Here's another update! Took me awhile, but finally got it out of me.
Chapter 21
Harry closed his eyes as he ducked his head under the warm spray of his shower, trying to let the water wash all his troubles away. It was a long past month, filled with schoolwork, Quidditch practice, Occlumency and D.A meetings and today was the last day of the month. Halloween.
It was also the day of his double date with Hermione he was not looking forward to. He should have never agreed to it, but once Hermione has an idea in her head, it was near impossible to talk out of it. So he would go and fight his way through it. Sooner it started the sooner it would be all over and he'd be stuffing his face at the Halloween feast with his friends.
Harry shut the water off and stepped out of the shower then wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed a smaller one and started to rub it over his damp hair as he padded barefoot into his room. He was just about to strip when his main door swung open and Hermione came bursting through.
"Harry, which outfit should I wear, the blue dress or the, HOLY CRAP!"
Harry stood there in just a towel as he watched Hermione turn bright red and advert her eyes as she shuffled her feet, not knowing whether to go or stay. "I am…so sorry…" Her eyes drifted to his chest. "Wow…er…I didn't mean to...wow, um..."
"Maybe next time, knock before entering?" Harry suggested as he playfully threw his small towel that he was drying his hair with right at her.
Hermione yelped as she caught it right before it hit her face. "Harry! I said I was…wow, this smells really good."
Harry lifted a brow at the mumbled words he thought he hard. "Come again?"
She blushed as she pulled the towel away from her face. "Nothing," she said flustered. "I'm just going to go and take a shower myself…er…here's your towel back."
Harry grinned as he caught the towel she tossed back and watched her start to exit his room. "Hermione, wait…"
"Yeah?" she asked as she quickly turned around and her eyes widened when he advanced towards her.
She scooted her back against the door when he stopped right in front of her and Harry tried his best to hide his grin. "The blue one," he finally said.
"Huh?" she asked in a daze as she looked up at him.
"You wanted my opinion, right?" he asked and took the blue dress out of her hands. "I think you should wear this one. Blue looks great on you."
"Oh…right of course," she stammered and took the dress from him. "The blue one…yes, nice chest…I mean choice! It's a nice choice."
Harry chuckled under his breath. "Uh-huh…well, you better get going. Don't want to be late."
"Right…er…see you later," she said and quickly turned around, fumbling at the knob a few seconds before finally opening it and flew from the room.
Harry let out a chuckle. "Classic," he sad as he went to the closet to get dressed. "Flustered Hermione…never knew she existed."
When Harry was fully dressed, he still had an amused smile on his face when he stepped out of his walk-in closet. Hermione was down right tongue tied at the sight of him in a towel and the funny thing about it was…he wasn't embarrassed. He was amused with the whole situation. Hermione thought he had a nice chest. The thought pleased him for some reason.
"Must be the Quidditch," he said as he looked over himself in the mirror.
"Someone's feeling sure of themselves," the talking mirror said in a teasing voice.
Harry rolled his eyes. "When I want your opinion I'll ask for it."
Someone knocked on the door before the mirror could retort and Harry was grateful for the intrusion. "Come in," he said with a smile, thinking it must be Hermione on the other side of the door.
The door opened and Emma poked her head inside. "Hi, can I come in?"
"Emma, hey!" Harry greeted as he walked to her. "Of course, come in."
Emma smiled brightly as she ran to him, throwing her small arms around his waist, causing him to stumble backwards a bit. Harry smiled as he returned the hug, playfully nuzzling the top of her head with his hand. "Glad of you to stop by. Now that you have a friend now, I feel like your too good for me."
Emma gasped as she looked up at him. "That's not true!"
Harry chuckled. "Emma, I'm joking." He then leaned down and kissed the top of your head. "What brings you by? Were you careful coming here?"
"Yes, I used the map you gave me, no one followed me."
"Good," he said as he walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, picking up his trainers to slip them on. "How are your classes going?"
"Good, my favorite class is Charms and Transfiguration. I got twenty points in McGonagall's class for making a successfully transforming a mouse into a water goblet."
Harry gave her a rewarding smile. "Good for you, the only person I know who did that in my year, was Hermione." He looked at the clock and sighed. "Speaking of Hermione, I better get going. Don't want to be late for my date."
