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document.write(''); chapter twelve: Flight

Hermione sighed contently. Harry had some grand secret surprise to show her, and so that meant that he didn't want her to see anything until they got there. Which naturally meant that he had to keep one hand over her eyes and another on the small of her back to guide her. Which meant that, for the last few minutes, she'd been constantly touching Harry. It was nice, and surprisingly not as awkward as she might have feared. There was something different about Harry tonight; it was like the long lost boy who lived in the cupboard had emerged and was frolicking rather recklessly. It was nice.

"Swear you can't see anything?" Harry inquired, his tone mischievous.

Hermione smiled. "Honestly, Harry, I can't see a thing. Are we almost there?"

"Just a few more seconds...there!"

With a grand flourish, Harry's hand was gone from her eyes. Hermione blinked once or twice to steady her gaze, then realized she was standing at the entrance to an elaborate Muggle fair of some sort. This was definitely not what she had expected.

And suddenly, Harry was self-conscious again, and he was plunging a hand through his dark hair. "We don't have to stay, but the Dursleys never let me go with them and I thought it might be kind of fun--"

"It's lovely." Hermione said, smiling at him.

They had scarcely made it inside before Harry was being distracted left and right. It was obvious that he hadn't been lying about never being in a fair before; he was so enthusiastic that he was acting like one of the Creevy brothers. "Look, that man's blowing fire out of his mouth! Ooh, Hermione, can we go on that ride?" His eyes widened into two emerald green saucers. "Cotton candy!"

Hermione opened her mouth to inform him that it was nothing but sugar that would rot away at his teeth-she had been raised by dentists, after all-but melted under the boyish excitement on his face. "Try the blue kind," she suggested, "it's my favorite."

"I'll be right back!" Harry assured her, rushing over to the stand.

Hermione smiled fondly after him. It had been so long since she'd seen Harry that happy...in fact, if she was being honest, she could admit that she had only seen Harry that carefree a handful of times in her life. It made everything better somehow. The world was a better place when Harry was happy.

"Waiting for someone?" a deep voice inquired.

Hermione turned to see a tall greasy fellow smiling at her with a leering sort of smile. She could almost tangibly feel his eyes raking over her, and she took a step back uncertainly.

"My friend," Hermione said, "he should be back in just a moment..."

The boy took another step closer to her. "I wouldn't let you out of my sight if you were my friend. Come on, ditch the bloke. I'll show you a good time..." He reached for her as though to make good on his promise.

Hermione felt an arm slip around her waist, and when she looked over, Harry had appeared miraculously at her side, cotton candy forgotten. He pulled Hermione protectively toward him, glowering at the other boy. "Is there a problem, Hermione?"

"Oh, no," Hermione said quickly, not able to keep the relief from her voice, "no problem at all..."

She leaned her head up against Harry's shoulder and allowed him to guide her away. When they were gone, Harry stopped and looked down at her. "You all right?"

Hermione nodded. "Thanks for rescuing me...my knight in shining armor." She batted her eyelashes at him for good measure.

Harry grinned at her. "Well, you're the one who told me I had a complex about saving people."

"You do have a complex about saving people," Hermione reminded him.

Harry's face sobered suddenly. "I didn't save you, though. Not when it really counted."

Hermione forced a smile, though her heart was aching for him. "I'm here now," she said softly, squeezing his hand.

But she could see that Harry was still troubled, and she didn't want to ruin such a lovely evening, not when he'd been in such a good mood. Impulsively, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to a nearby door. "Come on!"

They entered a dark, virtually abandoned building. Harry looked around in wonder. "What is this place?"

"It's called a fun house," Hermione informed him. She stopped him in front of a mirror. "Look."

Harry's head was nearly twice the size of his body, and his large green eyes were especially magnified, rather resembling Professor Trelawney. He laughed. "How does it get to be so distorted?"

Hermione grinned at him. "Distorted? That's what you always look like to me, Harry..."

"Oh yeah?" He grabbed her and placed her in front of an adjacent mirror. Her stomach was suddenly three times its normal size, bulging most unflatteringly. Harry snickered. "You look like Aunt Marge..."

They proceeded to hop in front of the various mirrors, sometimes together, sometimes separate. By the time they had reached the other door, they were both doubled over in laughter, tears gathering in their eyes.

Hermione leaned up against the side of the building, trying to catch her breath. "I actually looked pretty good in the last one," she joked. "My, ur...chest was a lot bigger than usual."

Harry grinned at her. "They must have switched that mirror with the Mirror of Erised--"

Hermione swatted at him, though she couldn't help but laugh. "Harry James Potter, I hope you aren't the sort of boy who only likes a girl because she has a nice body."

He shrugged, eyes mischievous. "Every red-blooded guy appreciates the female form, Hermione."

"I'm doomed to be a spinster then," Hermione said, sighing melodramatically.

Harry shook his head. "Don't be silly, Hermione. You know you're..." He stopped, looking suddenly embarrassed.

Hermione felt a flush rising to her own cheeks. "I'm what, Harry?"

He cleared his throat, then glanced over his shoulder. "Look, Hermione, there's the Ferris Wheel. Let's give it a go!"

Taking her by the hand, he half dragged her over to the ticket booth. Hermione looked at him uncertainly. "Harry, I've always hated heights..."

"Come on, Hermione," Harry pleaded, meeting her gaze. "For me?"

