Author's note: I know this chapter is a little on the short side, but I promise to make up for it in the next chapters. You can hold me to that! There are a couple of lines from the novel that this story is based on that I used in this chapter…couldn't resist…they are really good lines. Again, I highly recommend that you guys read that book "Just Friends" by Robyn Zisman…very good book.
Chapter Eight
Ron to the Rescue…Again
When Harry returned that evening from visiting with Ron and Luna, Hermione had long since been asleep. To Harry's relief, she'd been alone. Truth be told, he had felt foolish that evening when he'd returned home and passed her closed bedroom door. Logically, he knew Hermione wasn't the type to sleep with someone on the first date, but he didn't know what sort of sneaky, smarmy tricks that Stefan would try on her. So, he'd hesitated only a moment before cracking the door open just a little to check that she was indeed home, asleep, and alone. She had been all three and he couldn't have been more pleased and relieved.
And although he now knew how he felt about her, he wasn't in any hurry to tell her. For one thing, he was afraid of looking like complete idiot. Hermione wasn't just some girl he could feed a couple of lines to. She wasn't someone who would fall for the old Potter charm. He couldn't be "fake" with her even if he tried. Another thing that had him more afraid than he'd care to admit was that she wouldn't return his feelings. He kept having this vision of confessing his feelings to her and having her roll her eyes and say "Honestly, Harry!" If this went horribly wrong, their friendship could be irrevocably damaged. That was something he wasn't willing to risk until he had some clear idea of how to flesh out how she felt about him.
There had been times, of course, when he'd thought that she might have some sort of feelings for him. That whole thing with Sabrina, when she'd walked in on them kissing. He had seen the look in her eyes and he hadn't seen her look that hurt in quite some time. But, why was she hurt? That Harry would have so little respect for her that he'd go at it with another woman when she could come home at anytime? Or, Harry liked to think, was it because she didn't like the thought of him with another woman anymore than he could stomach the idea of her with another man.
In the past few days, he'd revisited that moment they'd shared at the restaurant. On the dance floor, he had been about to kiss her. If that wanker Stefan hadn't interrupted them, Harry would have kissed her. The look in her eyes and on her face when he'd leaned in hadn't been one of disgust or disbelief. She had leaned in too, Harry remembered. Then, he'd argue with himself about how he may have just remembered the facts of that night as he wanted to, not as they really were.
So, on the following Tuesday, he was no where near coming up with a solution than he'd been before. Worse than that, he'd seem to have lost the ability to communicate coherently when she was in the room. This had made for some awkward, embarrassing conversations between them. Truth be told, they hadn't had much time together in the past few days. Hermione had been assigned a huge case and she'd put in extra hours at the Ministry to do research. So, whenever Harry was home, Hermione was out and vice versa. Harry felt his cheeks redden when he remembered the conversation he'd had with her last night when he'd bumped into her in the hall as she was heading toward her bedroom and he was heading downstairs to watch some television.
"Hello, stranger," Hermione joked as she smiled warmly at him.
Harry laughed nervously and was fidgeting.
"Long see no time," he mumbled.
Hermione stared back at him nonplussed.
"What?'
"I-I mean it's been a…long time," he managed to choke out. "Since we saw each other and all."
Hermione nodded and gestured toward the two large tomes in her hands. "I hated to do it, but I had to bring these books home with me. I just couldn't stand looking at the same four walls of my office another second."
Harry nodded dumbly at her.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said a little too quickly. "I'm just going to head downstairs to watch a little telly before bed."
Hermione nodded and watched as Harry headed in the opposite direction from the stairs and toward his bedroom.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?" he asked, turning around.
"I thought you were going downstairs?"
"I am," Harry said with a shrug.
"But downstairs is that way," she said, motioning with her head to the staircase behind her.
"Uh-huh," Harry managed to say before walking back into his bedroom and closing the door behind him, but not before seeing a very confused Hermione staring after him.
Thankfully, tonight was Trio Tuesday and Harry was feeling both nervous and excited to see Hermione. She'd left a note for him this morning saying that she had to work late, but that she would show up at O'Malley's. Harry arrived at the usual time and wasn't surprised to see Ron was already there at the usual table.
Harry couldn't hide a smile as he saw Ron looking hungrily at the plate of steak and chips that was set before him.
"Nice of you to wait," Harry said, taking a seat opposite Ron.
"I haven't eaten since lunch," Ron said defensively. "And if your girlfriend has anything to say about it, I'll tell her to stuff it because I am tired of defending my eating habits with you lot. It's bad enough I had to do it with my mum and now with my wife that I have to deal with it from you two as well."
"I didn't say anything!" Harry said, motioning for the waitress.
