Expect the Unexpected

Chapter 1 - Why All the Studying?

This 7^th year at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was going to be a year like no other. One particular boy with unruly raven-black hair and glasses was thinking this over and over in his mind. He had been studying by himself in the library for a while and his mind drifted off uncontrollably.

He had been thinking about his previous 6 years at Hogwarts; from the anxiousness of going to a wizarding school (and knowing nothing about it), to the dreading final battle he had with Lord Voldemort the previous year.

***

Harry went to fight the Dark Lord with no regrets and doubts. He himself was even surprised at how brave he was feeling at the time. He of course did not want anyone to be involved, as the Prophecy clearly stated that “neither can live, while the other survives.”

Professor Dumbledore announced at dinner one evening what the circumstances were. He went on to explain about the return of Lord Voldemort, the Prophecy, and of course the battle that would inevitably take place.

“One of us is going to die in this war,” Harry remembered himself announcing in the Great Hall, standing before the hundreds of Hogwart’s students. “One. Not two, not ten, not ten-thousand. If I die, that’s fine but nobody else is going to.”

The school seemed to be a bit worried by Harry’s last statement. What was going to happen should Harry fail?

Harry clearly remembered that out of everyone, Hermione seemed to be the most concerned about not only his well-being, but also his safe return. She would not let him go unless he would promise that he was coming back. Harry recalled one moment when they were alone in the boys’ dormitories.

“I can’t say,” he said truthfully to her as he was trying to focus on the battle to come, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Please Harry,” begged Hermione, tears rolling down her check. “Tell me you’re coming back!”

It went on and on like that for quite some time. Harry was getting annoyed of the run-around of words.

“All right Hermione,” submitted Harry, feeling very irritated with her. “I’ll be back for the celebration.”

“Oh Harry!” she exclaimed , throwing her arms around him in a tight and embracing hug. “Remember Harry? Friendship, love, bravery. Use them to your aid… You’ve got it all… please be careful.”

Harry did feel bad after the incident. Technically, he did not promise Hermione anything.

Though the battle with Voldemort was fierce, tough, and had a few close calls, Harry did manage to pull away with a victory over the Dark Lord. By Harry’s explicit request, the battle itself remained a mystery, sometimes even to Harry himself…

***

He drifted back into reality with a shake of the head. He looked down at his parchment; he had been writing this essay for quite some time. So much time that he knew for a fact that he had the correct answer. He dropped his quill, gave a yawn, and stood out of his seat to stretch.

Harry found himself in the library studying a lot more lately. He always wondered why his did certain things and though he couldn’t answer them literally, mentally he knew he had the answers; the hard part was putting it into words. Was it because he as Head Boy wanted to set a good example to the younger years? Was it because after 6 tiring years at Hogwarts it made him realize he had to finally shape up and study? Or was it to try to take his mind off something…?

“Harry!” called a voice from his right. He looked to see fellow Head Girl, Hermione coming up toward him, a few books hugged to her chest.

“Hello,” she smiled, just as she plopped the books she was carrying onto the table where Harry was sitting. She sat herself across from him. “What are you doing?”

“Playing Quidditch,” Harry answered, sitting back down and beginning to flip through one of the books he was reading to find an answer to an essay question. Hermione grinned.

Harry secretly watched as she sat opposite of him and began to organize the books she had just plopped onto the table. She seemed to stack the thicker, bigger books on her right and the not-so-big books on her left. Just as he had figured, she reached for the thickest spine book and as soon as it had been open, her brown eyes scanned the page. Harry smiled and returned to his parchment.

Cute the way she does things, isn’t it?

“It’s sort of beautiful isn’t it?” she said out of the blue.

What? You?

“What is?” asked Harry, not looking up from his writing.

“That we can have a normal school year for once,” she said, getting out a bottle of ink and a quill from her bag. “No more Voldemort, no more mysteries, no more having to worry…”

Harry paused and looked up at her just as she had just started to write her essay. There was a slightly happy, slightly indifferent look on her face which made Harry grin. She was doing the thing she did best and loved doing it: homework.

“It is nice isn’t it? Finally, I can fully concentrate on school, something I should’ve been doing 7 years ago.”

