Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: These stories are all one-shot, 1000-word responses to the Summer Writing Series Challenge, so each one is not related to the next.

Summer Writing Series Challenge (July 15)
Challenge: Single Story Week: Harry/Hermione travel somewhere together
Challenge Conditions: Each day we'll post a challenge topic as usual, but each consecutive day you will continue your story from the day before...and on Friday you'll have a 6000+ word story that flows from beginning to end and includes each of the daily challenges as given.
Title: Quidditch and Quills (Part 4)
Word Count: 1,000

They neared the edge of Hogsmeade and Harry's mind was in a whirl. Hermione was just a few steps away…Hermione, his best friend who had a crush on him. He suddenly had a whole new load of thoughts and emotions to sort through. And now that he had this knowledge of her feelings for him, what was he supposed to do with it?

"Ginny," he asked timidly. "What…err…what should I do now? I mean, I can't just say, 'Hey Hermione, Ginny told me you had a crush on me so let's go out,' can I?"

"Nooo!" Ginny exclaimed quietly with wide eyes. "Please don't let her know I had anything to do with it. She knows so many more jinxes than me…I'd be in hospital for a week!" she said with a grin.

"So what then?"

"Just be yourself, Harry. It'll be hard, but try not to act any differently around her. Just watch her, and you'll see what I meant about signs. You'll be able to figure out when it's the right time to make your move."

"But how?"

Before Ginny could answer, they were interrupted.

"Harry!" they heard Hermione call. Harry looked up and saw her waving at him to hurry up. "Harry, come on!" she called with a big smile.

He looked over at Ginny with a bit of trepidation. She just grinned and nudged him. "Go on," she said quietly, but his expression was one of extreme uncertainty. "It's only Hermione…your best friend…and nothing more or less until you make your move. Now go!"

He smiled weakly at Ginny and said, "Thanks," then ran off to catch up with his classmates.

"Ron and Neville want to go to Zonko's first, but I need to go to Scrivenshaft's," Hermione said as they walked onto the high street. "So if you want to go with them I'll meet up with you in a bit."

A little voice inside Harry's head told him to go on with the boys and avoid being alone with Hermione just yet, but he mustered up his best Gryffindor courage and ignored it. "I'll go with you," he said a little more forcefully than he intended in his attempt to quiet the voice.

"Oh," Hermione said, a bit taken aback, but then she smiled. "Okay, then. Do you need some supplies?"

"Err, no…not that I can think of." Was she suspecting something already? He was beginning to feel a bit paranoid…maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. What if she figured out that he knew about her feelings? But he knew he was overreacting, so he just smiled back at her. "I just thought you'd rather not go alone."

"Thanks," she said sweetly.

Harry looked over at Ron, who was smirking slightly.

"Meet you in the Quidditch shop?" he asked the two boys.

"Sure," Ron said. "See you then." He and Neville went on their way, leaving Harry alone with Hermione.

"I won't be long," she said, leading the way to Scrivenshaft's. "I just wanted to get some ink for my new quill. Normal ink works okay, but not as well as it should. I suppose there's some special kind for it," she added with a shrug.

"That's odd," Harry said. "Why wouldn't it work with normal ink?"

"I'm not sure. It's just comes out a bit faded looking. Maybe the shop owner will know."

As they talked and walked along the high street, Harry watched her. She just seemed like typical Hermione to him; nothing out of the ordinary. How was he supposed to see any signs? He was starting to think that Ginny was a bit off her rocker when Hermione stumbled over a small hole in the street. Harry grabbed her arm and put his hand on her back to steady her.

"You alright?" he asked with some concern.

She blushed a little and laughed. "Fine. Thank you."

Then he saw it. A slight twinkle in her eye that sent shivers down his spine. It was so subtle, how was he supposed to have seen it before?

"Here it is," Hermione said as they reached Scrivenshaft's, and Harry opened the door for her.

They entered the store and heard the tinkling of the bell on the door. Hermione approached the counter and began talking with the lady who greeted her, and Harry wandered around looking at the different items on the shelves.

"Interesting," he heard the shop owner say. "I believe this is a Carbon Copy Quill."

"What does it do?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they come as a pair. When they are set up, whoever has the other quill to go with yours gets an exact copy of whatever you write."

Hermione gasped. Harry walked up to the counter and stood by her side, even more intrigued by the mysterious quill now.

"So if she writes out a term paper, someone somewhere else gets a copy of her homework?" he asked.

The shopkeeper nodded. "Homework, love letters, to-do lists, diary entries…anything you write."

Hermione's face went white.

"It does take a special ink to work properly, though. Shall I get it for you?"

"No," Hermione started with a horrified expression. "I don't…"

"Yes!" Harry interrupted. "Please."

The lady toddled off to get the ink and Hermione turned to Harry. "I don't need any ink," she said a bit harshly. "I'm never going to use this thing again." She dropped the quill onto the counter as if it had just bitten her.

"I know," he said, picking the quill up and pocketing it. "But maybe if we get the ink, we can find out who sent it to you."

Hermione frowned, but then nodded. The shop owner rang the order up and the two left to meet Neville and Ron at the Quidditch supply shop.

"When did you say you got the quill?" Harry asked as they passed Gladrags Wizardwear.

"An owl brought it to me in my dorm this morning," she said, her brow furrowed in thought. "I didn't recognize the owl, and now that I think about it, it didn't look like one of the school owls."

The reached the Quidditch shop and Harry looked in the window. "I don't see them here yet. Want to go to Honeyduke's?"

"Okay," Hermione said, clearly still deep in thought.