Harry turned on his stomach and smashed the pillow over the back of his head to block out the sunlight that was pouring through his room. It was morning once again. He groaned into his mattress when he heard noise coming from downstairs.
His blankets and sheet were bunched around his waist, exposing his bare back. Harry was concentrating so hard on imagining a dead silence, he didn't even hear the door open. Hermione poked her head through the door and saw that Harry still wasn't moving. Obviously he reacted to the sunlight when she had pulled his curtains open. Now she was back to really wake him up. Hermione slowly stepped through the door and shut it behind her, leaning her back against it. She saw that his blankets were only halfway on him and smirked at seeing the fine detail of the muscles in his back
She tiptoed over to his bed carefully and leaned her body against the foot board. She cleared her throat. Nothing happened. Harry still mashed his pillow against his head, blocking out all sound. She gripped the left post on the corner of the bed and leaned her body forward even more. Her top half was dangling above his legs. She looked down and saw his legs start to move.
"Harry, time to get up," she said in a mild but solid tone. Harry flung his arm out, sleepily trying to tell her to go away. She got a smirk on her face and got down from the foot of the bed to stand beside it.
She shook her head with her arms folded and smiled at his lightly sleeping form. "Harry if you don't get up, I'm going to make you."
She ducked when Harry tossed his pillow at her. She smirked at him. "Oh really? Well in that case-"
Hermione bent over and gripped the blankets firmly, Harry not even in the same universe at this moment, didn't notice. Hermione silently agreed with herself and ripped his blankets clean off him. He flipped over quickly on his back and sat up even faster. He was dressed in only his boxers and felt a bit embarrassed that she was looking directly at him.
Hermione was standing beside the bed with her arms folded and a huge smile on her face. She bent down and picked up the pillow, tossing it from side to side a bit and lunging it at him.
"You might want to start getting dressed," she commented sarcastically.
"Nice wake up call, Noni," he said in a low raspy voice. Hermione chuckled at how tired he sounded. He put his glasses on and looked at her. She was wearing white Capri pants with thick sandals and had on a light blue sleeveless shirt. Her hair was down and curled at the ends. She had very silky hair. It wasn't fizzy anymore; just silky, but as long as ever, reaching the middle of her back.
"Well if you hurry up and get changed, we can at least have a late breakfast before he shows up," she suggested happily. Harry smiled at her.
"Meet you downstairs in twenty?"
Hermione nodded shyly, finally realizing he was right in front of her with nothing on but his boxers. She blushed and turned to go. Harry tried to open his mouth to say something, but he didn't. Instead he met her eyes while she walked, until she turned around and shut the door.
Harry tossed the pillow up in the air and fell onto his back into his soft bed. Sprawled out and starting to feel cold, he finally got up and picked out his clothes for the day to get in the shower.
Hermione was sitting at the bar counter on a stool with her legs hanging off when Harry finally came down. She turned when she heard footsteps in the kitchen and was pleased to see Harry was finally dressed, though she thought it quite rare to catch him in nothing but his boxers. Hermione was blushing bright red when Harry waved a hand in front of her face
"Hello? Anyone in there Hermione?" Harry teased. She smiled at him and shoved him out of her face. He started laughing.
"Ready to go?" Hermione finally asked.
"You bet I am! I'm starving!"Harry smiled and held out a hand to her to help her off her stool. She gratefully took it and stepped down.
"Well that's not my fault is it? You're the one that couldn't get your lazy butt out of bed." She teased. They laughed together.
Because of the non-apparating spell placed on the house, Harry and Hermione stepped into the back yard.
He wrapped his arms around her gently. For a moment he caught the scent of her hair as the breeze slowly passed through it. She smelled of water lilies and some perfume of some sort.
Harry smiled down at Hermione. "Ready?"
She nodded, making Harry smile. Hermione rested her head on his chest and they both closed their eyes. Moments later they appeared with a snap, in front of the doors to The Three Broomsticks. It was only eleven in the morning; plenty of time to get something to eat before meeting with Ron.
Harry held his arm out to Hermione and she coiled her own around his. "Thank you, Harry. Quite the gentleman today aren't we?" she smirked. Harry looked down with her and flashed his knee weakening smile. "Just because I gave you a compliment doesn't mean I'm going to fall for that grin."
"Oh come on, it makes Cho go all jelly-like inside. Don't tell me it doesn't work on you."
Hermione blushed and turned her head away from his as they walked into The Three Broomsticks.