“Is that why you’ve been doing heaps of studying lately?” Hermione implied. “Because now you can concentrate on school without worries?”

“Yeah… I guess…” said Harry, scratching his head. Some where deep down, Harry knew that that wasn’t the answer.

Why was it that he was studying a lot recently? It wasn’t because he thought it was fun, that was for sure. Was it because he wanted to prove a point? If so, who was he trying to prove the point to? There wasn’t one time Harry could recall where he actually cared about how smart other students’ thought he was. So why did it suddenly make a difference now?

Harry looked over at Hermione. She was scribbling away at her parchment, obviously writing an answer to an essay question she already knew; she didn’t have to look it up in a book. She looked so innocent, so gentle as she wrote, like there wasn’t a thing in the world that could stop her.

“Hermione?” called Harry.

Hermione stopped in her writing to look at him and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Harry felt his insides do a familiar flop. “Yes?”

Did I ever tell you how good you look when you do homework?

“I’m not too sure if my answer to this question is correct,” Harry said, handing his paper over to her. “Can I have your expert opinion on whether or not I’m doing it correctly?”

Hermione took the paper, ignoring his buttering-up compliment. Harry waited as he watched her brown eyes scan his paper. Her eyes got intense, as if she were trying very hard to understand something. Harry felt his body go limp; his answer just wasn’t correct. She handed it back to him.

Hermione sat there staring at a spot on the table and biting her lip as though she was in deep thought. Harry waited for her to say something before he starting all over again. He was shocked… to see a smile curl and form suddenly on her lips.

“What?” asked Harry in bewilderment. Hermione still was smiling.

“For one thing, you didn’t write any unnecessary words in there, as many people try to do, and what you used to do I might add, to make it look like to the reader that he or she wrote a lot when they actually are repetitive. You dissected each part of the question, as you should have done anyway, and you explained each part briefly yet fully keeping all your answers clean and cut.”

“O….K…” said Harry, “so… is it right?”

“You got it correct,” she simply put.

“What?”

“I said you got it correct,” she repeated, still giving him a no-toothed smile. Harry felt the same familiar flop in his stomach.

“I did?” he frowned.

“You did,” she encouraged, going back to her own writing. “I’m proud of you Harry. You’re maturing in your studies.”

Harry could not explain it, but he had the biggest feeling of joy course though his veins. He had gotten the effect he wanted. He had asked Hermione to tell him if his answer was correct or not, though he already knew it was correct in the first place. So why ask Hermione if it was correct if he already knew it was correct?

Hermione’s compliments and encouragements made getting the answer seem so much more rewarding to him. He had answered his own question.

Harry was trying to prove a point. He was trying to prove that he is capable of studying hard. Harry was also trying to prove a point to a certain person and that person was sitting right in front of him. He wanted to impress Hermione.

A/N: Hello everybody! Well this is going to be my newest story. I had this idea come to me in a dream one night and I liked it so much, I had to write it down with the fear of forgetting it later.

About my last story, “Hints of Love”, I had fixed the “boxes” so you all may want to check it out now. I didn’t mean for it to be a secret. In fact, I don’t know if I want to finish it. It feels rushed and I don’t know how I’m going to put it out… only time will tell…

Modified a bit for Pokey… hehehehehe…

Chapter 2 - Invitation

“Hey guys,” came a familiar voice. Ronald Weasley grew the most out of the infamous trio during the seven year interval. It was no surprise that he was the tallest in the school either. “What are you two doing?”

He joined Harry and Hermione at the table and sat himself on Hermione’s right.

“We’re just studying,” she said, flipping through another one of the books she had.

“We!?” exclaimed Ron. “‘We’ as in you and Harry ‘we’?”

“No Ron,” she said matter-of-factly, “the person behind him.”

Ron stood out of his chair, craned his neck over Harry’s head, and pretended to look for someone behind him. Harry chuckled under his breath. Hermione’s laugh through her nose told Ron that their little skit was over.

Ron did mature over the years; it was what you would define as “mature” that told whether or not he had matured. There were times when he and Hermione did quarrel, but the quarrels were at least sensible this time around; most other rows they had were the sheer reason that Ron being either an “Insensitive wart” or a “Really big prat“.

