~*A/N>Here's the second part of their summer before third year. I don't know how it happened, but this chapter is much longer than the last. There was just so much I wanted to put into it; I hope you like it, and thanks for reading!!
That summer became hell on earth for me. My Aunt and Uncle continued to work me day and night; I never had any time to
myself. On top of that, Hermione didn't write to me at all. I felt completely lost as to what to do to make her
understand why I did what I did. Every day as I worked my ass off, I would think about her and wonder what she was
doing at that moment; was she talking to Ginny, working on her summer homework, or was she spending all of her time
with Ron, confiding in him like she used to confide in me? That thought made me sick to my stomach.
One day while I was washing dishes, Dudley came into the kitchen and watched TV as he stuffed his face with food. There had been a breaking news story about an escaped convict named Sirius Black, who supposedly was armed and dangerous, and was last seen near Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia had come into the room and heard the news; she started twittering about, telling Dudley to be careful because we wouldn't want the mean old murderer to get him. If only I were so lucky!
Uncle Vernon had come into the kitchen shortly after, looking around and noticing that I hadn't finished the dishes yet. He walked over and grabbed my arm, painfully tightening his hold on me. "I told you to get those dishes done quickly boy; I have to pick up Marge and I want this house to look perfect when I get back. Now finish those dishes and take out the garbage!"
I just nodded my head in understanding, which of course wasn't good enough for my Uncle. "Did you hear me?!" he had yelled in my face, wrenching my arm. I grimaced as pain shot through my upper arm where he held me. "Yes!" I had said a bit too forcefully; looking back, I knew what he had wanted me to say, I just didn't want to say it. I was really stupid back then.
"Yes? Yes what?" he asked, his hand still gripping my arm painfully. "Yes sir" I had said angrily, feeling the hate for my Uncle double. After his little power trip, he left to pick up Aunt Marge, who was unfortunately going to visit for the next five days. I just hoped she didn't bring her psychotic dog with her.
Uncle Vernon had returned two hours later with the evil woman in tow. There was no love lost between her and I; she felt I was a horrid juvenile delinquent and I thought she was a mean old hag. We proceeded with dinner and I suffered through her snide comments and nasty remarks. Finally it was time for me to clear the table and do the dinner dishes; I was in the kitchen when Marge started in on my parents.
The things she said about my parents made my blood boil. Who did she think she was? I tried, I really tried not to say anything, but she said something horrid about my Dad and that did it. "Shut up you stupid cow!" I had yelled, and the lights flickered behind me as I felt a rush of magical energy flow through me. I watched as Aunt Marge's body started to bloat, filling up much like a balloon would. I just stared, unable to comprehend that I was the one doing that to her. She just kept getting bigger and bigger, rising up off of the ground the more she filled with air. I watched as she floated out of the open doors that led to the backyard, still frozen where I stood. Uncle Vernon ran out after her, trying to catch her before she floated away, with no luck. Aunt Marge sailed off into the sunset, or should I say floated.
Breaking out of my trance, I ran upstairs to pack my trunk before Uncle Vernon came back in. I knew he would be livid with me for using magic in his house, especially to blow up Aunt Marge. As I packed and ran back down the stairs, I almost made it to the front door before I felt his vice like grip on my arm again.
"Where do you think you're going boy?" he had asked, his voice unusually calm for being so angry. "You think you can blow up my sister like a balloon and then run away to escape punishment?" He yanked me into the living room and I knew then that I was going to pay dearly for what I had done.
When I gained consciousness some time later, I found myself locked in the cupboard under the stairs. I tried to move and almost screamed as my body was racked with pain. It hurt to breathe and I knew I had a broken rib or two. I could feel how swollen my face was; I didn't need a mirror to know my Uncle had done one hell of a job on me this time. I just lay there, feeling sorry for myself as I thought over everything that had happened today. I was probably in trouble for using magic; I wondered if an owl had already brought my letter from the Ministry.
I heard the lock on the door being undone and curled myself into a ball the best I could, fearing that Uncle Vernon had come back to continue his punishment. I heard the door open and I barely opened my eyes, only to see Dumbledore standing there. "Professor?" I asked in a raspy voice.
"Yes Harry, it's me. I was alerted to underage magic being used in your house. Unfortunately, I didn't get here in time to stop your Uncle from harming you" he said, his eyes lacking the usual twinkle they held. I heard him muttering to himself and I heard him say something about first Hermione and now me. "Harry, I'm going to take you out of here. You've spent enough time with your relatives this summer."
