Unofficial Portkey Archive

Hermione slammed the ancient book she was reading closed, shattering the tense air of the room. Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin.

"Geez, Hermione!" Ron complained, breathing heavily. "I reckon you took nearly three years off my life!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

Ron sighed with exasperation. "What?"

Hermione turned to Wendy. "Hand me your cross," she said as she held out her hand.

Wendy took off the cross necklace she was wearing and tentatively handed it over. It was silver and ornately designed, strung on a black cord with a barrel clasp. "Here," she said as Hermione took it. "Please be careful. It's very old."

Hermione gently tapped the cross with the end of her wand. "Deednim reecal." The cross glowed yellow for a moment and then returned to normal. She handed it back to Wendy. "As long as you wear that you'll be able to resist the crystals call. You'll still feel the pull of it though."

Wendy nodded in understanding. "Okay." She smiled and put her necklace back on.

"Now we just have to figure out how to get past the forest guards," Harry said, drumming his fingers on the coffee table.

"We'll just wear the invisibility cloak," Ron piped up.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has had an anti-invisibility charm cast on the forest edge."

Everyone sighed. They all just sat there, staring at nothing. Just when it seemed like the silence would never end Harry slapped the coffee table, snapping everyone out of their trance. "The Marauder's map!"

"Yes! We could see if there's a passage leading to the forest," Ron replied excitedly.

"There!" Harry stabbed at a spot on the map. "It ends not far behind Hagrid's hut."

Hermione lurched. ::Urk:: ".....Look where it begins," she said tensely. Everyone moaned at the spot on the map where her finger rested.....Snape's Office.

"Bloody Hell. It would be Snape. There's a ruddy conspiracy against us I'm telling you," Ron complained.

"How are we going to manage this one? Snape's been loads more cautious since I took those ingredients," Hermione lamented. "His office door has an enchanted lock on it that only works with a special key."

Another moment of silence ensued.

"If we wait for Snape to go in there....," Harry started to say.

"Oh right. 'Excuse me, Professor. What was last night's homework? Oh, and while we're in here can we check your office for the entrance to a secret tunnel that will lead us into the forest?' Get real, Harry," Ron said in a withering tone of voice.

Harry shot Ron a dirty look. "Let me finish. If we could get him to leave the office in a hurry he might forget to lock the door."

"Brilliant Harry!" Hermione exclaimed admiringly.

"But how do we get him to leave?" Ron asked.

Suddenly Wendy's eyes went wide. "I've got the perfect idea." Everyone just stared at her. "Let's go talk to the twins," she said with a grin.

George handed a small bag to Harry. "Now be careful with those," he warned, looking pointedly at Wendy.

Wendy suddenly looked very embarrassed. "I said I was sorry," she said as she shuffled her foot.

"S'okay," George said, smiling. Wendy smiled. Then they stopped moving.

Harry looked from George to Wendy and back again. Then he looked at Fred who seemed to be extremely annoyed. He leaned over to Fred and whispered. "What's going on here?"

"Geez. Ron was right. You are clueless," Fred rolled his eyes as he whispered back.

Harry looked at the two again. He blinked rapidly in realization. "They....like each other?"

Fred patted Harry on the shoulder. "Very good, Harry. You get a shiny gold star."

Harry glared at him, then ahemed loudly. "Uh guys." No response. "Guys? GUYS!" Harry yelled, loosing his patience.

Wendy's face went red and she turned to her brother. "Um...yeah...yes.....sorry."

"Now these are our new and improved seeds. They wait about five seconds before sprouting," George commented, eager to change the subject.

"Okay. Now we just have to make sure that Snape thinks Peeves did this," Hermione said.

"Now it wouldn't be nice for you to get ol' Peeves in trouble," came Peeves' voice from behind Hermione.

Hermione whirled around to see only Ron standing behind her. Ron grimaced a bit as Hermione's hair hit him in the face from her quick turn. "Ron, you scared me," she complained, poking a finger in his chest.

"Convincing isn't it?" Ron said, rather pleased with himself.

"I'd say that problem is solved," Harry said smiling. "We'll do it after dinner."

It was about an hour before dinner and Harry James Potter was nervous. "I really hope she likes this." he thought. He was sitting under one of the light willows behind the castle. Light willows looked like every other willow except that the leaves at the ends of the branches glowed with a bioluminescence. There were six of these trees all together in a very small grove.

Harry had set up a very nice candle light picnic dinner, with special permission from Dumbledore of course. He fiddled with the latch on a small black case that sat on the ground next to him. A light dancing in the distance caught his attention. As it got closer he could tell it was a lantern. "Mione," he said as he stood and waved. "Over here!"

The light stopped moving for a moment, then headed straight in Harry's direction. Finally Hermione came out of the darkness and Harry's breath caught in his throat. She was wearing a simple, navy blue turtleneck sweater and jeans but they accentuated her curves in all the right places. She looked at him with concern. "Harry? Are you okay?"

Harry blinked and tried very hard not to think about how her jeans hugged her hips. "Ehm yeah. Sorry. I must have zoned out," he said.

"Okay. So what's the surprise?" she said expectantly.