“So are you guys busy?” he asked, turning his chair around and straddling the chair with his arms crossed on the top of the backrest.

“No, not really,” replied Harry.

“Yes, definitely,” said Hermione at the same time. Ron smiled peculiarly.

“Well, I hope you two aren’t too busy,” he continued, resting his chin on his crossed arms, “because me and Luna want you two to come with us to Hogsmeade.”

“Why?” Harry inquired. “Don’t you two want some quality boyfriend-girlfriend time alone?”

“Of course I do, but it was Luna’s idea and you know how I got to follow her…”

Harry gave an obvious fake cough that sounded a lot like, “Whipped!”

“You two are so cute together,” said Hermione out of the blue. Harry and Ron turned their heads toward her. She was still looking back and forth from her book and her parchment, mindlessly scribbling away some sort of solution she found. “A lot of student’s think you two are the perfect match.”

Ron blushed at least the same shade as his hair.

“So are you two up for a Hogsmeade visit?”

“Sure we’ll go,” Hermione intervened, before Harry could politely decline. “We’ll double date it then. Harry and I just have to put all our things away first.”

Harry swallowed.

Did she say double “date”?

“Great!” said Ron. “I’ll go tell Luna. We’ll meet in front of the Great Hall in about 10 minutes?”

“More than enough time,” said Hermione, putting the finishing touches to her essay and drying her quill.

***

Harry threw his bag over his shoulder filled with is and Hermione’s writing supplies while she carried her books out of the library as soon as Ron left. They walked side by side down the corridors, passing some younger students who couldn’t help but gawk at the pair of them. It was strange at the kinds of looks that they received; as if there was something going on between the two of them… As if they were a couple or something… Hermione didn’t seem to take notice.

“Quite a bit of girls have talked about Ron,” she said, once again out of the blue, as if she were trying to explain herself. “That’s why I said a lot of student’s think that he and Luna are a perfect match.”

“Is that so?” said Harry, not knowing what to say or how to respond to that. “Not including that Ron is twice the height of Luna?”

“Quiet Harry!” scolded Hermione, but there was a hick in her voice that made it sound like a giggle too. “But yes, there are girls that talked about him.”

He couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable being alone with Hermione. He had done it many times before with ease, but then again he didn’t like her in that way before either.

Ha! I knew you’d admit it Harry Potter!

Harry couldn’t recall when he actually started to gain interest in Hermione as more than a friend. He did, however, know that it was sometime after he began being interested in girls.

“Hermione,” he asked, the both of them still walking with the same steady stride. “Do any of the girls talk about me?”

Whoa! When did that courageous Gryffindor trait really kick in!? And what the heck kind of question was that!?

“No,” she said simply.

“Oh…” said Harry disappointingly, and couldn’t help but feel his self-esteem plummet. “Am I that bad a minority or something?”

“No it’s not that,” she comforted, as if she could feel Harry’s emotions. “They think you’re… well, taken.”

Harry stopped dead in his tracks, making Hermione a few steps in front of him before she came to a halt; she turned around and sighed impatiently at him.

“By who!?” frowned Harry, his face twisted in confusion.

“Goodness, Harry. Me!” said Hermione. She looked almost hurt.

“You mean they think that me” - he pointed to himself - “and you” - he pointed to Hermione “are…”

“Yes, yes and a whole bunch of other rubbish,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Now come on, these books are getting heavy.” She stretched out and arm and grabbed Harry’s pointed finger to drag him along.

Many things ran through Harry’s mind as he followed Hermione.

What were those girls thinking?

What gave them that idea, that I like her as more than a friend?

Does Hermione know?

Surely if girls, that he made little or no contact with, thought and talked about something (though their assumptions were wrong) that was going on, then Hermione must notice something too shouldn’t she? Maybe she already knows how I feel about her and she’s helping the situation by giving me clues too! She did say a double date with Ron and Luna…

Wonderful thoughts continued to swell Harry’s head.

There was that possibility that Hermione knew that he liked her in that way and there was also a possibility that she could like him too! He thought back to the memories he had with her. If he derived it correctly, it was signs that she liked him!

There was that “walk” around the Lake in fourth year, not to mention that kiss she gave him on the cheek too. Harry touched the spot with his hand.

