A/N: It wasn't hard to notice how anxious some of the reviewers were for the next chapter after the cliffhanger I placed. So here it is. I just had to work out some kinks. Chapter five might take me another week or two because I've decided to re-write it. Again, thanks for all the reviews and support. I hope you enjoy this chapter as you have the previous ones. I welcome all reviews whether they be cheers or jeers as well as suggestions. Much thanks once again to MushyPeas, my ever vigilant beta-reader.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of JKR's wonderful creations. I am simply borrowing a few crayons and experimenting with them for a new kind of color. No money is being made in doing this activity.
If You Believe - The Experiment
"Oh."
The arms that kept her pinned down quickly unraveled from her back. Hermione didn't waste another second and hastily rose up from her compromising position. "Um, yes we're alright." She tried fixing her hair, which had gone awry after the fall, to distract herself.
Ron, who appeared behind Ginny after she swung the door wide open, didn't miss a beat. Clearing his throat, he opened his mouth, "What happened here? We heard Hermione shriek."
Harry got up and adjusted his jumper. "She was trying to get a box from the top of the bookshelf. I don't know why she just didn't use a levitating spell or a summoning charm. She ended up losing her balance, and well sorta fell on me."
Hermione glared at him. "Pardon me for not wanting to use magic all the time. Thank you for 'sorta' catching me then."
"Are you alright then? Both of you?" asked Ron. Harry and Hermione nodded at the same time.
"What's in the box anyway?" Ginny stepped into the room and headed for Hermione's bed where the box filled with vials lay.
Quickly, Hermione reached and grabbed for the box, clutching it against her chest. "Um...Just some of my Potions experiments."
"Potions?" Ron asked doubtfully.
"Yeah…you know…stuff we learned about in Snape's class?" Hermione gave Ron a cross look.
"Oh. So what did Harry need from you? A potion for what?" Ginny sat on the bed, eyeing the box that Hermione held.
"I...uh..." think, Harry, think, he ordered himself nervously. "It's nothing special really. I need it for…a…I have to…um…" He turned to Hermione for help.
"Virility," Hermione kept her composure and finished his sentence off. Inside, she was grinning evilly.
Harry's eyes widened tremendously. "I what?!?!" He gave Hermione a contemptuous glare.
"WHAT?" Ron, who now stood right next to Harry, gave his best friend a wide-eyed look. "But mate! I thought you were still a virg-oomph!"
Harry gave Ron a strong elbow jab in the ribs. Oh he was definitely going to have Hermione pay for that 'virility' remark.
"Oh Merlin! Harry!" Ginny exclaimed with widened eyes, "I never...I never imagined...Wait...so who's the lucky witch? Or a Muggle maybe?"
"Ginny!" Harry hissed. Keeping his eyes trained on Hermione, Harry regained his composure and spoke calmly, "You haven't met her yet actually. I'm planning to maybe take her as my date to your wedding. If you don't mind that is." He smiled and ignored the confused look on Ron's face.
"Oh of course not, Harry," Ginny forced out. 'This definitely twists things a bit.' She carefully avoided Hermione's murderous looks.
Clutching his left side where Harry landed him a blow, Ron still had an incredulous, dumb look on his face. "Blimey…Harry, I-"
Hermione made a sound. "Well, as you can see, Harry and I are perfectly all right. Could you and Ron leave so we may finish our business? Harry and I have...arrangements to make." She ushered Ron, who still had a dumbstruck look on his face, out of the room.
"But…"
Ginny frowned but relented nevertheless. As she was passing Hermione by the door, she whispered, "Virility potion huh? Gather you want him to test it on you?"
"Out now before I hex you with warts on your face that will stay on to your wedding date. And you know very well that I'm perfectly capable of doing that," Hermione replied coolly.
The red headed Weasley witch just giggled and closed the door on her way out.
'One.'
'Two.'
'Three.'
After counting to three, Harry quickly walked up to Hermione face to face (well, almost...Hermione was at least four inches shorter than him) and fumed, "Virility?!? What in the bloody hell? Couldn't you come up with something else? Did I do something to really get on your bad side?"
