A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to post this chapter! I've just started my spring term and already I have 3 papers due in 3 different classes! That's mad isn't it! Anyway, I only had a little to finish with this chapter...and it's my FAVORITE so far. I loved writing it So here it is, and I hope you like it!
Surprises
It had been nearly three weeks since the beginning of term, and so far the year had gone smoothly. Not one single worry had crossed anyone's mind. Malfoy, of course had been his usual self, taunting Harry, Ron and Hermione whenever he could. However, it was nearly impossible to be pleased with himself, since the trio would retort with a comment about his no-good father. It was late a night, almost 10:30 when Harry and Ron crept into Hermione's dorm. They quietly tip-toed into her bedroom careful not to wake her. Now standing on either side of Hermione's bed. They both let out snickers and hushed laughs, and then...
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE!" they yelled.
Hermione shot up out of bed nearly screaming and startled half to death until she saw Ron smiling at her and Harry holding up a big round cake covered in candles. At the sight of her best friends, an instant smile crept over her face.
"Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Hermione!
Happy Birthday to you!"
Hermione was very red in the face. "What are you two doing?" she asked grinning
"Did you not get the song of `Happy Birthday' Hermione?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"I get that Ron! I just - I can't believe you both did this." she said with a large smile on her face.
"Make a wish and blow out the candles Hermione." Harry said holding the cake closer to her.
Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and extinguished all of the candles with one blow. "Great!" Ron said at once. "Happy Birthday Hermione. Now let's cut this cake...if you hadn't noticed, I skipped dessert earlier at dinner." Hermione rolled her eyes at him and laughed.
"Yes, I did notice...I thought you were ill." she said to him.
They all laughed as Harry sat the cake on the night stand next to Hermione's bed. Harry cut the cake and handed Hermione the first piece and then one to an anxious Ron. Harry took a piece for himself and sat down at the edge of Hermione's bed next to Ron. They ate their cake talking and laughing with no worries. "Where did you guys get the cake?"
"Dobby." Ron said. "But don't worry Hermione, we paid him a whole Galleon for it." he added hastily, noticing Hermione's slight glare. Her face softened and returned to smiling.
When they finished Harry got down on all fours and pulled something out from underneath Hermione's bed. Hermione looked down at him.
"Harry, what are you doing?" she asked him. Harry said nothing, but held up to packages wrapped in bright blue paper. "Presents." he said.
Hermione looked astonished. "How long have those been down there?"
"Er...about a week." Harry said feeling a surge of accomplishment. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't find them Hermione." Ron laughed and got up to hand Hermione the small package that Harry was holding. "This one's from me." he said.
Hermione took the gift from him, sat up against the headboard and unwrapped the gift quickly to reveal a polished, wooden box. She looked up at him in excitement, then back down at the box and opened it. Inside were 2 new, beautiful quills.
"Thought you'd like them" Ron said.
Hermione sat up and wrapped him in a hug. "I love them Ron. Thank you." she said. Ron smiled and cut himself another piece of cake. Harry then handed Hermione his gift. It was large and heavy.
"Hmm...I wonder what it is." Hermione said.
"Well open it." Harry said hastily. Hermione smiled at him and tore open the paper to reveal a large book, Special Edition, The Revised Hogwarts, A History. Hermione was squealed in excitement. She looked up at Harry with a shocked expression on her face then threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Harry, I love it!" she said pulling away from him then looking around at Ron. "I love them both. I can't believe you guys did this. Why did you do this for me?"
"You're our best friend Hermione," Ron said. "And, well it's our last year at Hogwarts, we thought it was time for somethign different. And, you have this huge room...I still can't believe how huge it is! We could have a party in here and no one would even know."
"But we're not." Hermione said firmly. "I like it this way. Just us."
They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing until they surrendered to their exhaustion and fell into sleep. Hermione was in her bed, under the covers, while Harry slept at the foot of her bed. Ron was asleep on the couch, clearly in deep sleep by the sounds of his snores. It was around 3 o'clock in the morning when he let out a particularly large snore and woke Hermione.
