Harry PotterYou are my Cosmic Connection.

Chapter : 1

On Sunday night, the university bar looked like a desert. The week of exams was over and the older students, with the newly acquired freedom, had dispersed like caged birds. The last days before the Christmas holidays had become a vague reminder of the responsibilities they would soon leave behind.

A small group, all from the same course, took refuge in a corner. The atmosphere was tense, the conversation was reluctantly. Nobody wanted to be the first to admit that the idea of a "Christmas mea" didn't excite them. It was tradition, they were supposed to join, wasn't it? But the idea of spending the night drinking to the point of unconsciousness, just before returning home with the family, didn't make them funny at all.

An uncomfortable silence was installed on the table. Each of them told himself that it was better to join the group than to be the weird one who was left out. The holidays were already there, a future full of parties and excesses awaited them, who was going to refuse a little more madness?

At least they were currently being entertained. They had all noticed a beautiful girl sitting by herself. A beautiful girl who had politely but firmly rebuffed every attempt from anyone who had tried to chat her up. The odd thing was, all of them were sure she kept looking over in their direction. Martin had of course decreed that she must be looking at him, so confidently set off to conquer. He initially appeared to be making progress before his deflation was visible from the other side of the pub. His crawl back was in stark contrast to the way he'd strutted over there.

"Hey Marty, so is it Back to the Future for the two hundredth and eighteenth time tonight? You might as well, it seems like you've nothing else on."

This generated a fair amount of laughter. Martin's obsession with those movies was well known, probably because he told everyone who wasn't quick enough to get away from him all about it. He dreamed about being his hero, even considered changing his last name to McFly. In reality though, Martin was a much closer match for the character of Biff than Marty.

As first year students, they were still finding their feet in university. The group's dynamics had also yet to settle down. Martin saw himself as a born leader but, much to his dismay, no one else did. Faced with the ridicule from his fellow students, Martin employed his number one defence tactic - focus that ridicule on someone else.

"Hey, we all agreed she was staring over here. Who else would she be looking at, Harry?"

Harry had been doing his usual, sitting quietly in the corner and wondering when he could reasonably say it was time to go back to his room. Everyone's attention now on him was the last thing he wanted.

Brian could and should be the leader of the group, he was waiting on all the other candidates for the position to make arses of themselves before stepping in. He was also Harry's lab partner and wasn't about to stand for Martin picking on him, just because Harry was quiet.

"Let's be honest, Martin, Harry couldn't do any worse than you. I've seen some people crash and burn in my time but that was epic."

"I'll bet you the next round that Harry will crash and burn too."

"That's hardly fair, since no one's even got to sit beside her yet. I will bet he fares better than you, I would also bet you quoted a line from that bloody movie at her."

Martin's face was now red as Brian turned to Harry. "What about it, mate. Wanna give it a try? You really have nothing to lose, we all know Marty McPhail here couldn't resist trying to dazzle her with his brilliance."

Seeing the wink from his friend got Harry rising from his seat. Harry didn't make many friends and the easy going Brian was one of them.

Martin then tried to put the kibosh on his effort before he even started. Thumping Harry way harder on the back than was considered polite, he then shouted "Go get her, tiger" at the top of his voice.

Harry stopped and turned to face Martin, his green eyes boring into the bigger man like those drills Harry's Uncle Vernon was always talking about.

Even with a height and build advantage, Martin's senses were screaming not to mess with this one. "Just wanted to wish you luck, mate."

As Harry turned and walked away, Brian's words were aimed at Martin but heard by most of the group. "Don't let Harry being quiet fool you into thinking that makes him a pushover. I didn't do my share of the work our first lab, he took me aside and chewed me out. He's easy going until you get in his way, Harry is the most driven out of all of us."

Harry approached the girl who then smiled at him, changing her from beautiful to absolutely stunning. "Excuse me, Miss. I'm really sorry to annoy you, especially after just having a visit from Martin. The thing is there's now a bet running among us. Not about you - although you are most certainly involved. You see we're sure Martin tried a cheesy pick-up line on you, using something from the movie he's obsessed with..."

"He said I was his density?"

"Oh, that's certainly cheesy. What did you say?"

"I said heavy, which was probably the wrong answer as he took encouragement from that. I then had to come down heavily on him before he sat himself down."

This had both of them laughing before Harry got ready to excuse himself. "Thank you for clearing that up, and again sorry for disturbing you."

"Who said you were disturbing me? My name is Hermione, won't you take a seat?"

"Hermione, as in A Winter's Tale? That's my favourite Shakespeare play, and I've always loved that name."

Harry then got to hear that musical laugh again. "Now who's trying the cheesy lines? I've already asked you to sit down too..."

As he sat, Harry began quoting some of Hermione's monologue from the play. "The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, I do give lost; for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went. My name's Harry and I don't have any pick-up lines, cheesy or otherwise. I don't know why but that part has always stuck in my memory..."

Seeing Hermione's eyes begin to mist over, Harry was getting ready to apologise when she shook her head. "You didn't upset me, that was beautiful. Now I certainly don't buy the part about having no lines, you're way too smooth for that to be true."

This actually got a wide grin from Harry. "I've been called many things, usually nerdy, but never smooth. This is going to feel like another line…