking their way, and the boy was sending him a look that was positively poisonous. In fact, it looked like he was about to start towards them and attempt to steal Hermione back. "We can't very well go on with them looking." He then looked around to see a few Muggle businessmen walking their way to catch the train on platform 10. "They'll be by us in a moment." Harry nodded towards their well-dressed cover. "Go through on count 3. One, two, three."

The three friends casually leaned backwards on the barrier on three, Harry and Hermione with their arms still around each other. Hermione lost her balance from leaning too far back and Harry had to catch her. "That's twice today you've saved me," she chuckled as he pulled her up. "and it's not even noon yet. You seem to be my protector today. I hope I don't have to depend on you too much before the day is over."

"Oh I don't think you will. Ron'l probably be ready to relieve me of my duty if it gets too tiring. Besides, I don't think you can be the damsel in distress for more than three times in one day. It just doesn't fit your character."

"And what do you know about my character, Harry Potter?" She pushed him away from her in mock rage. "It's quite possible that I am the perfect little princess waiting for my white knight to save me, and you are just not the man I'm looking for."

"Me, not your knight and savior? Inconceivable!" They both laughed at Harry's fake arrogance and boarded the train.

They found that Ron and Ginny had saved a compartment for them. They took their seats, Harry next to Ron and Hermione next to Ginny, and started to talk about their summer as the train began to move.

"Well we all know that these last two weeks have been great," Ron said, referring to the time that the group spent together at the Burrow, "but how was the other part of your summer? How was Mione's place, Harry? Does she sleep in a library?" Hermione leaned over to hit Ron at this, but he cowered behind Harry. "Protect me!"

"I don't think so. I don't want to be on her bad side." With that, he shoved Ron over to Hermione, who simply put him between her and Ginny.

"Behave," she said.

"Or what?" he shot back. When she gave him a death-glare, Ron hung his head and meekly stated, "O.k, I'll be good. So anyways, how was your visit into the lair of your fellow prefect, Harry?"

"It was good. Living with the Dursleys, I forget how much fun the Muggle world can be sometimes. We had a blast until the air-conditioning went off."

"The AC broke?!" Ginny asked, incredulous. Wizards had air-conditioning, too; it was one of the Muggles's few contributions to the wizarding world. "When? It was fixed before that last week of your stay, wasn't it?"

"It didn't break, it was shut off," Hermione told Ginny. "Mum and Dad were supposed to leave for Switzerland a week before they did, so they had the power to the house shut off for the time they were supposed to be gone. By the time they got it on again, it would be almost time to leave, so we just went without power for a week. It's not like we knew that was going to be the hottest week of summer."

Just then, Fred and George walked in. "Harry, 'Mione, we're hearing things about the two of you up front," George said.

"Like what?" Harry asked, although he already had a good idea.

"Like the two of you are together in the romantic sense of the word," Fred answered.

"That's rubbish." Hermione looked like that was the oddest thing that she had ever heard in her life.

"That's what I said, but Lavender Brown just said, 'Well then, why did they have their arms around each other as they came through the barrier?'" George did an imitation of Lavender's voice that would have been perfect had it been just a little bit less whiny. "Why were you walking like that, anyway?"

"We ran into some Muggle friends of mine who just wouldn't let me be..."

"In particular, a Muggle boy she didn't seem too fond of," Ron interjected.

"So I went up to get Hermione so she wouldn't miss the train," Harry finished.

"I knew that Lavender was just making up a bunch of stuff." Fred sat down and was about to say more, but then, the door of their compartment opened once more.