Happy New Year
"Only ten minutes to go!" Ginny Weasley Malfoy shouted from her perch near the buffet. Ginny was hosting her first New Year's Eve party as Draco Malfoy's wife, and she was dying to make sure that two of her best friends were close to each other when the party-goers rang in the New Year. Scanning the packed ballroom at Malfoy Manor, she noticed they were nowhere near each other. Harry Potter was huddled in a corner near the buffet talking about Quidditch and football with his former classmate, Dean Thomas, while Hermione Granger was busy chatting with Ginny's brother Ron and his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood, at the opposite corner of the room.
No, no, no, Ginny grimaced, this won't do at all. Harry and Hermione had been friends for twelve years, best friends for eleven, and as 2003 ended, both were still unattached. Harry had had a few casual girlfriends over the years, while Hermione had just ended a two-year relationship with a wizard she'd met at work in the Ministry of Magic. Actually Hermione had come crying to Ginny when her boyfriend dumped her, telling Hermione that it was obvious to him that she had no room in her life for him. Distraught and perplexed, Hermione had wrung her hands and begged Ginny to help her understand what he meant. Ginny hugged her friend and told her to look for the answer in her own heart.
The answer, Ginny realized long ago, was that Harry and Hermione would always come first in each other's lives. Everyone, including their other best friend, Ron Weasley, figured out long ago what that meant. Everyone, that is, except Harry and Hermione. For a few years Ginny thought their mutual obtuseness was cute and sweet. Now she just wanted them to admit the obvious so they could be where they belonged and move on with their lives... and so she could collect on a bet she'd made with Draco when she and the Malfoy heir first got together.
Now it was five minutes to midnight and couples were huddling together, some of them embracing sloppily (the result of too much champagne from the enchanted ice sculptures), others jumping the gun by exploring each other's tonsils a few minutes too soon. Ginny was determined that this year, Harry and Hermione would be together at the stroke of midnight. They would do what was expected, and so help her they would stop avoiding the obvious. After all, they belonged together. And she had one hundred galleons riding on this. She pecked Draco on the cheek, then swept quickly over to the corner where Harry was joking with Dean.
"Dean, may I borrow Harry for a few minutes?" she smiled, grabbing her prey by the elbow and steering him away from the bewildered Dean.
"Ginny, Dean and I were catching up about the West Ham football team!" Harry objected, green eyes flashing his annoyance. "What's so important that you have to drag me away?"
"Harry, it's almost midnight. You don't plan to kiss Dean Thomas as the New Year enters, do you?" she cajoled, continuing to lead him through the crowd.
"Actually, I hadn't planned to kiss anyone at midnight," he returned. "I mean, that's just a silly old custom, and it's really meant for couples, isn't it? I'm not exactly part of a couple, in case you hadn't noticed." He pulled his arm away and smoothed his unruly black hair with his right hand, then craned his neck a bit and glanced around the room.
She's still talking with Ron and Luna, dammit, he pouted to himself. Bugger, that dress is gorgeous. I hope she's not planning to leave here with anybody...
He's still just as bad at stealing glances as he was in school, Ginny smiled.
"Yes, I had noticed that not-part-of-a couple thing. Too bad you haven't figured out how to solve that problem. Fortunately for you, I think I know just the solution. Now stay right here." With that Ginny deposited him near the enchanted ice sculpture, and Harry got himself another glass of champagne. Trust Malfoy to make me drink champagne from a snake's mouth. Well, here's to courage, he thought as he drained the glass quickly.
Two minutes later, a smiling Ginny returned with Hermione.
"Harry, I believe you know this young lady," Ginny joked.
As Hermione approached him, Harry looked her up and down and bit his lower lip to keep from doing a wolf whistle. She was wearing a strapless deep-blue velvet dress that dipped close to the floor in the back and ended just below her knees in front. Gold and silver glitter on the fabric made the dress resemble the night sky. Her warm brown hair was piled on top of her head, held in place by a large glittery clip; a few loose tendrils curled down her neck.
Bugger, it's not just the dress, he thought. She is gorgeous tonight. He wondered if his face looked as flushed as he felt.
Hermione put her arms around Harry's waist and hugged him fiercely. "Where have you been all evening? I've missed you," she said, looking up at him with liquid brown eyes. Glancing over his shoulder, she mouthed a silent thank you to Ginny, who crept away with a look of triumph.
"Umm, I've been right here, well, mostly talking with my mates," Harry stammered as he wondered what kind of perfume she was wearing; it really was quite intoxicating. "You know, Quidditch, football, that kind of stuff." He backed away a bit, forcing her to release her grip on him. She gave him an appraising sort of look.
"Thirty seconds till midnight," Ginny yelled.
"Well, Harry, how do you plan to ring in the New Year?" Hermione asked, looking him straight in the eye. Harry knew that look. It meant danger, excitement, and most of all, a steely determination. He looked down at his shoes.
"Erm... well... I guess I'll ring it in right here, with you," he muttered.
"Did you know," she said, in a tone that made him infinitely worried, "that it's bad luck not to kiss the person you're with at the stroke of midnight?"
He felt his face burn again. "It is?"
She laced her fingers around his neck and smiled. "Yes, it is. And we wouldn't want 2004 to be unlucky for either of us, would we?"
As he shook his head slowly, he heard Ginny leading the crowd in the countdown.
"Ten - nine - eight - seven - six - five - four - three - two - one - Happy new year!"
Wizard crackers burst all over the room and hundreds of balloons marked "2004" fell from the ceiling. Again Hermione looked Harry straight in the eye and suddenly her lips were planted firmly and deliciously on his. Harry's eyes first widened in shock, then fluttered closed as he clutched her to himself and relaxed into the kiss, a kiss that felt like summer and rain and firewhiskey and butterbeer with a dose of magic for good measure. Sweet Merlin, if I'd known it would be like this, I would've kissed her years ago.
When they finally broke the kiss, Harry realized he was grinning. He also realized that people around them were clapping. Ron and Luna wore huge smiles, and Ginny was slapping her new husband on the arm.
"A hundred galleons, Draco, pay up, please," she announced loudly. Draco pulled a sack of gold from under the buffet table.
"You're a tough woman to bet against, Red," he replied, kissing her soundly. "He did it and he enjoyed it." The crowd roared their approval.
Harry pulled Hermione back into his arms and cupped her chin in his hand. "Did you and Ginny set me up just now?" he inquired, one eyebrow cocked in amusement. Now it was her turn to blush.
"It was Ginny's idea, really," she protested, suddenly looking shy. "It sounded brilliant to me, so I said I'd give it a Gryffindor go."
Harry reached into his pocket, pulled out a shiny new galleon and tossed it over toward Ginny. "That was bloody brilliant," he called.
"Happy New Year, Harry," Hermione sighed, nuzzling his neck. "I think 2004 will be good for both of us."
"Happy New Year, Hermione," Harry replied, kissing her hair. "How could it not be, after starting with such a bang?"
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