Malfoy seemed just as shocked that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts as he was about a long, thin package that had been carried into the hall by six owls and been dropped in front of Harry. Although the note attached from McGonagall clearly stated not to open it in the Great Hall, nobody had had any trouble figuring out that it contained a broom.

Harry and Ron were amazed when they unwrapped it after lessons back in the common room to discover that it was a Nimbus Two Thousand.

"Woah! A Nimbus Two Thousand! I've never even touched one! They're the best model ever!" Ron gazed longingly at it.

"What's so good about it, exactly?" Hermione walked up behind them and peered over their shoulders. She hadn't said a word to the boys at all since the incident the previous night.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" Ron raised an eyebrow at her.

"I just came down to give Harry his jumper back." She spat at Ron, before tossing Harry his jumper,"Thanks."

"Don't stop now, it's doing us so much good." Ron snarled.

Hermione marched away with her nose in the air. Harry had long since given up on trying to get Ron and Hermione to be able to stay in the same room as each other without starting to bite each other's heads off.

***********

Harry woke up early on September 19th. As he got up, a smile spread across his face. Pulling his dressing gown on, Harry scanned the room to make sure all of the other boys were still asleep - which they were - before pulling the little lilac parcel out from inside his trunk.

Taking a deep breath, Harry slid through the half-open door before quietly shutting it behind him. He crept downstairs and saw exactly what he'd wanted to: Hermione was sitting alone on the sofa, reading. Grinning, Harry snuck up behind her.

"Happy birthday!" He whispered in her ear, causing her to squeal and leap up from the sofa, dropping her book.

"Harry!" She cried,"You scared me."

"That was the point." Harry laughed and walked around to the front of the sofa,"How are you?"

"Good. You?" Hermione replied as they both sat back down together.

"I'm great, thanks. Here you go!" Harry handed her the parcel.

"Oh, Harry, you didn't have to get me anything!"

"Of course I did." Harry couldn't wipe the smile from his face,"Well, open it, then!"

Hermione pulled the tag around so that she could read it. As her eyes sped across the little note, they slowly filled with tears.

"I...oh, Harry, thank you!" She leapt onto him and squeezed him into a tight hug.

"You've not even opened it yet!"

Hermione let go of Harry and gently peeled the lilac paper off of the little black box that the bracelet was in. She clicked open the tiny golden lock and lifted the lid. As she saw the bracelet, Hermione let out a gasp.

"Oh, Harry, it's beautiful! Thank you so much!" She hugged him again.

"Don't worry about it. D'you want me to help you put it on?" Harry asked.

"Yes please."

Harry fiddled around with the bracelet for ages, trying and trying to clip it around Hermione's right wrist. She didn't help at all, however much she had tried. Her left hand would try to guide Harry's right one as he fussed with the tiny silver clasp, but this only made his hand shake more.

Finally, Harry was able to fasten it properly on the second-to-last loop. He found that his right thumb was bleeding a little bit just under the nail's tip where the clasp had caught him multiple times.

"Thank goodness." He sighed, sucking on his bleeding thumb.

"Thanks again, Harry." Hermione beamed at him before pulling her robes down over her wrist.

Harry was pleased that he had given Hermione her present when he had, for he did not get another chance to speak to her all day.

***********

Hallowe'en started off as a really good day for Harry and Ron. In Charms, Flitwick told them he thought they were ready to start making objects fly. Harry was partnered with Seamus Finnegan, but Ron and Hermione had been paired together on the table next to Harry.

Hermione had not properly spoken to Harry since her birthday, but she had not spoken to Ron at all since Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand had arrived.

Levitating was very difficult; Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skywards was still laying on the desk. Seamus became so impatient that he had managed to set fire to their feather, which Harry had had to put out with his robe.

Ron, at the next table, was having as little luck as they were.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" He shouted, waving his arms around like a windmill.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Hermione pushed Ron's arm down irritably,"You're going to take someone's eye out." She raised her eyebrows,"And besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Levi - oh - sa not Levio - sar."

"You do it then, if you're so clever." Ron snarled.

Hermione took a deep breath, flicked her wand and said,"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose from the desk, completely under Hermione's control.

"Oh, well done!" Flitwick cried,"See here, everyone, Miss Granger's done it!"

She moved it around a little in the air before allowing it to rest back down on the table, in front of an utterly livid Ron.

***********

After the lesson, Ron was in a very bad mood.

"Its Levi - oh - sa not Levio - sar." He mocked,"It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you." Harry kept his voice low and calm, although rage was boiling up inside of him.

"So?" Ron sniffed, but he looked a bit uncomfortable,"She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"What makes you say that, exactly?" Harry's voice rose.

"Er..." Ron looked rather confused,"What d'you mean, mate?"

"I mean," Harry snapped,"that she has got friends and people can stand her. She isn't a nightmare, she's not annoying, she isn't barking and she most certainly does not deserve to be treated like you treat her."

Ron looked even more uncomfortable,"Right..."