Emma gasped. "You have a date with Hermione?" she asked with excitement.
He chuckled. "No, I have a double date with Hermione."
Her shoulders slumped. "Oh. Well, who are you taking?"
"Lavender," he said as he tied on his last shoe.
"Lavender?" she asked in disgust. "That cheese bum?"
"Hey," Harry said sternly. "She's not a cheese bum."
"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I didn't know you liked her."
He sighed as he shook his head. "I don't. At least not that way." He walked to the mirror to give one last look at himself. "I'm mainly doing this for Hermione. Terry Boot asked her out and she's nervous, so suggested this double date thing."
"Terry Boot? The Ravenclaw Prefect, right?"
"Yeah," he said fiddling with his hair.
"He's sort of cute. In a sweet, dorky kind of way."
Harry laughed and turned around. "So…how do I look?"
She took in his simple jeans and overly large orange shirt and gave a little shrug. "Eh…you could do better."
"Gee…thanks, dear cousin, tell me how you really feel."
She giggled and went to his closet. "Let's see what else you got. Oh, I like this."
Harry watched in amusement as she pulled out his green polo shirt from his hanger. "Oh, Hermione gave me that shirt. She bought it when she went to New York with her parents a few summers ago."
"Well, she has good taste. Wear this instead; it'll bring out your eyes. Probably why she bought it for you in the first place."
"You think?" he asked as he pulled off his orange shirt, then slid the green collared shirt over his white undershirt.
"Sure, why else? That's much better."
He snorted. "Thanks, I'm glad I have your approval."
"Anytime," she said with a smile. "Grab me some candy while your there?"
"You got it," he said with a wink and together they headed for the door.
"Harry?" she asked before they made it to the door. "There is something I wanted to ask you."
"Really?" he asked with his hand on the doorknob. "Shoot."
"Well, I was wondering…now that I'm getting closer with Jayce, I feel bad lying to him and…"
"You want to tell him about me?" Harry asked.
She sighed. "I'll understand if you tell me not to, it's just…it be nice to have someone to talk to."
Harry looked down at her and squatted next to her so they would be eye level. "Do you trust him?"
"Yes," she said without any hesitation. "Very much. I'm friends with Michael too…he was Jayce's friend from the beginning, but I'm not close to him like Jayce is. I would only tell him."
"If you trust him, I trust him." He gave her a quick smile. "Just make sure no one's around before you tell him, use the map, all right?"
"Okay," she said with a nod then flung her arms around his neck. "Thanks Harry."
Harry squeezed her tight. "Anytime, Emma. You're my family now…I promise to take care of you, okay?"
She nodded as she pulled back. "I know," she said as she wiped away a tear that trailed down her cheek. "Now, get going on your date, okay? Don't want to keep Hermione waiting."
The corner of his lip shifted up as he gently wiped her cheek clean. "No, I sure don't. Nothing's more worse than Hermione's wrath." He then stood up and opened the door for her. "I'll see you at the feast tonight, Emma."
"You can count on it, hopefully it will be troll free," she said with a grin, causing both of them to laugh as they walked down the stairs.
"What's so funny?" Hermione asked as she got up from the couch she was sitting on.
"Oh, just talking about that certain Halloween night our first year here," Harry said with a smile.
Hermione smiled. "Oh yes, I remember it well."
"You look nice," Harry said taking in her blue dress she had shown him moments ago.
"Thanks, so do you. Hey, you're wearing my shirt."
"Yeah, Emma dressed me," he said with a laugh.
"You have good taste, Hermione," Emma said with a grin. "Shirt looks great on him."
"I know, as soon as I saw it I knew it would. I bought it because of the color. It brings out his eyes."
"Told you so," Emma said sticking out her tongue at Harry.
"All right, smartie why don't you run along, now," Harry said as he playfully nudged her.
"All right," she said pulling out the map, making sure it was clear before heading out. "You guys have fun."
"Thanks, Emma," Hermione said and waved her off as she went down towards the Gryffindor common room. "You ready to go?"
He sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be I guess."
"Relax, Harry. It's not like we're going into battle. It's just a double date."
Harry gave her a small smile as they made their way to the entrance where they planed to meet Lavender and Terry. Maybe they weren't going into battle, but a part of him felt like it. It was going to be an interesting afternoon.