Just Good Friends

Harry and Hermione walked into the nearly empty Gryffindor common room where Ron was, surprisingly, doing his homework. Hermione flopped onto the couch across from him.

"What subject are you working on?" she asked as Harry moved her legs to sit down and placed them in his lap, prompting raised eyebrows from the few people still in the room.

"Potions," Ron replied in a slightly disgusted voice.

"But we didn't even have that class today!" Harry said. Hermione was too shocked to say anything.

"Yeah, but our first class is tomorrow. I know I can't flat out kill Snape, but maybe me actually handing in a decent paper will scare him a little. Or if I'm lucky, he'll die of the shock." Harry and Hermione laughed.

"Well, if Ron's going to do homework, I have to. Can't have him showing me up, now can I?" Hermione said as she pushed herself off of the couch and walking towards the tapestry that hid the entrance to the prefect's common room.

"Mione, can you get my books, too?" Harry asked. "They're on my bed."

"Sure." Hermione said, disappearing behind the tapestry.

She jogged over to her room and grabbed her books, then walked back across the common area to Harry's room.

Harry's room had the same furniture as Hermione's room, although her furniture was maple while his was mahogany and a simple mirror taking the place of her vanity. Also, the colors in the room were reversed; Harry had a crimson carpet and curtains and he had a red comforter with golden sheets. His room still had the same cozy elegance Hermione's had, and as she looked around, she felt that Harry deserved it.

She spotted the bookbag lying on his bed, and as she reached to get it, she saw some photographs sitting on his bedside table. A few were framed, but most were just scattered across the table as if Harry had stopped in the middle of sorting them out. Some were Muggle pictures taken during his stay at Hermione's house, but most were wizard pictures taken at the Burrow. There were a bunch of pictures of the Trio, and a particularly good one of Harry high-fiveing Hermione after she got the Quaffle past Ron in a Quidditch game, but one of the framed pictures particularly caught Hermione's attention. It was a Muggle photo taken during Harry's stay with the Grangers. In it, Hermione and Harry were in the pool, Hermione on Harry's back. They were smiling and looking like they were having the most fun they could possibly have. A quick glance at the silver frame told Hermione that it was one she had given him (she always seemed to have more frames than she needed, so she gave him a few) but that observation was simply an attempt to steer her brain away from the fact that she had the exact same picture sitting next to her bed. She'd framed it after classes that day, in the companion frame to the one sitting on Harry's nightstand. **Hmmm...strange coincidence** she thought, but she was determined not to give it any more thought. She spotted a few pictures that she knew would get laughs from Ron and Harry, ignoring the fact that the picture from the pool was the only framed picture that wasn't of Harry's parents. There were no other pictures of his friends at all.

((()))

Hermione vaulted over the back of a couch, landing practically in Harry's lap. "Here's your bag," she said, handing it to him, as she lifted her own over the back of the couch and scooted back so she was resting against an arm of the sofa. "Oh, I saw these on your nightstand, hope you didn't mind me bringing them down here." She handed Harry some pictures from the Burrow.

"Oh, not at all, I wanted to take a better look at some of these, I just haven't had time yet."

"Any good ones?" Ron asked.

"Oh, quite a few." Harry replied holding up a picture of the Weasley Windstorm, the Quidditch team they had formed during the summer.

"Ah, how many families can say they have their own Quidditch team?" Ron remarked, taking the picture from Harry.

"Well, it isn't just your family," Hermione noted. "Harry and I are on it too."

"But you're family, too, in a way."

"And I'm glad." Ginny stepped out from the entrance to the girls' dormitories. "After dealing with you boys for years, I finally get a sister, sort of."

"Oh, we're not that bad are we, Gin?" Ron asked with mock hurt.

"Do I really have to answer that question?" Ron chucked a pillow at her, but Ginny ducked it easily.

"It's a good thing you're trying out for Keeper and not Chaser, you'd never make a shot," she teased, only to be silenced by another pillow hitting her squarely in the chest.

"You were saying?" Ron challenged.

"Nothing, I give, I give." Ginny held her hands up in surrender as she moved to sit in an armchair.

"Speaking of Quidditch, it won't be long until the Gryffindor team is virtually another version of the Windstorm, now will it?" Hermione asked.

"Well, that's if you don't beat me out for Keeper, Hermione," Ron replied. "Besides, we can't have Gin for Chaser since there aren't any open this year and I doubt that Mum could come back and play for us." This brought a laugh from the group as they thought of the Windstorm's two oldest players.

"You don't have to worry about me as competition for Keeper this year, Ron, I'm not trying out. I think I'll wait until next year when there's a Chaser position open, although I think I might try out for Beater." Hermione said this all in a cool, calm voice that didn't give any hint of her fears of Ron's reaction. These fears were not unjustified.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "You can't go for Beater, you'll get hurt!"

"So what? There are a lot of ways to get hurt in Quidditch, playing Beater's only one of them. Besides, I'm pretty good."

"She is," spoke Fred who so far had stayed out of the conversation because he and George were trying to decide if they should dye Mrs. Norris pink before or after setting off the fireworks in Filch's office.

"Not as good as I am," spoke George.

"And not nearly as good as me," Fred remarked.

"But still, pretty good." George conceded.

"Thank you." Hermione nodded at the twins. "And besides, It would be pretty wicked being the first female Beater in the history of Gryffindor."

Ron looked like he was about to say something, but Harry spoke up. "Well, the position won't be open for another year, so let's not worry about it now." He faked a yawn. "I'm pretty tired, I think I'll head off to bed. You coming, Hermione?"

"Sure." As she stood up, she saw raised eyebrows all over the common room. "Not like that!" Everyone laughed as she and Harry disappeared behind the tapestry.

"Well aren't you the diplomat," Hermione remarked once she and Harry were in their own common room.

"What do you mean?"

"That thing with Ron back there."

"Oh, just trying to save you two from yet another one of your blowouts."

"Thanks. I really didn't feel like getting into it with him."

"No problem. I didn't want to see you fight anyways. Somehow I always seem to get stuck in the middle."

"I know, and I hate doing that to you, but Ron can just be so...ugh!"

"He can't help it."

"I know that but still...I just don't want to talk about it right now."

"Understood. Look, can you help me with that History of Magic essay that's due on Friday?"

"Sure. Wait, don't you usually put homework off until the night before it's due?"

"Yeah, but we have Potions tomorrow and I get the feeling that I won't be in much of a homework mood after dealing with Snape. Besides, between Prefect duties and Quidditch, I won't get much time for homework this year. Might as well do it when I can."

Hermione looked shocked, but then narrowed her eyes. "Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the real Harry Potter."

Harry laughed and threw an arm around Hermione's shoulder. "What can I say, watching you obsess over homework for four years has been a positive influence on me."

"I still don't trust this new, studious Harry, but o.k." And they each sat down on a loveseat and (with many jokes and much laughter) proceeded to work.