His response confused Harry a bit. Ron had practically admitted to being a git towards Hermione, which Harry hadn't expected at all. But he had other things on his mind to worry about.

Hermione didn't turn up for their next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast, Harry overheard Parvati Patil giggling to her friend Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girls toilets and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked even more awkward at this point, but all thoughts of Hermione seemed to have left him when the two boys entered the Great Hall.

Bats flew around the room, pumpkins stood everywhere and food was spread across the plates, just as it had been at the start-of-term banquet.

Harry wanted to go and find Hermione but he could not for the life of him remember where the girls toilets were.

He and Ron sat down and started grabbing food to pile onto their plates, but Professor Quirrell had burst into the room yelling,"Troll! Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know." Then he blacked out.

There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers from Professor Dumbledore's wand to stop the noise.

***********

As Percy began to lead Gryffindor house up to their dormitory, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.

"Hermione!"

"What about her?"

"She's been in the girls toilets all afternoon, she doesn't know!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine..." Ron bit his lip as Harry gave him a death glare,"Oh, all right," he snapped,"but Percy'd better not see us."

They ducked down and scurried in the opposite direction to the rest of the Gryffindors.

"D'you know where it is, the girls toilets?" Harry asked Ron.

"Um...'Course I do." Ron said,"This way - I think..."

They had just turned a corner when they heard quick footsteps approaching them.

"Move!" Harry hissed, pulling Ron behind a large stone griffin.

Peering around it, they saw Snape cross the corridor and disappear from view. Harry shook the professor from his mind for the time being.

The boys ran along the corridor, but ground to a halt at the end, upon seeing a gigantic, lumbering beast stop by a doorway and peek in.

"The key's in the lock. We can lock him inside!" Harry whispered excitedly.

"Good idea." Ron muttered.

The troll went into the room slowly. Harry and Ron ran up behind it and slammed the door, locking it as tightly as they could. They grinned at each other, flushed with their victory.

A high, petrified scream came from the chamber that they had just locked.

"Oh no, it's the girls toilets." Ron gulped.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled, slamming his hands back onto the rusty key and twisting it urgently in every direction possible, fumbling in his panic.

Once they had finally burst through the door, they saw Hermione pressed up against the back wall, her face as pale as a ghost's and looking as though she was about to faint. Her wand was on the floor halfway across the room. The troll was advancing on her, smashing up each sink and each stall with its club as it moved.

Harry grabbed a tap from the floor and flung it at the back of the troll's head. It lumbered around and began advancing on Harry.

"Oi, pea-brain!" Ron yelled, lobbing a metal pipe at it. The troll turned and looked at the source of the noise it had heard. Grumbling, the troll turned to face Ron. It was about to flatten Harry against the wall with its gigantic leg.

It stopped in its tracks as something hit its arm with a small clunk. Hermione had thrown a piece of sink at it. The chunk of sink seemed to have drawn blood. The troll turned to her once more and, suddenly angry about the pain the trio had inflicted upon it, began to move with somewhat more speed than it had done before. Hermione shrieked, covering her head.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: he took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the trolls neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped - it had gone up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life.

"Ron!" He heard Hermione yell,"Levitate the club!"

Through his blurred vision, Harry could see exactly what they were doing as Ron yelled,"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The troll stopped moving at once. The club rose up and was suddenly dropped with a sickening crack onto its owner's head.

The troll fell to the ground, taking Harry with it. Ron and Hermione ran to either side of him and helped him get up.

Harry pulled his wand out of the trolls nose,"Urgh - troll bogies." He wiped it on the trolls trousers.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. Hermione darted for her wand, which looked rather wet, from under the debris from a sink. A moment later, McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell stormed in. Quirrell took one look at the troll and sat on the only remaining toilet, clutching his heart. Snape bent over the unconscious beast and McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. They had never seen her look so angry. Harry suddenly wished that he, Ron and Hermione weren't holding their wands.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" McGonagall said, cold fury in her voice,"You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall."

"Miss Granger!"

"They were looking for me." Hermione looked up at the professor, avoiding making any eye contact at all with the two shocked boys,"I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

Harry and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.

"Well - in that case..." Professor McGonagall stared at them,"Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending that she had, to get him and Ron out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I am very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to your common room. Students are finishing the feast at their houses."

Hermione gave a small nod and left.

"Well, I still say you were lucky," the Professor turned to the boys,"but not many first-years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. Five points will be awarded to Gryffindor each, for sheer dumb luck. You may go."

The boys hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak until they were two floors up.

"We should have got more than ten points."Ron grumbled.

"Five, once she's taken off Hermione's."

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that." Ron admitted,"Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her." Harry reminded him.

"Yeah, but we wouldn't have locked him in with her if she hadn't been in there all afternoon!"

"Ron...she wouldn't have been in there if it wasn't for you insulting her. I think you owe her an apology." Harry suddenly became hopeful.

"All right." Ron grinned.

They had reached the Fat Lady.

"Pig snout." They said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been set up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said,"Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger truly became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.