Here's a little story I'm doing based on a challenge by elephants_winterfresh. It's about the gang going camping for the weekend. Hope ya like!
Chapter 1
The Dursley's telephone rang throughout the house.
"Harry, grab that will you?" Petunia Dursley said absently as she had her hands elbow deep in flour.
Harry, who was sitting at the kitchen eating a cheese sandwich, looked at the ringing telephone and then at his aunt. "The telephone?" he asked dazed. They hardly ever allowed him to answer the phone, due to the fact that he was "abnormal" and were afraid he would slip that out to anyone important.
"Yes," she huffed in annoyance. "I'm quite busy at the moment and you know your uncle and Dudley are off on a trip. Now, hurry before they hang up."
Harry shot out of his chair and grabbed the phone on the wall. "Er…Dursley residence."
"Pack your bags."
"Huh?" he asked and looked at the phone briefly before putting it back at his ear.
"I said pack your bags."
His heart lifted at the familiar voice of his best friend. "Hermione?"
"Of course it is...who else would it be?"
"Hermione, what's going on?" He asked ignoring the small snort that escaped from his Aunt. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes, yes, everyone's fine. Dumbledor is giving us a weekend treat," she informed him.
Harry blinked. "Come again?"
"He's been working all summer on it. He's treating us to a weekend, since all of us have been through so much. He wants us to have at least one weekend to enjoy ourselves. No magic, no Death Eaters or Dark Lords. Just friends hanging out and being one with nature."
"Um…one with nature?"
"Ever been camping, Harry?"
"Camping?" he asked as he started to get excited. "No, of course not, but…is it safe? I mean, Voldemort's still…"
"Relax, Harry it's Dumbledor we're talking about here. He put some big time protection around the campsite, no one is going to find us and besides…you know I'm a worrier and even I'm cool with it."
"Well…that is true," he agreed. "Wow. A whole weekend with just us? No grown ups?"
"Nope. Course, I'm sure he thought of some way to keep us guarded, but we're not suppose to worry about it."
"This is so what I need right now."
"I know. You need this more than anyone. Now, my parents and I will pick you up at around eight tomorrow morning. We're meeting the rest of the gang at a local gas station. Tonks is bringing them."
"Fantastic. I'll definitely be ready to go. Thanks, Hermione."
"See you tomorrow!"
Harry hung up the phone and let out an excited whoop before flying out of the kitchen.
At seven forty-five the next morning, Harry was all packed and raring to go. His trunk was left in his room for Lupin to summon it to Grimmauld Place, since they were headed there after the trip. He had a bag full of clothes flung over his shoulder that would last him through the weekend. Harry sat in the den as he waited impatiently for Hermione to get here.
"You all ready to go?" Aunt Petunia asked as she walked into the den dressed and ready for the day.
"Yes, thanks for letting me go."
"Please. Now with you gone I have the whole house to myself for a few days."
The doorbell rang and Harry flew up and tried not to run to the door. Harry opened the door and it only took one quick look up and down to notice how she looked. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, rather than her slightly wavy bushy hair. He normally saw her in the school uniform and if not that maybe jeans. However, today she wore shorts. Really short denim shorts that showed off her long legs, which seemed to go on forever. She had on a white ribbed tank top that swooped dangerously low and sneaked him a tiny peak of her cleavage. Not to mention her tank wasn't long enough so he got a nice view of her midriff. In one second he took all that in and now she had thrown herself at him in a full-blown hug. Well dangit, his best friend went and got hot on him. He definitely had his work cut out for their last year. Guys would be drooling. At least he had Ron to help pry them off.
"Oh it's so good to see you!"
Harry shook himself out of his funk and returned the hug "It's great to see you!"
She pulled back and beamed. "Well let's get going. We have an hour drive ahead of us."
He nodded. "Okay. Bye Aunt Petunia!" he yelled and then closed the door behind him, then followed Hermione to her parents suburban.
It was going to be a great weekend.
The Grangers car was so jam-packed full of stuff, that the backseat only left enough space to barely cram in Harry and Hermione. "What's all back here?" Harry asked as they tried to adjust their shoulders so they weren't squished together like sardines.
"I was in charge of getting a lot of the stuff," Hermione said. "The tents are back there, I brought three of them, plus some sleeping bags and a cooler with food."
They were still awkwardly moving as they talked but Harry finally got frustrated. "Here," he said as he lifted his arm so Hermione could have more room. "Just lean back against me, it'll be more comfortable," he mumbled as he propped his arm behind her.
"Thanks," she said and stiffly leaned back against him so that Harry's chest was her backrest. "That's much better," she said finally relaxing against him.
"Yeah," he agreed and accidentally took in a whiff of her hair when it casually brushed his lips. It smelled really good. Almost like a mixture of vanilla and sunlight. He cleared his through and turned his head away to look out the window. You're not supposed to be noticing how good your best friend's hair smells, get a hold of yourself Potter.
After about ten minutes of silence, Hermione tilted her head up and back so she could look up at him. "By the way," she whispered so her parents couldn't hear. Harry tilted his head down all the way until his ear lined up with her mouth. "Just letting you know…we're going to have to share a tent."
He snapped his head back up and stared back down at her. Now their mouths were inches apart and he could feel her breath fanning his lips. He could smell a hint of mint and wondered if she had been sucking on a candy mint earlier. "Huh?"
Hermione cupped the back of his neck and pushed him back down to his ear again. "Draco and Ginny are going to want to share one…so are Ron and Luna. That leaves us."
He felt the heat rising up to his cheeks. "Oh," he croaked. "Oh..okay." He was going to share a tent with Hermione? Wouldn't that be…awkward? Wait, why was he freaking out? They slept close together before. There was that time in third year when everyone had to sleep at the Great Hall and she was right there next to him He didn't think anything of it. Or the time they had fallen asleep on the couch while they were cramming for their potions final. Colin had found them the next morning and was kind enough to take a picture of them.
They had been sitting on the couch side by side; the book they had shared was laid out on their laps and Hermione's head had slumped to his shoulder and Harry had his head tilted back against the couch. The only harm in that was, when Ron thought it would be funny to put the pictures up all over the common room. Ron was the one that was harmed due to Hermione's fury. He smiled when he remembered the picture of Ron dangling upside down in the air as Hermione threatened him to take all the pictures down. So yeah…he had nothing to worry about. They were just close friends.
"Harry? Harry?"
"Huh? Sorry what?" he asked shaking out of his daze.
"I asked if you were all right with that?"
"Oh…sure of course," he said shrugging it off. "Not a big deal, it's just you."
"Oh," she said quietly. "Well. Okay then." She then turned back around and leaned back against him.
Harry frowned at the tone of her voice. She sounded upset. Did he do anything to hurt her? He opened his mouth to comment but closed it a second later. Better not. He did however want her to be happy. "We're going to have a blast, Hermione," he said as he let his arm propped on the back seat drop to her shoulders.
Hermione smiled up at him as he gave her a friendly squeeze. "We sure are."
They shared a happy grin and Harry returned to his window gazing. He couldn't wait to start acting like a normal teenager. I wonder what it will be like?