Oh, Merlin, this boy was going to be the death of her.

To Hermione's chagrin, they virtually zipped through the line and were boarding the ride before she could think of a plausible excuse to back out. In a matter of moments, they were chained into the little compartment and were rising off the ground.

Hermione dug her nails into her palms before it was too much to bear, and then she frantically buried her face into Harry's shoulder. "Tell me when it's over!"

Harry laughed. "Come on, Hermione, it's not that bad..."

The ride came to a sudden and screeching halt. Hermione whimpered. "What is it? Did we crash?"

"They stopped the ride," Harry informed her. "They do that every so often."

She snorted. "And of course they just HAD to do it when we were stuck at the top, didn't they?"

"Hermione..." Gently, Harry lifted her face from his shoulder and motioned to the night sky. "Look at the view. And look how bright the stars are tonight. It's beautiful up here."

Taking in a deep breath, Hermione ventured to look out into the night air. She gasped. Harry was right-it was beautiful! Terrifying, but beautiful nonetheless. Wonderingly, she turned her gaze to him. "Is this what it's like to play Quidditch?"

Harry nodded. "It's a whole different world up here, Hermione."

She understood what he meant. Watching him play Quidditch was always like watching someone else. There was no Voldemort to contend with up there, no Snape or scars or anything else. He was just a boy doing something that he loved.

When she looked up at Harry again, she realized with a start that he had been watching her. He looked away, suddenly embarrassed, and an awkward silence stretched out between them.

"I'm glad to have you back, Hermione." Harry said softly. "I missed you."

Hermione smiled crookedly. " I wasn't dead for that long, Harry."

"Too long." Harry countered. "Besides, I meant before that, too. It seems like ages since it's been just the two of us."

*Because of Ginny*, Hermione thought, and tried to push the thought aside. She liked Ginny-she really did. But could she love Harry as much as Hermione did? Did her heart pound the same way whenever he came into view? Did her skin tingle the same way at his touch?

Hermione realized that she had been silent for too long; Harry was looking at her with evident concern. "Are you all right, Hermione? I didn't...upset you, did I?"

She shook her head quickly. "No, Harry, I just...I missed you, too."

They were very close to one another now, and he was looking into her eyes, and there were butterflies in her stomach and sweat on her palms and it seemed as though he was leaning forward and that their lips would be touching at any second now...

The Ferris Wheel came back to life, and they were moving once more. Harry jerked back, leaning up against the side of the box. "Guess we're running again," Harry said.

Hermione didn't reply, just gazed glumly at the lights below.

***

When they arrived back at the Burrow, the lights were already out and it was apparent that everyone was already asleep. As they reached the foot of the stairs, Hermione turned to Harry quickly and smiled at him. "Thanks, Harry, that was really fun." She hesitated for a moment, then kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight!"

Harry watched her as she ran up the stairs, his hand stealing up to his cheek where she had kissed him, lingering there. He stood there for a moment, lost in thought, then turned to head into the kitchen. He felt suddenly and inexplicably ravenous.

To his surprise, Ron was standing in the living room, watching him in the shadows. Harry started then shook his head, clutching at his chest. "Geez, Ron, you scared the crap out of me. What are you doing there?"

Ron didn't move. "Did you and Hermione have a fun time then?"

Harry frowned at him, somewhat discomfited at Ron's tone. "Yeah, it was loads of fun."

"Where'd you go?"

Harry's frown deepened. "A Muggle fair." He stepped closer to his best friend. "Ron, what's going on? Why are you sitting here in the dark?"

Ron shrugged. "Just waiting for you guys to get back. Since I didn't get invited along, I thought I might as well get to hear about it."

So that was it. Harry let out a sigh. "Sorry, Ron, we didn't mean to exclude you. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." He smiled at Ron, searching for understanding in his face.

Ron didn't smile back. "I thought it was going to be different when she came back. I thought we'd be the trio again."

Harry frowned again. "Honestly, Ron, we weren't going behind your back or anything. Things have just been kind of hectic since Hermione came back. We'll all hang out again-tomorrow even. We can go on a picnic or something."

"That's not what I meant!" Ron snapped, his brows furrowed. " I don't care that you two hung out tonight. I don't even care that I've barely gotten to spend any time with her since she came back."

Harry was at a loss. " Then what's the problem, Ron?"

"When Hermione died, you changed." Ron informed him. "We used to be best friends, all three of us. And I thought that if anything happened, we'd always go on being friends. But you stopped being my friend as soon as she died. And I thought that if she came back, things would be the same. We'd all hang out again and be the Trio and everything would be all fine and dandy. But it's not the same. It's you and Ginny or it's you and Hermione or it's Hermione and Draco, but what about me? Where do I fit in?"

" I'm sorry, Ron," Harry stammered. " I never meant to make you feel this way."

Ron sighed, relenting a bit. " I know you didn't, Harry. But that's just the thing. Nothing's the same anymore, and I don't know what to do. I just don't know what to do."

He sighed again, staring down at his hands. "Listen, just forget I said anything. It's been a long night, that's all. Mum and Dad were fighting all through dinner. But things will look better in the morning."

With that, he turned and trudged up the stairs. Silently Harry watched after him, frowning.

***

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A/N: The fair scene was inspired by 'East of Eden', a great old flick starring James Dean. Hope you enjoy it!