Chapter 4
When they arrived home The Potters departed. When Harry
entered the house he found his aunt setting the table.
"Well, here are our conquering heroes!" she cried.
"Hermione, come and meet the family!"
To Harry's utter amazement Hermione Granger appeared with more
dishes. "Harry! Dudley!" his aunt continued, "This
is Hermione Granger. She's doing summer study at the orphanage,
and has been assigned as my assistant. She's got a room at the
hospital but we can't have her eating that commissary food all
the time. So she'll probably be eating dinner here a lot."
Pam quickly rushed over, extending her hand. "Glad to meet
you, Hermione!" she cried, "We're going to a movie
after supper, the new Superman flick. Harry hasn't got a date.
You want to come along?"
"I'd be delighted!" Hermione answered, shooting a
pleased look to Harry.
Later when they could get away from the others for a moment she
asked Harry, "What is going on? I got a letter from The
Ministry Of Magic saying that I would receive this offer and that
I should accept it."
"I don't know if I should say," Harry answered.
"You'd better!" hermoine insisted.
"Pam's parents are magical," Harry explained.
"They're immortals, apparently pretty powerful immortals.
I'm sure you'll meet them. Obviously they have something to do
with Hogwarts. That's all I know. They've got me playing soccer,
and apparently you're involved with orphans. I'm just going to go
along with it. I've never enjoyed my family before. I am now! If
they can do things like this, I don't think they can be
bad!"
Hermione looked at him for a moment and then nodded. "Read
all his books! Often thought he was involved with magic some way.
But I swear if Pam asks me one more time if we've been kissing or
anything yet, I will smack her!"
Harry roared with laughter! Without thinking he leaned over and
kissed Hermoine on the cheek. "There!" he laughed.
"Now you can tell her we've been kissing!"
Hermione stared at him for a moment then grabbed him and gave him
a real kiss. When they separated Harry was gasping for air!
"Now," Hermione chuckled, "I can tell her we've
been kissing!"
They both continued laughing and rejoined the others. Pam looked
at them mischievously but Dudley seemed totally unaware. Harry
thought to himself "This is going to be an enjoyable
summer!" and he was absolutely right! It was beyond anything
he could have dreamed of! And when his family went with him to
the station it seemed like an unbelievable dream. But finally he
was in his usual coach in his usual seat watching the scenery go
by. His friend Ron was unusually quiet, staring at him and
Hermione.
"What?" Harry finally asked. "You two are more
than friends now, aren't you?" Ron remarked. "Yes,
Ron," Hermione answered, "but that will never, ever
lessen how we feel about you. You will always be our dearest and
most special friend, and we hope you will continue to share in
whatever adventure we happen to have."
Ron smiled and seemed to become his old self. "I'd
better!" he remarked. "We're a team! We do good
together. I don't want that to ever end!"
An attractive blond haired girl came to the door. "Are there
a couple seats in here?" she asked. "Certainly!"
Harry answered.
"There's some seats in here, Dra!" she called.
Draco Malfoy appeared in the door. "Oh!" he remarked,
"Maybe we'd better get another place."
"Nonsense!" Hermione cried out, "Come and sit
down. Introduce your friend, Draco!"
"This is Diane Mixtime," Draco continued. "She's
transferring from Beauxbattons. They're going coed, you know!
Some boys from Hogwarts are going up there, and some of their
girls joining us."
"We didn't hear!" Hermione gasped. "Well, she most
certainly is welcome. Are you two friends?"
"Our
families have known each other for quite a while," the young
woman answered. "We couldn't abandon Malfoy, even with all
that has happened!"
"And you shouldn't have had!" Harry put in. "It'll
be interesting to see what house you'll end up in!"
"Oh, they're going to skip the sorting for the
transfers," Malfoy answered. "She'll be in
Slytherin!"
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