A/N: This was the first piece of fanfiction I ever wrote. Ever. So please excuse me if it doesn’t meet my normal standards. Bear in mind that I was fifteen when it was written.

Chapter one: After the Troll

Walking quite quickly, trying to avoid the heaps of people jumping on the two boys ahead of her, Hermione made her way to the table of food in the centre of the room. People stared as she passed by, and Harry and Ron were still in danger of suffocating. Did news really spread that quickly? She thought to herself. How is it possible that people should know what happened already, when the only witnesses were us and three teachers? Maybe the teachers have been possessed by Lavender and Parvati, and now consider it their duty to find out everything about everybody’s personal lives. Chuckling at this rather entertaining thought, Hermione jumped slightly when she realised she was no longer alone, and had reached the food table.

‘’S’ no good just staring at it all,’ said a voice from behind her, ‘feasts don’t eat themselves you know.’

Startled, she turned, to see Ron’s unruly brothers Fred and George sporting identical grins and holding large plates of food in front of them.

‘So, Miss Granger,’ one of them began (and Hermione honestly had no idea which one) ‘what’s this we hear about our dear Ronniekin’s running to your rescue earlier?’

‘Cut it out Fred’, said Ron, appearing with Harry, who appeared to have finally shrugged off his many fans. Honestly, Ron did just as much, if not more than Harry, didn’t he? So why is it Harry is getting all the attention? I really think Ron is good to put up with that. Despite what he called me earlier. She thought, just as the words of her fellow Gryffindor first-year floated back to her- “she’s a nightmare, honestly, it’s no wonder she hasn’t got any friends.” Well it was true, she supposed. I don’t have any friends. And I may have sounded a bit patronising to Ron in Charms, but really, I was only trying to help. It’s not my fault he’s been rotten to me for so long that every time I talk to him I end up sounding bitter and stuck up… but then she remembered that he had just saved her from a 12 foot mountain troll, which seemed to put their silly disagreement earlier into perspective.

Smiling at Ron and Harry, she helped herself to a few pasties, and sat down in a comfortable seat next to the fireplace. Surprisingly, a few seconds later, Ron and Harry joined her.

‘Sorry about Fred and George’, Ron muttered.

Hermione smiled, a little shyly, still not quite sure what to make of her new-found speaking terms with the two people she had been so infuriated with a few hours previously. Although she was longing to make friends, suddenly the awkwardness of the situation she was in felt like too much, and she had an overwhelming desire to simply grab a book from upstairs in her dormitory and hide behind it for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, the fireplace was no where near the staircase to the girl’s dormitories, and she didn’t want to excuse herself, for fear of sounding rude, and ruining the only half-friendly conversation she’d had with anyone here besides Neville. Neville seemed to ask her opinion on everything everyday, as though copying her every action would stop him melting his cauldrons or burning his ears.

‘D’you think the food’ll just stay there all night?’ asked Ron with a hopeful, dreamy look on his face. Hermione caught Harry’s eye and they both struggled to hide their snorts of laughter at the look on Ron’s face as he steadily made his way through his mountainous pile of food.

‘Honestly,’ Hermione said, shaking her head sympathetically. ‘Do you ever stop eating?’

Ron looked slightly hurt for a moment, and opened his mouth to retort, before he realised that both Harry and Hermione were grinning at him. He closed his mouth and smiled rather sheepishly, shrugging and continuing to cut up his food.

All of a sudden, Hermione didn’t want to be sitting by herself, reading. She had just commented in a friendly way about Ron’s eating habits, and received smiles from Harry and Ron in return. She settled more comfortably down in her chair, and listened with a smile on her face as the boys turned the conversation to Quidditch, slightly envying the way it was so easy for them to sit and talk, while she had no idea what to say in return to their comments. She’d never been friendly with anyone in her muggle school- they’d laughed at her hair and teeth, then stayed away from her when strange things began happening to those who took their cruel jokes too far.

‘I’m sure you’re lying,’ said Harry to Ron, and Hermione had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and realised she had drifted off into deep contemplation of her younger school years, paying no attention to the conversation taking place. Great. She thought. Excellent, this is going well. I’ve lied to teachers for them, they’ve saved my life, and now I’ve been sitting here ignoring them.

However, they seemed to have been too engrossed in their Quidditch argument to notice, because Harry grinned at her, rolling his eyes at Ron, who glared stubbornly back, winking at her when Harry’s back was turned, to show he was only trying to wind Harry up.

