"Running away?" Dudley smirked.
"No." Harry leaned down and picked up a smooth flat rock, "skipping rocks."
"I know you're up to something."
"Why don't you go back to watching your TV?"
"There's nothing on right now and besides, my parents want to see you back at the trailer to make sure your not getting yourself into trouble."
"Fine." Harry said throwing the rock as hard a she could into the lake. He casually picked up Hermione's backpack and set one of the straps on his shoulder.
Harry slumped back to the forest path six paces behind Dudley and in silence. Dudley had ruined his moment with Hermione. He had almost kissed her; he had been waiting for that moment for a long time. Now he was being forced to wait even longer and he would have to muster up the courage all over again. Harry never felt more frightened in his life.
What if she wont let me? What if she doesn't like me that way? She wasn't expecting it this time, but next time she'll know what I'm doing.
Dudley slowed his pace down enough for Harry to catch up.
"Your acting weird." Dudley mumbled.
"That should be normal to you." Harry smirked.
"You know what I mean."
"No, I don't."
"You're wearing a pink backpack."
Harry felt a shiver go up his spine. He never stopped to think how stupid he would look with Hermione's pink backpack slung over his right shoulder.
"Its my friends backpack." He admitted.
"Stop pretending that you have friends at that freak school of yours."
"I'm wearing a pink backpack to get in touch with my feminine side, believe what you want, I don't care!"
Harry stormed off into his tent and cautiously placed Hermione's backpack on his sleeping bag. He wanted to make sure not to break anything.
What does she have in here?
It was fairly heavy, but Harry knew that Hermione always carried around a handful of books. He smiled remembering how excited she had been to receive the book Theory of Numerology from him last year at Christmas. His heart pounded as he ran his fingers along the zipper line.
I can't do this. These are her private things.
Harry took one last glance at the backpack and left the tent. Temptation was very powerful and Harry longed to see what Hermione might have inside as his mind danced with different ideas and possibilities. He took a deep breath of the hot air and decided it was his turn to surprise Hermione with something to eat.
Hermione sat by the campfire with two things on her mind. The first being Harry and the second being her backpack. How could she have been this careless? She should have just run back and grabbed it, but deep down she knew there was no chance. As soon as she disappeared into the trees she heard Harry's cousin's voice. When she returned to her campsite her mom had questioned her about the whereabouts of the backpack.
"Hermione, where's your backpack dear?"
"I, uh, err," she hated lying to her parents who's smiling faces sucked up every word which came out of her mouth. " I left it by the lake where I went to do my homework."
"Someone might steel it."
"I hid it and I'm going back there later today."
"Hermione, we don't want you wandering around by yourself in the dark." Her mother said sternly.
"Mum, I, I need to."
"Hermione Jane Granger, you will do no such thing while you are living under our roof!"
Hermione took a deep breath and bit her lower lip as her mind raced to find a good excuse.
"Its, for my astronomy class. There's eeerr, a star that can only be seen from that angle. I promise to be careful mum and I wont be back too late, honest."
"Okay Hermione. Just this once. I'm letting you go because I trust you."
Those three last words stung as her stomach flip flopped and she was sure that "guilt" was written all over her face.
Her breathing quickened at the thought of Harry rummaging through her things. She wouldn't have cared if she wasn't hiding anything from Harry, but she was. Her deepest emotions, thoughts and feelings were all carefully written down and were now in danger of being exposed. She closed her eyes as she felt them water and rested her long slender fingers on her lips where Harry had almost touched them with his own lips. She shook her head. She was being stupid; he wasn't going to kiss her. She had only wished it so much that she was starting to believe that he had the same feelings for her as she had for him.
Harry rolled up a blanket and placed it next to a bag, which contained the picnic dinner. His face lit up at the thought of Hermione's surprised face and her glowing almond eyes. There was still plenty of time before sunset but Harry didn't have much to do and he wanted everything to be perfect. Harry set off back to his tent to retrieve Hermione's backpack and to grab his jacket in case it would cool off too much without the presence of the sun. He was a couple of steps away from the tent entrance when he heard noises. A large figure was casting a shadow from the inside of his tent and Harry reached instinctively for his back pocket where he kept his wand. Harry pushed the tent flap open, jumped inside and pointed his wand at the figure before him.