Ron didn't reply and simply took a bite of his food. Harry ordered a drink and a sandwich and tried not to laugh as Ron happily tucked into his food.
"So," Ron said, taking a break.
"So?"
"Did you tell her yet?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head. "I haven't had a chance."
"You live with her," Ron said, staring back at him in disbelief. "Her room is four doors down from yours. How hard would it be to knock on her door and say, 'Mione, I love you and want to be with you always and forever'. You know that romantic rubbish that girls eat up."
"I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before," Harry said sarcastically. "I didn't realize that was all I had to do."
Ron chose to ignore Harry's comment. "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't said anything to her yet?"
"I haven't had a chance…I already told you that."
Ron snickered and put his fork down and shook his head in amusement at Harry.
"Okay…okay…let me get this straight. You can defeat You-Know-Who and countless number of dark wizards around the world, but telling your best friend that you love her…"
"Terrifies me," Harry finished.
"Why?" Ron asked. "Come on, Harry. I would be willing to bet my entire week's wages on her having the same feelings for you."
"It's not that easy," Harry retorted. "You act as if I can just walk up to her, kiss her, tell her I love her and we live happily ever after. It doesn't work like that."
"I know it doesn't work like that," Ron shot back. "But if you keep doing what I think you're doing, you're going to talk yourself out of it and miss out on the best thing that's ever happened to you."
The waitress came back with Harry's drink and smiled warmly at him, but he didn't even notice. She exchanged a shrug with Ron before walking off.
"I just have to wait for the right time," Harry said determinedly.
Ron was about to reply when Hermione breezed in and sighed as she sat down.
"You look awful, Mione," Ron said, with his mouth entirely full of steak.
Hermione's skin was pale and her hair was in a sloppy plait, but Harry didn't think she looked awful at all…just tired.
"And your table manners are excellent as always," Hermione deadpanned.
Ron glared back at her, but Hermione turned to Harry. "I'm sorry I missed you this morning. I thought we could have at least had breakfast together, but I received an urgent owl this morning and I had to leave for the office straightaway."
"It's okay," Harry said, shrugging. "Did you finish up?"
She was about to reply, but the waitress came up to their table just then to take her order. Hermione quickly rattled off a request for a diet soda and a BLT sandwich before looking back at her two best friends.
"Sorry about that," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Yes, Harry, I did finish up."
"I thought you would have been a little happier about it," Harry said.
"I am," she said with a slight smile. "But, I have that wedding to go to this weekend."
"Who's getting married?" Ron asked.
"My cousin Rachel," Hermione said, a pained expression coming over her face.
"Rachel?" Ron asked, trying to remember where he'd heard her name before. He snapped his fingers as the recollection came to him. "Was she the cousin that tore up your entire set of encyclopedias when you were six?"
Hermione exchanged a look with Harry. "How is it that you can't remember the crucial ingredients for a forgetfulness potion, but you remember that my cousin ruined one of my favorite Christmas presents?"
Ron shrugged and tapped his forehead with his index finger. "Selective memory."
Harry took this as his cue to step in before another row erupted between his two friends. "So, Hermione, when do you have to leave for Rachel's?"
Hermione groaned. "Thursday evening. The wedding is Saturday but they're having a bunch of parties that I am obligated to attend as a member of the Granger family."
"Not taking Stefan with you?" Harry couldn't resist asking. He hadn't quite gotten up the courage to ask her about how the date went with him until now.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Good heavens, no. What would give you that idea?"
"Well," Harry stammered. "You seemed to have a nice time on your date the other evening. I figure you could ask him to tag along…"
Hermione shook her head. "He's a nice bloke and all, but there weren't any sparks. Besides, I wouldn't subject him to that branch of the Granger family. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."
"You okay going to this by yourself?" Harry asked.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Not really. It would be nice to have some other source of moral support other than my parents, but they think Rachel's great so I guess I'll be flying solo."
At that moment, Harry felt someone kick his shin hard under the table. He winced and looked at Ron who was raising his eyebrows at him.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, concerned.
Harry nodded, but looked angrily back at Ron. "Yeah, just hit my knee on the, um, table leg is all."
"Ouch," Hermione said sympathetically. "I'm just going to pop over to the loo. I'll be right back."
Harry nodded and waited until she was out of earshot and line of vision before returning the favor to Ron. Ron yelped as Harry's foot connected with Ron's shin.
"Hey!" Ron exclaimed. "What did you do that for?"
"I could ask the same of you," Harry shot back.
"Again, I'd be concerned if I were you, Harry, because I'm the one who is seeing the obvious," Ron answered matter-of-factly. "Usually, you have to beat me over the head so I'll get the point. Never thought I'd see the day when it'd be you and Hermione."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.
