PART 8
Harry yawned as he awoke. He was lying on his side and Hermione's arm was draped over him and she was snuggled closely to him. "Mione, wake up," he whispered. He knew her parents would be coming to get them in about an hour and thought they both ought to change. He turned over to face her. "Wake up," he urged softly.
Her brown eyes fluttered open. "Hi, Harry," she said. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she should have a different reaction to waking up in a bed with her arms around Harry. How was it possible to so quickly ease from best friends to bed-mates? Or was it being best friends that made the transition easy?
"I thought you might like to take a shower before we went out tonight," Harry said. "You can go first," he added quickly less she think he was suggesting they shower together.
"Good idea," she rolled onto her back. A shower would certainly make them both feel better after such a long trip. "I suppose you're going to nap again while I'm bathing?" she accused good naturedly.
"Yeah, probably," he answered. Hermione got out of bed, opened one of her suitcases and found an outfit to wear that evening. As she walked by the bed, she leaned down to give Harry a kiss on the forehead. "Miss me while I'm gone."
"Of course I will," he smiled up at her. Had anyone else touched his forehead he would have been greatly annoyed. It seemed that every hour he was realizing another thing that applied to Hermione, but not the rest of the world.
Left alone, Harry's thought turned back to Sirius, not that Sirius was ever far from his thoughts. Yet, Hermione was distracting him from the constant torment he'd faced just a few days prior. He didn't think he'd ever be able to thank her enough for getting him away from the Dursleys. He wanted to do something really special for her. He thought of the way she held him as he cried and the way she had said she loved him. She had no idea what it meant to him to be loved and to be loved by her.
Harry took a shower and changed after Hermione. By the time her parents knocked on the door, both looked and felt refreshed. They followed her parents to the elevator which they took to the lobby. They had decided to eat at a restaurant in the hotel rather than venturing into the city. The Grangers had to be up early to go to their convention.
"How long will you be in meetings tomorrow?" Hermione asked as they waited for their food to arrive. Despite Harry's resistance, the Grangers had insisted that they would indeed pay for his meals and the entire hotel bill. They had even given him quite a bit of cash to spend with the promise that they'd let him pay them back in galleons for Hermione when they visited Gringots again. It did not take long for Harry to realize that money was not an issue for Hermione's family.
"Oh, all day, honey. And there's a dinner party afterwards, so you two will be on your own all day tomorrow. We probably won't even see you, but do leave us voice mail to let us know if you go somewhere and just to check in, okay?" They had given Hermione a cellular phone to use to contact them.
"You watch out for my little girl, Harry," John added giving a protective look at his daughter.
"I always do," Harry answered. "We look out for each other." They were sitting in a rounded booth which had them almost secluded from the other patrons. The lights were kept low and there were small lanterns on each table.
"Hmmm," sighed Jane. "It seems there have been plenty of adventures that Hermione hasn't told us all about," she gave a knowing glance to Hermione. "But, don't worry. We'll drag it all out of the two of you by the time this trip is over."
Harry and Hermione met each other's eyes. Even though Mrs. Granger sounded like she was joking, he wasn't sure how funny her parents would find it if they knew that Harry's friendship had put Hermione in danger every year. Of course they knew that she had been petrified in second year. That was unavoidable. But did they know that she was targeted because she meant something to Harry? Would they be so gracious if they knew how dangerous he was? Harry started to feel depressed again as he recounted in his mind their many misadventures.
Hermione seemed to pick up on his depression instantly. "Hey, Harry, remember that time when Malfoy insulted Ron's mother and you stood up for them, so he tried to hex you but Professor Moody turned him into a ferret?"
A smile appeared on Harry's face as he pictured a bouncing white ferret. By the time they had told the entire story to the Grangers, their food had arrived. Hermione steered talk of their school adventures to things that could be laughed about in retrospect, like the disappearing bones in Harry's arm or anything else related to Gilderoy Lockhart. By the end of the evening the Grangers were commenting on how much fun it must be to attend Hogwarts.
"We had no idea," John laughed as he pictured a bogart Professor Snape in a dress. "From the way Hermione studies all the time, we thought we might as well have sent her to Oxford."
After they finished their meal, the two couples returned to their rooms. Exhaustion crept upon them more quickly than they would have thought it would after their nap, so Harry and Hermione changed into their night clothes and returned to their bed. It was an unspoken understanding that they would be sharing one.
"Thanks for tonight," Harry said, stroking her cheek.
"What do you mean?" she asked. She gazed into his eyes, no longer covered with his glasses.
"Talking about good times," he answered. "So often when I think of school, I think about all the danger we've been in through the years and what's to come next. Thanks for reminding me why Hogwarts is my home."
They kissed, enjoying each other but making no attempt to take things further. Harry respected Hermione too much to move too fast and there were certain lines that their honor would not allow either of them to cross.
"This is nice," Harry told her, pulling the cover over them. "I could get use to this."
Hermione snuggled against him, "I already am," she answered.