In fifth year, she gave him so many relationship advice with Cho, not to mention she did seem a bit jealous about it though… Even Cho thought there was something going on with Hermione and him! Then there was her, “You probably should’ve mentioned how ugly you think I am too” statement.

But… I don’t think you’re ugly…

She wanted me to say that! Now there’s this new ordeal with her telling me that the girls don’t talk about me because they think I’m taken… by her! Now she’s dragging me down the hall by my index finger.

I never knew Hermione’s skin was so soft…

“You following Potter,” she said in a sort of way a mother would say it. “Or do I have to carry you the rest of the way?”

Oh please do!!!

“I’m good Hermione,” Harry answered. “You can let go of my finger now.”

Then again maybe you shouldn’t… you know you like it…

He and Hermione had already come to a stop by her private Head Girl room.

“Go to your room, get changed, and wait for me outside here,” she ordered. “Then we can go meet Ron and Luna.”

“Can’t I change in there with you?” Harry teased. “I promise I won’t look…”

He could have sworn that Hermione blushed along with that smile.

“Why would you want to look at something ugly like me?”

“But, I think you’re pretty,” said Harry with a lopsided grin. He felt the same familiar nervousness run through his body. “Remember what I told you?”

“Remember what?”

“Back in fifth year?” Harry urged. “I told you that you weren’t ugly.”

Hermione seemed to be in thought, but smiled a second later to show that she had remembered.

“Oh Harry, you’re as bad as Ron.”

“Am I?” said Harry quietly.

“Well… no you’re not…”

“As I recall, that’s exactly what you told me last time,” said Harry. “What do you mean by that?”

Hermione didn’t answer. “It‘s nothing… it’s just that you’re the first guy to say something like that to me.”

“Is that so?” said Harry, looking bemused. “Not even Krum?”

“Funny you would think that,” she said sadly, “but he never did…”

Harry frowned and decided not to push the subject. He came close to her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and gave her a sideward hug (her books hugged to her chest were in the way, not to mention, he wanted to be as subtle as possible.) Her pressed his body into hers, giving her a firm hug. It felt wonderful.

“You’re beautiful to me.” She had no idea how much he was patronizing her.

“Thank you…” she said nervously, as if not knowing how to take a compliment. Harry leaned his head in close to her ear.

“So did that buttering up change you decision on my offer to change in there with you?” Harry whispered teasingly.

“Sorry Harry,” she smiled. “You aren’t authorized to do something like that.”

“When will I be!?” he said, acting like a child when he knew he going to receive a gift of some sort.

Hermione shrugged, took herself out of Harry’s hug, and opened her door. “Bye Harry.”

She entered her room, closed her door behind her, and Harry ran to his room to change.

Chapter 3 - Hermione’s Story

Harry wasn’t surprised that he was the first one to arrive in front of The Great Hall. Knowing Hermione and Luna, they were going to be a little longer than usual; not like Lavender and/or Parvati late, but still longer than one would think. He carelessly paced back and forth a few times with his hands in his pockets, getting more and more impatient.

Harry yawned, leaned his right shoulder against the wall, and crossed his arms. The breeze, which blew through the corridor once in a while, plastered against his face, making him close his eyes.

“Harry?” said a voice, very close to his right as he felt a gentle tap on his back. He shot his eyes open and gyrated his head around. He could have sworn he had his eyes closed less than a minute, but that gentle breeze in his face probably made him go into a slight sleep; he hadn’t even noticed Hermione’s entrance.

“Wake up sleepy head,” she whispered. Suddenly, she cupped one of Harry’s cheek in one hand and kissed him on the other side. Not only did Harry feel a great deal of joy, he prayed that Hermione didn’t see or feel the heat rise in his face. What is it that she was doing anyway? Could it be that maybe… possibly… she could…

Like me too?

“Tired?” said Hermione, smiling up at him. Harry starred at her.

Hermione’s hair was down, and it cascaded just below her shoulders in soft curls. She didn’t seem to do anything particular to style it, but for some odd reason, it looked breathtaking. Her Muggle clothes were out of the ordinary; her white v-cut blouse and her denim skirt were something that he had seen her in before, but seeing her this time around was intoxicating.