Dumbledore pointed his wand at me and said "immobulous!" and I felt my body freeze in a lying position. He then said "wingardium leviosa" and I floated up off of the bed. He carefully maneuvered me out of the tiny cupboard and walked, with me floating behind him, to the fireplace. I didn't see any sign of my relatives, and I lay there wondering if Dumbledore could have done anything to them. He gently set me on the floor as he brought the fireplace to life by saying "infernous!" and I watched as green flames erupted inside it. He levitated me once again, and taking a small pouch of floo powder out of his pocket, walked into the cool green flames. Taking a little of the powder into his hand, he threw it down and said "the Burrow!" We were going to Ron's house, where I would finally see Hermione again.
I was in the sitting room, reading "Hogwarts: A History" when the fireplace erupted to life, scaring me since I was so immersed in my book. I looked up to see Professor Dumbledore walking out, and the prone form of...Harry?! I got up quickly from my chair and made my way over to them; when I saw Harry's face I started to cry. He looked like I had when I had come here, only much worse. Both of his eyes were turning black and I was amazed they were open at all. "Professor, what happened?" I asked.
"His Uncle" he had replied, and just those two words were enough of an explanation for me. I reached out and gently caressed his cheek, forgetting that I was angry at him for the moment. I knew exactly how it felt to be treated like this and no one, especially Harry, deserved it. Dumbledore started to walk up the stairs with Harry still floating behind him, when he stopped and said "Could you go get Molly for me?" Nodding my head, I ran to the kitchen to fetch her straightaway.
I found her cleaning dishes in the kitchen, and as soon as I told her what had happened, she hurriedly made her way upstairs. She kept muttering to herself about how first it was me and now Harry, and how could any human being treat children this way. I loved her like my own Mum at that moment. Actually, probably more than my own Mum; at least Mrs. Weasley tried to protect me and take care of me as much as she possibly could. I stood by the door to Ron's room where Dumbledore had taken Harry and watched as the two waved their wands over him, trying to see just how much damage had been done. Molly was crying and cursing Harry's muggle relatives all the while. I just stood there watching them perform many healing spells on all parts of Harry's body.
Ron walked up behind me, and when he saw that I was upset asked "what's going on? Why is everyone in my room?"
"It's Harry" I had said "it seems he's been hurt by his Uncle." I didn't want to say anything more because I didn't know how much Harry wanted Ron to know about his life with his relatives. I wasn't like Harry; I kept my promises, and I had promised to never tell anyone just how bad he had it with the muggles.
"What do you mean, his Uncle hurt him?" Ron asked. I just stepped to the side and motioned for him to take a look at Harry. I realized he had seen our friend when I heard his sharp intake of breath. "Bloody hell" Ron said, staring in disbelief at the sight of his best friend lying motionless on his bed. We sat watching as the two adults worked on him, it took them almost half an hour to perform all of the healing spells on Harry, and he still looked horrible.
Dumbledore sighed heavily as he stepped back from the bed, looking Harry over from head to toe. "I'm afraid that's all we can do for now" he said "there's nothing we can do about his black eyes; they will have to heal on their own. Why don't you two sit with him until he wakes up? I gave him something to make him sleep for a little while and he should wake up in about fifteen minutes." Ron and I nodded our heads in agreement and stepped aside so that he and Mrs. Weasley could leave the room. They were walking down the stairs and I heard Dumbledore mention something about 'Aunt Marge', whoever that was. I followed Ron in and sat in one of the chairs that the Professor had conjured for us. We sat there quietly for a couple of minutes, just watching Harry and wondering what had happened to him. Ron broke the silence as he turned to me and asked "are you still mad at him?"
I turned and stared at him for a moment before saying "yes I am. Please don't ask me why because I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Ok" he had said, looking away from me quickly. "You know you can talk to me, right? I know I can be an insensitive prat sometimes, but I am a pretty good listener."
I smiled at him, glad that he cared so much about me. "Thanks Ron, that means a lot." He smiled and grabbed my hand, surprising me. He just sat there, holding my hand like it was a normal thing to do and a part of me liked the feeling of my hand in his. But there was this other, bigger part of me that was screaming for me to yank my hand away. I ignored that part and we just sat there like that, holding hands and watching Harry to see when he woke up.
I watched as Harry's eyelids started to flutter and I knew that he was waking up. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, looking around in confusion until his eyes landed on Ron and I. He smiled as he looked at me, and then he looked down and noticed our conjoined hands. The smile had dropped off of his face immediately and he just closed his eyes again and lay back against the pillow.
I had woke up, feeling as if I'd been run over by a truck, and pried my eyes open. I looked around the room, confused by all the orange before my eyes, before I saw Ron and Hermione sitting by me. I smiled, glad to see my friends again, until my eyes traveled downwards and I noticed that they were holding hands. Feeling sick to my stomach, I closed my eyes and put my head back down on the pillow, suddenly wishing that they would leave me alone.
"How are you feeling mate?" Ron had asked, sounding way too cheery for my liking.
"Fine" I had bit out, feeling anger start to overwhelm me. "Where's Dumbledore?"