"That wedding, of course," Ron said.
"What about it?"
"You should take Hermione," Ron said simply. "You'd be alone with her and you'd be there for her at a time when she's going to need you most. You're practically guaranteed at the least a good snog if you do this."
"Do you think so?" Harry asked.
Ron nodded enthusiastically.
The more Harry thought about Ron's idea, the more he liked it. He would be able to spend some quality time alone with Hermione in beautiful, beachfront Brighton. They'd get to talk and he could start to suss out if Hermione might feel the same way about him as he did about her.
"She's coming back now," Ron said, peering over Harry's shoulder to where Hermione was striding toward them. Ron pushed his chair back. "I'll leave you to it. Don't say anything stupid and you're in with a chance, Harry. I'll be back in a bit."
Harry watched as Ron walked away and then a few seconds later Hermione retook her seat.
"Where'd Ron go?" she asked, taking a sip of her soda.
"He wanted to check in with Luna about Katie," Harry said quickly.
"It's so good to see you," she said with a smile. "It feels like we've been two ships passing in the night lately. I've missed you."
She reached over the table and patted his hand affectionately.
"I-I've missed you, too," he said softly, enjoying the feeling of her hand on his.
"So how are things in the big, bad evil chasing business these days?" she asked.
He laughed. "You know, you catch one bad guy…there's still a load left to catch."
She giggled, but she quickly turned serious. "Harry, I've been worried about you lately. You've been a little out of sorts lately."
He felt his cheeks redden a little bit. "You're being polite. I figure I've been a lot out of sorts lately."
"You should take a vacation," she said leaning forward in her chair. "You're always working these days. You should take a few days off and just…be."
He couldn't believe how easy she was making this for him. She had just provided the opening he'd needed. With a deep breath, he looked over at her with a grin.
"Funny you should mention that," he began. What he was about to say wasn't exactly the truth, but he knew if he asked Remus, he could get the time off. Just the other day, Remus had mentioned the same thing about Harry needing to take some time off.
"I, um, have some time off this weekend," he said.
"And you'll have the house to yourself," she said. "I'll be out of your way."
"Hermione…you're never in my way," he said genuinely. His eyes locked on hers and Hermione felt that familiar feeling she always got in her stomach when Harry focused solely on her.
She blushed. He looked away and tried to collect his thoughts and say what he was about to say without sounding stupid.
"The thing is that I don't have any idea what to do with myself with that time off and I heard that there was this nice wedding in Brighton," he said with a sideways glance at her.
Hermione couldn't believe what she'd just heard come out of Harry's mouth. He couldn't actually be asking to take her to Rachel's wedding, could he?
Harry started jabbing her arm repeatedly with his finger. "I've had a brilliant idea!"
"Stop doing that," she said with a laugh, swatting his hand away.
"Listen," he said, pulling his chair closer. "You want someone to come to this wedding with you, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"Someone respectable…good-looking…"
"Yeah," Hermione said slowly.
"Preferably male…someone you like," he said pointedly. "Someone that wants to pay you back for the millions of times that you've saved his sorry arse?"
He looked at Hermione and raised his eyebrows at her as if the answer was obvious.
She looked quizzically at him. "You'll have to narrow it down for me…"
He looked affronted for a moment, before Hermione burst out laughing. "Harry, don't be stupid."
"Why is that stupid?" he asked, his face falling.
"Because you go to a wedding like this with your boyfriend," she answered. "Which I don't have at the moment."
"Rachel doesn't have to know that," Harry said simply.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"I could pretend to be your boyfriend in front of this Rachel person," Harry replied.
"Okay, that's just sad and desperate," Hermione said. "Besides, I wouldn't subject you to Rachel. I already said I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy and you are as far from my worst enemy as could possibly be. You're my best friend, Harry."
Harry took her hand. "And you're mine, Hermione. I want to do this."
"You really want to spend your weekend gazing at me adoringly and holding my hand and whispering sweet nothings in my ear?" she asked skeptically.
As a matter of fact, I do.
"I think I could handle it," Harry said, smiling at her.
Hermione felt a tingle through her entire body at the way he was smiling at her and at his touch.
"I want to help you, Hermione."
"I would totally understand if you didn't want to do this, Harry," Hermione said quickly. "You are under no obligation to do this because you feel like you owe me for something. If anything, it's me that should be paying you back. You've given me a place to live and a shoulder to cry on."
Harry tightened his grip on her hand. "You've done so much more for me…you don't even realize how much. Let me do this for you, Hermione."
For an awful moment, he thought she was going to turn him down, but he saw a smile playing on her lips as she met his gaze.
"You're on," she replied.