'He's too close!' she thought. Hermione leaned slightly away from his face...or lips. "I'm sorry!" No she wasn't really, but she had to sate him. She fought hard to keep an implicating grin from forming in her mouth. "That was the first thing that came up to mind. It didn't look like you could give them a good answer. And there's nothing wrong with-"
"Nothing wrong? How can that not be wrong? I'm not even twenty-five yet and I already have an impotence problem?!" Harry retorted.
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. Really! Can we drop the subject now?" His eyes get greener when he's agitated, she observed. She took a few steps back and turned away from him, moving to a desk to settle the box of vials down. "That altering potion. I have to drop in the hues of the elements you want changed." She tried her best to steer the conversation towards a different direction.
Harry grunted and shook his head. He will have to get back at her later. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Brown hair and blue eyes. No scar either. And make my jaw...a little longer," Harry said grimly.
"What's wrong with...Oh no matter." She turned her back to him for a minute and picked up several vials from the box.
"Two hours. Nothing more and definitely nothing less. I want to be in and out of there as fast as I can. No funny business," Harry insisted.
Hermione gave him a sweet smile. "Funny business? Of course not, Harry. Of course not."
"I don't like that tone. Even more so that smile. What have you got up your sleeve?"
"Oh knock it off, Harry. I've got nothing up my sleeve. Promise."
Harry eyed her cautiously and then finally shrugged, taking a seat on Hermione's bed and watching her work on preparing a draught for him to use on Saturday. Without her knowledge, he observed her as she busied herself over the seemingly complicated experiment. Her figure, lithe and graceful, captured his attention. She definitely has aged and grown over the years. For the better, too. Harry wondered how come no wizard (or Muggle) has swept her off her feet yet. Then again, part of him was glad that no wizard or Muggle has done so either.
"Why are you staring at me? Are you trying to think of hexes to use on me?" she asked without emotion as she gave him a quick glance.
"No," Harry replied with an annoyed tone. "I can think of other ways to get back at you without using magic."
"Uh huh," Hermione replied nonchalantly. She turned her back to him once again to continue working on the potion.
"So," said Harry after several minutes of silence passed.
"Hm?"
"You mentioned earlier that you're seeing someone new?"
She almost dropped the vial she was holding and spilled potion on her desk after hearing him ask. "Um…we…I met him…" Hermione bit her lip as she struggled to think of something to say to him. "We met at a conference recently...He's...He's a wizard." Nice little hole you dug yourself into, Hermione.
"Are you taking him to Ginny's wedding?"
"No." Stop asking already!
"Why not?" he asked quickly. Too quickly.
"What's with the questions, Harry? You're suddenly interested in my love life?" Or the lack of it, she added silently.
"No! I mean...I'm your best friend. I'm just curious, 'Mione," Harry replied. "I'm just concerned. That's all." Greatly concerned, he added silently.
"Well since we're on the subject, what about your love life? You said you're bringing a date to Ginny's wedding? Ron seemed surprised when you mentioned it so I'll assume that he didn't know about any ladies in your life until now. You're seeing that girl from France again?" Hermione asked, trying to sound only half-interested.
"No. Not her. Actually, I just hadn't asked the girl I'm interested in to go with me." Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Er...not yet, that is."
Ouch. So he does have someone in mind. Hermione bit her lip and carefully poured some liquid into another vial she was holding, trying to steady her hands as much as she could. "Um...Why haven't you?"
Harry leaned back and lay down on his best friend's bed. He stared at the ceiling and clasped his hands behind his head. "I...I'm not sure. I think she's going to the wedding already so what would I need to ask her for?"
"Ah, I see." So it's someone we already know, Hermione thought to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied him lazing around on her bed. Pink hued her face as she turned away from the tempting site of Harry Potter on her bed. Her devilish side wondered if she could perhaps convince him to do that without his clothes on after the bachelorette party.
"Um, Hermione," his voice interrupted her overactive imagination. "Your potion...it's overflowing you know."
"What?" Hermione blinked in surprise. "Oh oh oh!" She lowered the vials she was working on and started to clean up some of the spilt draught. Way to go, Hermione.
Harry got up and muttered some quick spells to help Hermione clean up the mess. "You all right? You seem quite distracted at the moment. I'm not sure then if it's a good idea that you work on that potion right now."