They table they usually sat at in the center of the room was occupied by some young teenagers, making out for the world to see. Hermione scoffed at their behavior and looked around for a table.
"What's the matter? Does my little Noni want a kiss?" Harry teased. Hermione slugged him playfully in the stomach and walked toward the only empty table: a rather small booth.
She slid in first and Harry followed. There was barely enough room for the two of them. Their shoulders were almost touching, they were so close.
"Maybe we should switch places with the kissing couple over there. They would probably benefit from this more than we would," Harry joked. Hermione turned to look at him with a smirk on her face.
"Oh what's this? Harry Potter gets a girl into the tightest booth in the place and he doesn't want to kiss her?" She smiled. "What is this world coming to?" she finished, looking down at her menu for something good to eat.
Harry nudged her softly with his shoulder and then rested his arm on the back of the booth seat.
"And just what makes you think I'm not going to try something?" he teased, bringing a bright blush color out on Hermione's cheeks. She rolled her eyes at him and forced herself to look down at the menu.
Harry reached down to scratch his leg and Hermione felt his fingers unnoticeably touch the skin that wasn't covered by her capris. He shivered a bit and Harry came back up, looking at her strangely.
"What?" He asked. Hermione shook her head just as Madame Rosmerta came along to take their orders.
Hermione ordered an omelet and hot chocolate, and Harry ordered bacon and eggs with a slice of toast.
"Is that all for you two," Rosmerta asked. Harry and Hermione both nodded and thanked her.
Harry turned to Hermione. "So tell me, what did Peter do to mess things up as bad as he did?" Harry asked politely. Hermione looked at him and smiled, no longer afraid of talking about it.
"He just wasn't the kind of person to count on," she started, but stopped when Harry almost choked on the air that occupied his mouth. "Anyway," she continued sternly but just trying to get her point across, "We would go make plans to do something and at the last minute he would send me an owl saying we couldn't go. This time we were supposed to have dinner with my parents. He was supposed to meet me there but after being there a half an hour he sent me an owl."
"Oh I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely, letting his arm fall around her shoulders. She shrugged beneath him.
"It's all right. I mean I would rather be stuck at my parents' place than to be sitting in the middle of a restaurant waiting for him."
Harry gave her a concerned look and hugged her. They pulled away after about a minute or so. "Harry, why couldn't Peter be more like you?" she said out loud. Harry looked down at her in curiosity.
"I beg your pardon?"
She laughed at his embarrassment and total clueless behavior. "Harry, you're a very trusting person and can be trusted. I just don't understand how someone could be so forgetful and misleading." She answered back. The cocky side of Harry's personality showed through.
"Well you know. Every girl wants me," he said haughtily, though he didn't really mean it. Hermione slugged him in the arm.
"Well Harry you're actually right about that."
"I am?" He asked, looking down right confused. Hermione smiled at him.
"Yes. I can't think of one girl that wouldn't snatch you up if you weren't so attached to Cho."
Harry nodded, comprehending what she was trying to say. "Well if I'm so important to Cho, why does she push me around the way she does? I mean, the other day we were standing outside talking and she started messing with my hair. Can you guess what she told me?"
Hermione shook her head.
"She said that I needed to try something new with my hair to get it under control. Some of her snooty friends walked up and I realized she wanted to impress them. When she turned her back, I messed it up again, just to aggravate her some more." Harry sighed contently, "I'll never forget the look on her face when I tried playing dumb."
Hermione started laughing at the little story. "Well maybe you should corner her one day and tell her that she needs to try something new with her attitude." Hermione paused and dropped her tone. "Harry, if she really loves you then she'll straighten up."
Rosmerta came by and put their food on the table in front of them. A few moments later they continued their conversation while they ate.
"Well the thing is, I'm thinking of breaking it off with her this weekend. We have a date tomorrow night but I'm not all that excited about going."
Hermione's eyes widened and she put her mug of steaming hot chocolate down on the table. "What? Why? Is everything-"
"I think she might be seeing someone else. With the way she's constantly nagging me and getting annoyed with the little things, it makes me wonder why she's even still with me."
Hermione raised her eyebrows in sympathy and looked at him, placing a hand on his leg and picked up her mug again. "Well whatever you decide, I'll support you," Hermione answered, lightly rubbing the part of leg just above his knee. Harry smiled calmly at her and touched her hand under the table with his. For a few short moments, they just looked into each other's eyes.
Just then, the doors of the shop opened and Ron came through. Harry and Hermione waved to get his attention and he started over toward them with a broad smile on his face.