She got out of bed and looked over at Ron. He was hanging over the edge of the sofa with his mouth hanging open. She shook her head at him, suppressing a giggle. Her eyes wandered to the sleeping from of Harry and she smiled at him affectionately. She stood over him for a moment, memorizing his features as he slept...as if she hadn't done it before. She had caught herself before, staring at him while he slept on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room. He always looked at peace. Finally devoid of nightmares after mastering Occlumency. Tonight, rather, this morning, she was staring at him closely. She had somehow managed to come within inches of his face as her eyes traveled to his lightning shaped scar. She had come to memorize his face so perfectly, she knew every inch of it. She felt herself reaching out to run a hand through his raven hair until Harry began to stir and rolled over. Hermione jumped back, breaking out of her trance. She took his stirring as a sign that she might be disturbing him and walked over to the night stand where her new book lay and picked it up. She took it and walked across the room and into her study and turned on the light, walked behind her desk, placed the book down gently and sat down in her chair to read it.
Hermione had been reading for nearly 10 minutes when she noticed Harry standing in the doorway.
"Hey." he said.
"Hey." Hermione smiled as Harry walked in and sank on the squashy armchair in front of Hermione's desk.
"Sorry we fell asleep in your room." Harry said.
"Well I suppose it's only fair. I fell asleep in yours a few weeks ago...remember?" Hermione said.
"Yeah I guess." Harry said. "So, I'm okay. Does Ron have to pay you?" Hermione laughed.
"No, it's fine really." she said. "I don't mind. It sort of makes things feel normal...you know...like we're all back in Gryffindor Tower." Harry smiled at her. "Yeah." he said.
"So, what are you doing up so late anyway? Or early? What time is it?" Harry asked. Hermione pointed to the clock behind her. "It's 2 a.m." she said.
"Oh. Early then?" Harry asked again.
"Reading." Hermione said simply and glanced down at her new book. Harry peered over her desk to see.
"Reading the book I got you?" he asked, knowing full well that it was.
Hermione stood up and walked around her desk to sit on the arm of Harry's chair and looked down at him. "Of course Harry! I still can't believe you bought it. I mean, I know it's really expensive." Harry looked up at her and was thrilled to see the excited look on her face. He loved that look...whenever it came to books, there was that face...that smile.
He looked away from her and fixed his eye upon a picture frame on her desk. It held a picture of the three of them. It must have been taken by Colin Creevey. He, Ron and Hermione were sitting under a tree laughing together. Harry stared attentively at it. Hermione was smiling in it...she looked so happy and beautiful. He had somehow fallen for her. He couldn't remember exactly when. All he knew, was that he cared more for her than anyone else in the world.
"I spare no expense when it comes to you." he said in a soft voice, not wanting to sound too smitten by that face she had just made...that smile.
"What?" Hermione asked. She had vaguely picked up on his evasive tone.
"Well...er...you're my best friend Hermione." he said quickly and looked up at her. She was beaming at him with a huge smile slapped across her face. Before Harry knew it, she had nearly jumped on him and was hugging him tighter than ever. "You're mine too Harry." she whispered in his ear. The hug lasted longer than the average friendly hug permitted. Hermione was holding tight to Harry, smiling into the air. Harry had never been hugged by Hermione like this. This was wonderful. Suddenly...
THUD!
Harry and Hermione pulled away quickly and ran into the bedroom to see what had made the noise. They surveyed the room and their eyes landed on the twitching body of Ron who had fallen off of the couch. Of course, he hadn't woken up at all and was still snoring. Harry and Hermione let out the breaths they were holding and walked over to Ron, chuckling. As they approached him he suddenly sat up and looked deliriously around the room (not noticing Harry and Hermione at all), stood up and crashed back down on the sofa. He was again, sleeping and snoring. Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes and couldn't help but laugh.
Still laughing, Hermione walked over to the study, turned off the light and walked back into the bedroom. "We'd better get to bed." she said to Harry.
"Tomorrow's Saturday Hermione." Harry said.
"I know, and you have a ton of homework to do tomorrow." she said accusingly. "And I need to go and ask Professor Bright a question about our Defense Against the Dark Arts homework."
