Unofficial Portkey Archive

Something To Talk About

Chapter One:

Twenty-year-old Hermione Granger sat peacefully in her flat drinking her morning tea and reading the Daily

Prophet. She was engrossed in the recent article about magical creature rights, the reporter-Lavender

Brown-was supportive of them getting the fair treatment they deserved.

"I guess all those years of hearing me rant about it paid off." she said to herself. She smiled and turned the to

the next page and gasped. There were several small pictures of her and Harry eating lunch in a cafe in

muggle London, one of them leaving Fred and George's shop in Diagon Alley, and one large picture of the

two friends hugging outside of her book store.

"Oh, come on! Not another one," she muttered to herself, and began to read the short article about them.

The boy-who-lived, or as we call now call him, The-man-who-defeated-he-who-must-not-be-named was

spotted with his long time friend and recently new girlfriend, Hermione Granger. We spotted d the couple

having a romantic lunch in muggle London and then the two sharing a quick embraces before Miss

Granger returned to her bookstore `Book Worm'. We could not get a statement from the couple but a

reliable source told us the two have just recently expressed their feelings to each other after years of

denying it.

- Cho Chang.

"When will these people learn that we are just friends!" she muttered furiously.

She slammed the paper on to her table and quickly left her flat for work. She knew it was going to be a busy

day after this paper and she couldn't leave Ginny there alone.

*****************

"Chang! I'm so sick of her!" Harry yelled. "I can't believe she would write that!"

" I know mate," Ron said watching his best friend pacing in front of him. "I guess she never got over you."

Ron, who had been sharing a flat with Harry for over a year already, paused for a moment and remembered

Harry and Cho's brief relationship during his fifth year.

"That was over five years ago! I didn't know what I was doing! How can she still think Hermione and I are

more than friends?"

" I don't know. Most people can't accept that your friendship with Hermione is totally platonic."

" That's ridiculous! They don't make a big deal about you and Hermione being friends."

" I'm not the boy-who-lived." Ron said walking in the kitchen for something to eat. " Or the

man-who-defeated-you-know-who."

Harry followed his friend into the kitchen and sat at the table " If you weren't there that night I wouldn't of

defeated him."

Ron smiled at him friend and began foraging through their empty cupboards for some food.

" I know mate," he said pulling out a bag of slate chips and sitting across from Harry. " Don't let it bother

you. They are just getting desperate now that there aren't any more attacks and Quidditch season is over."

Harry sighed and looked at the pictures again. " I wish they would just leave me alone. It looks like I will

have to disguise myself again."

Ron looked at his friend. He felt bad for him and for once was happy he didn't have that kind of fame. He

was mad at himself for being so jealous of him during school. It wasn't Harry's fault he was famous. Ron

can still remember all the times Hermione yelled at him for being a jealous prat, it took him seven years to

understand that, but once he did, their friendship was almost as good as Harry and Hermione's. He knew

they would never be that close, and he was fine with that. No one could break their bond, and he knew that

they both cared deeply for each other. He just wished they would admit they did have feelings for each other

so the rumors about them wouldn't upset them as much.

"I was going to see Ginny at work today. Do you want to come? You might be able to sneak up and talk to

Hermione about the article."

"I don't know. I should talk to her, but I don't want people to see me there, it will just keep the rumors

growing."

"Harry, why do you always forget you have an invisibility cloak?"

Harry laughed. "I haven't used it since seventh year."

"Well I think it's due time you pulled it out from retirement."

Harry nodded and ran to him room to grab his father's old cloak and Ron and Harry made their way to

Diagon Alley to visit Ginny and Hermione.

Hermione ran down the stairs of her flat and entered the back room of her shop.

" Ginny?" she yelled. " Are you here?"

" Hermione? I though it was your day-off." Ginny asked

" It is. Did you by chance catch Cho Chang's latest article?"

" No. I stopped reading the paper when they though that I was dating Snape." Ginny said gave an

involuntary shiver.

Hermione giggled. "I remember that. At your graduation you fell off the platform and he caught you.

Someone from the prophet was there and took the picture the next day it made the headline news.

`Teacher-Student Relations at Hogwarts," she finished with relish.

"Please I just ate!" She shivered. "And don't remind me of it. I still get people coming in here asking me

how he is. Its absolutely revolting!" She said as she began to restock a pile of books. " So what did the

wonderful Ms. Chang say today?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and handed Ginny that article. Ginny quickly scanned the article and began to

giggle.

"You two look so cute!"

"GINNY!" Hermione yelled putting her hands on her hips.

" Relax, Hermione," she said putting down the article and returned to replacing books. " Its not a big deal.

This isn't the first article about the two of you."

" I know." Hermione said helping Ginny placed some books on the shelf. " I just wish they would leave

Harry alone."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at her friend and sighed. "They never will."

"I know. It's just not fair. He's been through so much and he deserves to lead a normal life."

Ginny smiled. "We all wish he could have one, but you know that impossible," she said putting down the pile

of books and walking towards the door.

"Now let's just forget about the article and get ready for one hell of a day," she said turning the closed sign

to open and unlocking the door.

" You're right. At least we got some free publicity." Hermione said and took her place behind the counter.

After several hours of non-stop customers Hermione managed to take a ten-minute break away from the

questions everyone was asking her.

How long have the two of you been together? Why did you hide it? Is he a good kisser? When are you two

going to get married? How many kids do you want? What do you parents think about him? Is he good in

bed?

Hermione's head was pounding. Never in her life has she been asked so many questions and not have the

answer for it. Hermione made her way up to her flat and find something for the headache. She walked

straight into her small bathroom and rummaged through some bottles until she found the right one. She

quickly swallowed the chalky tasting medicine and instantly felt the pressure being relieved from her head.

She walked back into the living room and instantly felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She wasn't

alone and she knew who it was.

" I know you're here Harry," she said turning around trying to locate him.

"I could never pull one by you," he said teasingly pulling the cloak off of him.

Hermione smiled. "Never can and never will," she said loftily with a smile, sitting down on her couch next to

him.

" Hermione, I'm sorry about the article." he said placing his arm around her shoulder.

" Don't be. It's not a big deal Harry."

" You're not upset?"

" I am very upset, but I can't let it bother me and you shouldn't either. We know it's not true."

" I know," he said with a half smile. "I just wish they would leave me alone."

"I wish they would too, but we know they won't," she said laying her head on his shoulder.

Harry smiled pulled her into a hug. He loved the way Hermione felt in his arms. She was so warm and

comforting. He always felt safer when she was around, she could always make all the bad stuff go away.

Hermione pulled away first. "I should get back down there and help Ginny. Did you see everyone down

there? All of them were asking about our so-called `relationship,'" she let out a good-natured laugh.

"Honestly, some of those girls asked the craziest questions!"

"I can only imagine," he said with a smile. "Would it be okay if I stayed up here until you close the shop? I

don't want to weave my way through all those people again. Oh, and I thought we could go to the Burrow

together. That is, if you are still going to dinner."

"Of course I am. Molly wouldn't let me miss one," she said as she got up form the couch. "Make yourself at

home, okay?" she said as she turned to go down the staircase.

"Sure, see you later!

Harry heard the doorknob close with a click and he stretched out on her couch and smiled. He always did

feel at home when Hermione was around.

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