‘Hermione’ Harry began, ‘Ron’s winding me up, right? There can’t possibly be 653 ways to make a Quidditch foul. That’s just imposs-’

‘Actually there are 700.’

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them- it was an annoying habit she’d picked up over years of insecurity, and doing her best to find out every last detail of information about any subject to make up for her lack of friends at school.

Ron and Harry were both gaping at her like fish. Really, if they could see themselves! She thought, before continuing. ‘There are seven hundred possible ways to commit a foul. Actually, all of them were occurred in a match in 1473, and some of them are quite ridiculous really-’

‘Seven hundred? No way!’ Ron said weakly, looking stunned. ‘How d’you know that?! You don’t care about Quidditch! You hated flying lessons!’

Hermione rolled her eyes and grinned slightly as she replied. ‘I read, don’t I? Quidditch Through The Ages. I’m serious, look it up for yourselves if you must. Ask Fred and George if you don’t believe me. They saw me reading it earlier and started testing me on it. They’ve got the book too- I lent it to them. They’re determined to outsmart me on their favourite subject.’’

‘This is madness,’ Harry said after he had finally stopped making the stupid face he had been wearing moments earlier. ‘I’m getting that book off Fred and George. Then we’ll know for sure who’s right.’

‘Go ahead,’ Ron called after him smugly as Harry made his way through the crowds of people, to where Fred and George were standing. ‘Rather you than me. They’ll probably make up some stupid excuse as to why Hermione’s cleverer than them, and then try to sell the book to you.’

Ron glanced at Hermione and grinned broadly. ‘You know that precious book of yours is old. I bet half of those fouls don’t count anymore.’

‘See, that’s what Fred told me too.’ Said Hermione, smiling triumphantly. ‘Pity it was a 1990 edition. You know, it was the first time since I’ve met them that I’ve seen them lost for words.’

‘Damn!’ Ron moaned, ‘why do you have to know everything? What kind of person goes around checking the publishing dates of their books anyway?’

‘The kind of person who wants to learn accurate information,’ retorted Hermione. ‘Where would I be if I just read books from centuries ago?’

‘Dunno, but I’ve seen that book you’re always carrying around, quoting. Hogwarts: A History. It looks old enough to be auctioned off for twice the price of my house. Not that that’s saying much.’ Ron said, mumbling the last part.

Hermione pretended not to have noticed Ron’s embarrassment and laughed. Ron looked at her, and then began to laugh as well. A moment later, after they had both stopped laughing, Hermione spoke again.

‘Do you think this is strange?’

‘What?’

‘Us. Talking. Having a semi-friendly conversation.’ And using the word “us”, she silently added.

Ron seemed to think about those questions for a while before answering.

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘No. I mean, we did save your life and all that, didn’t we? I reckon you’d have to be barking mad not to show a bit of appreciation after that.’

Hermione stared at him incredulously. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, it was your fault I needed saving in the first place!’

‘Oh yeah,’ said Ron, looking embarrassed again, and averting his eyes to the floor. ‘Sorry about that.’

Hermione immediately felt ashamed for making him look so depressed. ‘I don’t see why you should be,’ she said, in a very matter-of-fact voice. ‘I am a bit of a know-it-all aren’t I?’ She faltered slightly as she tried to find the right words. ‘And I think I must have sounded a bit rude earlier.’

‘Still, I should’ve…I mean, I shouldn’t have-’

Ron broke off as Harry collapsed into the chair he had vacated a few moments earlier, and Hermione was pleased to see he was engrossed in a book.

Ron gave Hermione a shifty grin. ‘Now look what you’ve done to my best mate. You’ve converted him! Just a few minutes of hanging around with you, and you’re already a bad influence!’

‘A good influence, you mean.’ Hermione retorted, grinning slightly through her frown, ‘because it makes a nice change from all the rule-breaking you two get up to!’

‘That’s a bit rich coming from someone who lied to a professor barely twenty minutes ago.’

Hermione opened her mouth to argue back once more, before realising what was happening, and smiling. Ron seemed to realise at the same moment.

‘Guess we can’t stop bickering even as friends, can we?’ he asked, grinning in a lopsided manner.

Only one word seemed to stand out to Hermione as she smiled and started up a discussion with Harry about Quidditch Through The Ages.

Friends. Hermione Jean Granger had friends.

A/N: Plain and simple fluff! Please review and let me know what you think. I do allow anonymous reviews, and I welcome criticism, though I’d always prefer nice comments!

And if anyone reading this also reads my twilight fics, my Emmett point of view story is coming soon.