Hermione moved away from him. "Oh don't worry, will you? I'll get it right. Just stop looking over my shoulder." He's wreaking havoc on my concentration, she thought. And what aftershave is he wearing? It's awfully intoxicating for her senses right now.
His right eyebrow shot up. "I wasn't looking over your shoulder."
"Right. If you say so."
Harry chuckled and settled back to seat on her bed. "So."
He's trying to drive her out of her mind, she was sure of it. "Isn't there anything else more intelligible coming out of your mouth while you wait?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"We could talk about your love li-"
"Drop it, Potter," she cut him off sternly.
Harry chuckled. "It's so easy to tease you, you know? How's that potion coming along by the way?"
"It would come along faster if you'd stop bugging me, Harry," she replied without looking at him.
Reluctantly, Harry took the hint to heart and spent the quiet time wandering his eyes around her room. It was simply decorated, with pale yellow walls that seemed to brighten more when light touched the room. There was an exotic capiz lamp by her bedside which he guessed she might have gotten during one of her many summer vacation trips to who knows where. Harry spied the latest edition of Hogwarts: A History on her bedside table. Next to the small bedside table stood a tall shelf filled from end to end with books about wizarding and witchcraft history. Next to the massive shelf, there was another shelf filled with books about Potions and Charms. A few feet away stood Hermione's dresser, which was meticulously neat. Harry wondered if she had a charm for that since his dresser needed it badly. Regardless of the many times that he had tidied it, it never stayed in that state for too long.
Harry paused for he just realized that he hadn't been in Hermione's room before, much less any other witches' rooms. He didn't make a habit of making trips to many of them either. Ron, on the other hand, made frequent overnight stays at several witches' homes, he knew. Part of him wished that he was able to do what his best friend did but he just couldn't picture himself spending the week with different witches (or Muggle women) every night. Then again, he himself knew the reason why he couldn't be like his redheaded best friend. Harry moved his eyes towards Hermione again. He had realized awhile back that there was only one witch that he'd want to spend every night with for the rest of his life; too bad that she didn't seem to return the feelings.
Harry sighed and got up from her bed and paced toward the shelf that had books on Charms and Potions. Scanning her library, he asked "You don't happen to have any Defense books around do you so I may keep myself entertained?"
Hermione paused her ministrations and gave him a quick look. "There's a handful there. The heavier ones are under my bed or I've lent them to you already and you just haven't returned them back."
The green-eyed wizard smirked pulled off a small book from a shelf. "I have several at my flat. I'll return them to you next time I stop by." Harry looked at the book he held. It was Defense for Dummies Volume 5. "Hermione, why do you have a Dummies book?"
Without looking at him, she replied, "I had free time between conferences once and had no book to read. The wizarding souvenir shop only had that book."
Harry flipped through the book lazily before putting it back in the shelf. He browsed the shelf once more for another book to read. Unfortunately, nothing really caught his interest. Turning around, he stared at her back while she busied herself on the seemingly delicate experiment. "How's it going?"
She didn't' answer him immediately, as she was finishing up on pouring some sort of oil into the draught mixture. After several more seconds of no response, she turned around to face him, holding out a vial of potion for him. "Care to give it a try?"
He gave her a doubtful look. "Is that safe?"
She frowned at him in return. "Of course it is. Do you doubt my abilities?"
Reaching for it, he looked at the vial apprehensively. "I don't. But…"
Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked at him directly. "Well, what are you waiting for then? Drink up!"
"If you're so eager, why don't you try it out first?" Harry prodded and raised an eyebrow.
"You must be insane. That potion is infused with male hormones. If I drank that now, I'd have a stubble to shave by tomorrow morning. That and several other things. Now quit delaying and drink already, Harry. I haven't got all day you know." 'More like I don't think I can stand to spend another minute with you alone in my bedroom,' she thought.
Taking a deep breath, he repeated a mantra in his head, psyching himself for the seemingly scary task.
I trust her.
'Right?'
I trust her.
'Of course, I do.'
I trust her.
'Then drink up, you bloke!'
"Harry!" she said impatiently.
Without another word, he raised the vial to his lips and took a huge gulp.
-TBC