“Where’s Ron and Luna?” she asked, failing to notice Harry’s stared look.

We don’t need them. Lets go on our own.

“Oh! Um…” said Harry, gathering himself and blushing. “They should be down here any minute now.” He then noticed two silhouettes moving from over Hermione’s shoulder.

There was Ron and Luna, walking hand in hand toward them.

“There they are,” said Harry pointing behind her.

He was right; Luna was clearly at least half the height of Ron. It was no surprise, as she was one year behind the three of them. It wasn’t that it mattered or anything, it was just one of those things that everyone knew them by, kind of like some sort of boyfriend-girlfriend signature. Harry sniggered.

“Quiet Harry!” she whispered, just as Ron and Luna came to a half right in front of them, still hand in hand.

Ron was the first to speak.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Luna took forever and she commanded that I wait for her.” Hermione grinned.

Ron always said that he was in total control of the relationship and he “runs supreme”. His rosy cheeks and slightly heavy breathing was a dead giveaway that he and Luna were in some sort of kissing session a few moments ago. Luna looked as if she hadn’t done anything remotely significant in the past few days. It made people wonder just who exactly wore the pants in this particular relationship.

“Hello Harry,” Luna greeted, in the same spacey tone she always did. “Hello Hermione.”

“Hi Luna,” they said at the same time. She kept looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione quite a few times.

“Is something wrong?” inquired Harry.

“Oh nothing,” she said, in a way that there was something going on. She started to hum something that sounded awfully like ‘Weasley is Our King.”

There was a long silence between the four of them, only the humming coming from Luna.

“Shall we go then?”

***

Hogsmeade was the same as it had always been since the first day the trio wandered in ecstatically in in their 3^rd year. Since it was fall and winter was approaching around the corner stores were of course plastered with “Christmas Sale” signs everywhere. Harry’s insides trembled

Christmas had always been his favorite time of year. Not so much because he got gifts from everyone (though that WAS an essential part) but because it was a good time to show people how much he loved and cared for them. In this case, showing Hermione how much he loved and cared about her.

He felt the heat rise in his face as the thought about professing his love for her as soon as he gave her something she had always wanted. He thought about how she would react and jump in his arms and cry out in happiness and confess that she too felt the same way about him.

Wouldn’t that be buying her love…?

Nah, not in this way. He would get her something out of the goodness of his heart and expect nothing in return (except maybe a kiss) whether or not she did feel the same way about him. The question was, what?

“Hey Harry? You ok over there mate?”

Harry had to blink a few times to remember where he was or what he was doing. He was so caught up in his day-dream that he didn’t realize Ron was talking to him.

“Um yeah I’m… I’m fine…” he stammered.

“You don’t look ok Harry,” said Hermione, as a second opinion. “Are you sick?”

Harry shook his head but took the opportunity to memorize how beautiful her face looked when she worried about him.

“Well I said,” said Ron looking back over at Harry, “that Luna and I are going off on our own for awhile.”

“Is that all right with you two?” said Luna, almost in a sing-song manner.

DEFINITELY!!!

Harry and Hermione gave each other a look.

“Sure Ron,” said Hermione smiling slightly. “We don’t mind.”

***

“Where we going?” asked Harry as the pair of them wandered off into the opposite direction of Ron and Luna. Hermione didn’t answer but he followed her down an alley that Harry had not went into before, but looking at the complete calmness on Hermione’s face told him that she had been here before many times.

Harry’s eyes went wide. He could definitely tell why he had never walked down this alley and why Hermione liked walking down here so much. There were pink and red decorative things all over the place; on stores, on people, and some even on the stony floor. It reminded him sickly of Professor Umbridge’s office in fifth year.

“What do you want to do?” Harry asked as they suddenly came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the alleyway.

“I don’t know,” said Hermione, slightly frowning. “Well I suppose we could buy them their Christmas gifts…”

As far as Harry could remember, Hermione had never associated herself with places or things that Lavender Brown would squeal over. The only time he had ever seen her come close was at the Yule Ball. It wasn’t that he didn’t see her as a girl, it was that because of her isolation from the typical girl look and the uniqueness and independence she had made her all the more special for him to like; he hoped she wasn’t going soft on him either.