"He's downstairs with Mum" Ron said "do you want to talk to him?"
"Yeah, could you get him for me?" Ron had nodded his head and left the room. I listened as his footsteps faded down the stairs and I looked at Hermione.
"How are you really?" she asked, as if I had lied to Ron.
"I just said I'm fine" I said, a little too snappishly. I glared at her, feeling all of this anger inside of me, but I didn't know why I was so angry with her.
"You know, I'm the one who should be angry with you" she said, sounding haughty. I just looked at her, I wanted her to stay with me and talk; but there was another part of me that just wanted her out of my sight.
"Yes, I know; I'm a horrible tattle-tale and you're mad at me because I told Mrs. Weasley, which from what I heard saved your ass!" I felt like someone else had taken over my body. Where was all of this coming from? Hermione sat staring at me wide-eyed, a look of disbelief on her face. "Why don't you go tell Ron all about it and leave me alone?"
"W-What are you talking about Harry? Yes, I'm mad at you for breaking my trust in you, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see you anymore." She looked at me with tears in her eyes; bloody hell, I am such a prat sometimes.
"I tried to explain to you in my letters; you know, those letters you refused to answer? I know I swore I wouldn't say anything, but I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Where the hell did that come from? I slowly sat up in bed, and as I did, Hermione got up and propped the pillows behind me so that I could sit up comfortably. Instead of sitting back down in her chair, she sat next to me on the bed.
"I'm sorry Harry; I know I should have written back to you, but I was so angry. I was blaming you for everything and I shouldn't have." She grabbed my hand and started tracing circles on the back of it with her thumb. Her touch was sending chills and warmth through my body at the same time, if that was possible.I was so confused by what I was feeling; I just wanted my friend back.
"I'm sorry Hermione" I said, looking her straight in the eyes "I should know, better than anyone, how you might have felt. But he was hurting you; I couldn't bare the thought of you going home with him alone, especially after he twisted your arm the way he did." I looked at her, pleading with my eyes for her to understand, and held out my arms. "Do you forgive me?"
She sat looking at me, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She slowly leaned forward and carefully wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me. "Of course I do" she whispered, sending a chill down my back. Damn, why was I reacting this way? I held her like that for a little while, loving how she felt in my arms. She pulled back slowly and placed a light kiss on my bruised cheek. I looked at her, staring straight into her beautiful brown eyes, and started to lean forward. I continued to stare into her eyes, getting closer and closer to her. Nose to nose now, I gathered all of my courage and leaned in, gently placing my lips on hers. I could feel the pressure of her lips on mine, letting me know she was kissing me back instead of pulling away. She had such soft lips, and I continued to let my lips linger on hers.
Someone had started to walk up the stairs, and she quickly pulled away from me. She placed her hand to her mouth, her fingers resting on those luscious lips I had just kissed. The look on her face was pure surprise; I had hoped it was good surprise. She stood up quickly from the bed, still looking at me as I started to say "Hermione..."
"I have to go" she said while she walked backwards slowly towards the door and then turned, almost barreling over Dumbledore in the process. "Excuse me sir" she mumbled, and then disappeared out of sight.
"Did I interrupt something?" Dumbledore asked, sounding amused.
"I have no idea" I answered, while I stared at the place she last stood.
I ran to Ginny's room, my mind racing faster than my legs at that moment. What was wrong with me? I had just kissed my best friend when just minutes before I was holding the hand of my other best friend. This summer was really starting to mess with my head. I flopped down face first onto my bed, my mind going over everything that had just happened. What was I doing, trying to ruin two great friendships in one afternoon? I ended up falling asleep where I lay, exhausted from a very confusing and emotional day.
The next day, I woke up with a pounding headache. I went downstairs and asked Mrs. Weasley for something to get rid of my headache, and she handed me a small vial with a bright blue potion in it. I drank it down quickly and felt the pain start to ebb away. I turned around to sit at the table and noticed two pairs of eyes staring at me. Harry sat there with Ron next to him, watching me as I sat down across from them.
"Where did you go last night?" Harry asked, making me uncomfortable.
"Yeah, why did you disappear like that?" Ron asked, making me even more uncomfortable.
I knew Harry wouldn't have said anything to Ron, so I looked at them and said "I just got really tired last night and went to bed early." They both sat staring at me for a moment longer; Ron seemed to buy my story, but Harry knew better.
"Harry was just telling me about Sirius Black" Ron said "supposedly he's some escaped murderer that Dumbledore says is after him."
I looked at him, shocked by this news. "Why is he after you?" I asked.
"He's the one that betrayed my parents; they were best friends and he was their secret keeper. He told Voldemort where to find them" he said, his eyes holding sadness and anger that probably only I could see. "He was sent to Azkaban the night my parents died; he killed Peter Pettigrew, another friend of my Mum and Dad. He's escaped Azkaban and now Dumbledore thinks he's coming after me, to kill me for his Master."
