Trust: noun
1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
2. confident expectation of something; hope.
4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.
5. the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.
That word, more than any other, defined Hermione J. Granger's relationship with her best friend, Harry Potter. She had always trusted him more than anyone else in the Magical World. For that matter, more than anyone in the Mundane world other than her parents. Sometimes she even thought he gave them a run for their money since he understood the magical aspect of her life better than they ever could.
First year, Harry had shown his trust in her by taking the potion she indicate from Snape's logic riddle without question. Of course, him saving her from a Mountain Troll earlier in the year had done a lot to establish her trust in him.
Second year, he trusted her conclusion about the Basilisk in the pipes even when she was not conscious to tell him about it. He found her note in her frozen hand and used it to save Ginny from Tom Riddle's specter.
Certainly there had been trials to that trust. During their third year, when she had told Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt he'd received as an anonymous gift, she had been afraid he'd never talk to her again. Never mind trusting her with anything important to him. Still, looking back, she strongly suspected that that feud would have ended much sooner if Ron had not been fanning its flames.
Fourth year brought the Triwizard Tournament and Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. She alone publicly showed her belief that he had not entered himself in the ridiculously dangerous tournament.
During their fifth year they'd had a passionate argument after Harry's dream of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. Still, even though she was sure it was a trap, she trusted him enough -- and feared for his safety enough -- that she went with him. They and their friends did, indeed, walk into a trap. She was seriously injured, but they came out alive and better friends. Unfortunately, Sirius came to rescue them and ended up being killed by his psychotic cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange.
Sixth year was probably the low point of their friendship. She almost did not feel like she had been herself that year. She'd been obsessively jealous of Ron's relationship with Lavender Brown. Worse, she had been shrewish and judgmental about Harry's use of -- in her mind reliance on -- the mysterious Half-Blood Prince's potions book. While she still felt she had been partially in the right, she wished she had been more flexible and trusting of Harry's choices.
The year that should have been their seventh and final was also a trust of her (and Ron's) trust in Harry. Instead of attending Hogwarts they went on the Camping Trip from Hell, a largely directionless search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Ron left. She stayed. In the end, that was what mattered.
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