“Since when did you ever like stuff like this?” he asked Hermione, staring at a few Ravenclaw girls apparently getting excited over what looked to be like lipstick of some sort at an outside booth. “I hope you aren’t turning into another Lavender.”

Hermione wasn’t listening, she was staring starry-eyed at something behind Harry.

He turned around to find a very peculiar-looking jewelry store. It was odd, most of the stores in the alley were decorated with flamboyant colors; this was the only store that looked normal. Hermione walked past Harry and up to one of the display windows; he followed her.

The display was filled with many types of jewelry, from watches, to pearl necklaces, to earrings, to rings, and even a shiny looking rosette. They all looked very expensive.

Harry followed Hermione’s gaze; he realized that she wasn’t looking at any of the jewelry at all, but at the center of the display, which stood a small picture of an ordinary-looking necklace with a round silvery pendant.

“You brought me here to see this?” said Harry bewildered.

“Not purposefully,” said Hermione. She sounded like she was trying to hide some sort of sadness.

“What is it?”

“It’s silly really,” she said pathetically. “You’ll laugh at me.”

“You think so?” said Harry softly. Hermione looked at him, bit her trembling lip, and shook her head.

Harry could have hugged her right there; she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“I’ve wanted that necklace since I was a little girl,” explained Hermione looking back at the picture. “My mom said I was too young to have something very expensive.”

Hermione’s bottom lip trembled again. Harry in response put a comforting hand on her back.

“When I was finally old enough to have it,” she continued, “the company that makes them had stopped production. I missed it by a few months.”

“What magical properties does it have?” asked Harry curiously. Surely something Hermione wanted so badly must’ve have a great magical thing about it.

“Nothing,” said Hermione apathetically. “It’s an ordinary necklace.”

Harry frowned.

“That pendant is actually a locket, made to hold a picture of someone. I wanted it to have a picture of my mom and dad, so that they would be close to my heart when I was away at school. They were the only two that really cared about me. At school I was made fun of, laughed at, and persecuted for getting the highest marks in class. I felt that having that necklace with me would give me a sense of strength and courage. I especially wanted it when I found out that I was going away to Hogwarts, but my mom said that I was still to young and by the time I was allowed to have it…”

She broke off, closed her eyes and a tear silently ran down her face.

“Hermione…” said Harry comfortingly, finally embracing her in a hug. He felt a great sense of admiration toward her.

Harry had thought that she was talking about Hogwarts before hand, remembering how everyone thought her to be mental, including himself. She was treated so bad at first at Hogwarts, he couldn’t image how she was treated at her Muggle school. He held her as Hermione sobbed into him.

“You and Ron were the only ones that accepted me for who I was…” she continued her voice muffled by Harry’s shoulder. He honestly didn’t know what to say to her. She was already making him tread in dangerous waters, Harry could have bared his heart and soul at any moment…

“Thank you Harry,” she sniffled, backing away from him. Her eyes were a bit puffy and red, her face wet with tears. Harry took the initiative to wipe her face.

“Thanks…” she sobbed, then turning back toward the picture.

“It was an empty space there,” she said, motioning toward the picture. “The store just needed it to fill up space in the display.”

Harry could tell by the way she said it that she had already been inside to ask about it. It made him feel very sorry for her, knowing that the picture was there, as if it was teasing her.

“Come on,” said Harry, putting an arm around her. “Let’s go back to the castle. I’m sure Ron and Luna won’t mind.”

Hermione anxious, but nodded and dragged along beside him.

It felt so good to have her in his arm like that, with her helpless and vulnerable. Still, after all that emotion, he couldn’t think about what he was going to get Ron and Hermione for Christmas….

A/N: I am really sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been so busy with the stress of college that I really can’t find time to write. But don’t worry, I haven’t given up. Just… moving slowly. (Remember how JKR said that bout OotP?) And I’m also getting really excited about PoA movie, so many things to happen and so many things to see. I especially love that scene where Harry is sitting on a rock and Hermione is kneeling in front of him in the snow. ABOSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!!

Oh yeah… and I’m calling it now!!! Emma Watson is going to be a complete hottie when she gets older!!!