"What else did Dumbledore tell you?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"Just that I'm going to stay here for the rest of the summer; he feels I'll be safe here." He sat watching me again; the way he was staring at me, it made me feel like he was trying to see into my soul.
We continued to spend time together that summer, we would work on our homework and I watched as the boys flew on their brooms and passed a quaffle around. Ron started acting uncharacteristically nice around me; we didn't fight much anymore, which seemed strange to me. Harry acted the same, but it seemed like we touched whenever possible; he would walk by me and brush against my arm as he passed, if we were talking, I would place my hand on his arm and we just generally touched each other whenever possible. It was a bit unnerving; it seemed my relationship with my boys was changing.
The day of Harry's birthday rolled around, and Molly was in full mothering mode. She had invited a bunch of people over for a surprise party for him. She had baked a huge cake and had made all sorts of food. She had taken me shopping in Diagon Alley so that I could get Harry a present. I had ended up getting him a necklace; I knew that he'd never worn one before, but when I saw it I couldn't resist. It was a silver chain that had a pendant on it that was a Griffin, which was also silver. The Griffin's eye was a ruby, which was appropriate since I found out that it was the birthstone for July, and one of the colors of Gryffindor. I was afraid he wouldn't like it, so I decided to give it to him when we were alone.
The party had been in full swing and everyone was there; Hagrid, Professor McGonagall and even Professor Dumbledore had showed up for a couple of hours. Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan, student's that were in our year at Hogwarts, came also. Molly had blindfolded Harry in the kitchen and had led him outside where we had set everything up. When she took off the blindfold and he saw all of us standing there, the happiest look I think I'd ever seen him wear was on his face. We proceeded to eat, talking and catching up with our classmates, and then it was time for presents. He got a book of past famous Seeker's from Ron, a new pair of quidditch gloves from the twins, some odd coat made of undistinguishable fur from Hagrid and some sweets from Honeydukes from Seamus, Dean and Neville. His eyes were lit with happiness the entire time he was opening his presents and I was so happy that he was having some fun for a change. When he had finished and had thanked everyone for their presents, he had joined our group back at our table. I leaned over and whispered "meet me in Ginny's room in five minutes, ok?" He looked at me curiously, then shook his head in agreement.
I excused myself and made my way into the house. I went upstairs to Ginny's room and dug the wrapped box out of my trunk. I heard him coming up the stairs, so I hid the box behind my back. "What's going on?" he asked as he walked into the room.
"I, um, got you a gift, but I didn't want to give it to you in front of everyone." I held out the box to him and watched as he took it, unwrapping it quickly with a smile on his face. He took the lid off of the box and seemed to just stare at the necklace inside. "If you don't like it..."
"No, no Hermione, I love it. Thank you" he said, taking it out of the box. "Would you help me put it on?" I nodded my head and took it from him, unhooking the clasp and putting it around his neck. I closed the tiny clasp and laid it carefully on the back of his neck. He picked the Griffin pendant up from where it lay on his chest and looked at it closely. "This is great Hermione."
"I wasn't sure you'd like it since I've never seen you wear a necklace before" I said, secretly ecstatic that he liked my gift so much.
He smiled at me, one of those heart stopping smiles of his, and walked up to me. "I absolutely adore it" he said, cupping my cheek in his hand and caressing it with his thumb. Feelings that I had never felt before rushed through me in that moment; they were so strong that they scared me. I watched as Harry slowly bent down and placed his lips on mine once again, this time with a little more pressure. I loved the feel of his lips; they were a mixture of rough and smooth skin, purely male.
He smelled so good, a mixture of sandalwood and fresh air, kind of like air dried laundry. My head started to swim as his lips stayed on mine, the pressure increasing gradually. We parted slowly, not meeting each others eyes. I looked up and smiled at him, happier than I had been in a long time.
I heard a noise and looked over Harry's shoulder towards the door. My heart fell as I saw Ron standing there with a hurt look on his face. "Oh no" I whispered, causing Harry to turn to see what I was looking at. When he saw Ron, the smile fell off of his face and he said "Ron..."
Before he could say anything else, Ron turned and ran down the stairs, slamming out of the front door. I looked at Harry, my worry reflected on his face. He pulled me to him in a hug and said "we'll talk to him Hermione. Everything will be ok."
"I hope so" I said, enjoying the feeling of being wrapped in his arms and at the same time thinking that Ron would probably be anything but ok.
~Well, there you go; how was it? I hope it was worth the wait! To those of you who read "The Fear Within", I
hope to have another chapter up this weekend. I seem to be suffering a bit of a block with that story for some reason.
I was hoping that writing this chapter today might get the creative juices flowing. Thanks again for reading, and as
always, please review!! :)