Harry grinned and asked Hermione to sit down. He then walked over to a black cloth and removed it. Hermione could barely make out what looked like dinner. He winked at her then held up his index finger. After a moment of staring at it a very small flame began emanating from the tip. Hermione gasped. "Harry, that's wonderful! How did you learn to control it so well?"

Harry used his finger to light five candles sitting in a very ornate holder. Then, just to be silly, he blew out the flame at the tip of his finger like it was a smoking gun. "Actually, I wish I knew," he said as he took a seat across from Hermione. "I've just been practicing. Nothing else."

Hermione looked very proud. "Amazing," she commented.

Harry stared at the way the candle light moved over Hermione's face. It gave her almost an ethereal quality. "No. You're amazing," he said with a wistful smile.

Hermione blushed. "Thank you," she said as she played with a strand of hair.

Harry was suddenly serious. "No. I mean it. You've got so many great qualities. I don't think I could name them all," he said as he looked at her with awe.

Hermione blushed again. "I think you're inheriting some of your Dad's smoothness as you get older, Harry." Suddenly, her smile disappeared and she looked down.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he placed a hand on hers.

"It's just......I'm confused. I don't know how you can think all these wonderful things about me and not love me," she said with a slight twinge of sadness in her voice.

Harry winced. "Oh, Mione." He sighed. "Listen. It's just I don't know what being in love feels like and I want to make sure what I'm feeling is love before I actually say it. Can't you just be patient?" he said in a pleading voice.

Hermione bit her lower lip. "I guess." Suddenly she perked up and wiped away the tears that had started to form. "You know what? Let's not talk about this now. I want to enjoy the dinner you made," she said with a smile.

Harry slumped his shoulders. "Ummm, actually I didn't make it. Dobby did," he said with regret.

Hermione giggled and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind. It's the thought that counts."

Dinner ended about an hour after that. They talked and laughed. Finally Harry brought the small black case onto his lap. Hermione looked at it curiously. "What's that?" she asked.

"A surprise you never would've expected from me in a million years," he said half laughing. He opened the case and Hermione's eyes went wide as saucers.

"An ocarina! But...I can't play," she said gloomily.

Harry shook his head. "It's not for you. It's mine. I...I...um...well just......listen," he said as he picked the instrument up.

Harry brought the mouthpiece to his lips and the world around Hermione simply melted away. It was like no tune she had ever heard. "Where in the name of Merlin did he learn to play like that?" she thought. She closed her eyes and let the music wash over her. She felt like crying from the beauty of the music. The wind gently caressed them both and she felt like it just completed the mood. And then all too soon it was over. She had to shake her head a little to bring herself back to reality. "That was," she swallowed, trying to find the words, "the most beautiful thing I've ever heard." She breathed heavily. Her heart was beating so fast she felt it might burst through her chest. "Where...who taught you to play?"

Harry smiled broadly, having achieved his desired effect. "Sirius...over the summer."

Hermione eyes went wide again. "You learned how to do that in ONE summer?" she said, the shock in her voice abundantly evident.

Harry half-smiled and shrugged, suddenly a little embarrassed. "Sirius said I've got natural talent."

"Obviously," Hermione replied with a smile. "What song was that?"

"Not a song really. I was just playing whatever came to me." Harry smiled.

"You're kidding!" Hermione said as she went slack jawed.

"Nope." Harry moved over to sit next to her.

Hermione turned to face him. The wind was rustling through his hair, there was candle light on his face, and his eyes.......his eyes.... Before she knew what was happening she was kissing him. He brushed light little kisses across her lips. This sent sparks of electricity down her spine. A gust of wind blew out the candles. She needed more. She put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him in closer. She kissed him hungrily. There was nothing but Harry.

Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist. He drank in her scent deeply. "God, she smells good." he thought. He lowered his lips to her neck. She made small moaning sounds. Completely of it's own free will his hand moved to brush her left breast. "She's so soft." He got a little bolder and began to caress it gently.

Hermione felt Harry's hand cup her breast. She sucked in a breath as his hand began moving. She felt like she was on fire. "I never knew it felt this good." she swooned.

"She...she....feels.....so.....AHH! OH HELL!" He quickly broke away from her. "Hermione," he said in between heavy breaths. "We...we need to stop..........before I can't," he said as he stared into her eyes.

Hermione's breathing began to slow a bit. "What did I almost do?" "You're right. Let's um...let's get back inside," she said, gasping for air.

The young couple packed up the stuff from dinner, careful not to touch each other for fear of loosing control again. Trying desperately to talk about normal things, they headed back up to the castle.

Harry and Hermione walked down the hall with their friends in silence. No one but they knew why. Harry was staring at the map, watching Snape's dot. Finally Ron, looking at Wendy, spoke up. "When exactly were you planning on telling us?"

Wendy looked at him with apprehension. "Telling you what?"

"That you like George," Ron stated flatly.

Wendy suddenly looked very uncomfortable. She took a moment to answer. "I don't know. I just......there's not much to tell," she looked at her feet. "It's just kinda flirting right now."

Ron chuckled. "Why do you look like I'm going to bite your head off?"

"I dunno. I guess I expected you to be all weird about it cause he's your brother.......," she began.

"Snape's in! Let's go." Harry interrupted. He grabbed Hermione's hand and they walked quickly towards Snape's office.

.........TO BE CONTINUED