Harry looked at her feeling guilty about the first comment. He did have a lot of homework to do the next day. "Alright." he said as Hermione put a blanket over Ron and climbed into her bed. "Why don't I walk Ron back to my room and - "
Ron let out a loud snore. Hermione jumped and giggled. "Don't be silly Harry, you both can sleep here. It's fine." she said patting a spot on her bed.
"Hermione - ", Harry began. But Hermione interrupted him.
"Look, you're not leaving me in here all by myself with him snoring. If I'm suffering, you're suffering...and besides, it shouldn't even bother you...you've slept in the same room with him for the past 6 years." she said opening up the covers.
Harry looked at her hesitantly. The idea was very inviting despite the awkwardness that would come. Harry would love to curl up with Hermione and just hold her.
"Hermione - ", he started again. And again, Hermione interrupted him.
"Oh come on Harry!" she said. "We're both adults here." She was smirking at him and tapping her fingers on the mattress.
"You're right." he finally said smiling at her. He walked towards the bed and climbed in next to her. She pulled the covers over them and shifted herself until she was comfortable. "`Night Harry." she said.
"`Night `Mione." Harry said, pulling up the covers over him. His thoughts were racing. He was lying next to his best friend, they friend that he had fallen deeply in love with. He kept raking his mind for reasons why he hadn't told her. Then, that name crept up in his thoughts. Voldemort. He was the reason Harry couldn't tell Hermione how much he loved her. For the longest time, he had debated with himself on this. Eventually a conclusion was drawn. There was no future for Hermione if she was with Harry. If he died during the war...that would be it. Hermione would be left with nothing. But then...there was always the possibility that Harry would survive...that he wold KILL VOLDEMORT! Then, he and Hermione could be happy. They could get married, buy a big house and have beautiful children, a family. Then...they could grow old together. The thoughts Harry had of a family...a life with Hermione, carried him into a peaceful sleep.
On the other side of Harry, Hermione was having similar thoughts. She knew that she cared for him very much...she would die if anything happened to him. She loved him and no one knew it. How would she even begin to tell him that she had feelings for him She could only assume that after nearly 7 years of friendship, nothing was going to happen. Harry clearly was not interested. Although, these past weeks had been different. He'd been acting, well...different. Why was he so nervous about sharing a bed? It was definitely putting a toe over the `friends' line, but she and Harry had always somehow been something more than friends. Maybe he did like her. Maybe someday soon they would be together. Hermione imagined what it would be like to be his, to be held in his arms. That had been her wish after all. For Harry to hold her close to him; not like a hug, something different, more meaningful. Childish, extremely girlish it seemed, yes. But it's what she wanted the most of all, just to be in his arms. Hermione settled on that thought and fell asleep.
The next morning, Harry opened his eyes slowly, only to be blinded by a ray of sunlight that poked through the drapes and shone directly into his face. He winced at how bright it was and lied his head back down. This felt familiar. He had woken up the same way in his study a few weeks prior. He kept his eyes shut to avoid the sunlight when he noticed something heavy on his chest. And what was that on his neck? It was breathing, he soon realized. He looked down and saw Hermione. She had somehow managed to wrap her arms around Harry's chest and had nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Her head was right under his chin and he could smell the scent of apple in her hair. Her breathing was hypnotic to listen to and intoxicating against his neck. Oh, if only! He thought to himself before tapping Hermione on the shoulder. "Hermione, wake up." he whispered into her hair. Hermione stirred for a moment and stretched her arm around Harry and held on to him tighter. She was practically lying on top of him. "Hermione, wake up." Harry repeated and rubbed her arm lightly. She stirred again. "Mmmm" she moaned and opened her eyes blearily and raised her head to look at Harry. "Good morning Harry." she whispered, closing her eyes again. Suddenly, Hermione's eyes shot wide open and she jumped backward off of Harry and fell onto the floor. "OUCH!" Harry heard her yell. He crawled over to the other side of the bed and peered over to see Hermione rubbing her body all over where she must have it the floor. "Hermione are you okay?" Harry asked her trying not to laugh. He was truly concerned, but the face she had made when she leapt up out of his arms was hilarious.
"Yeah." she said weakly. She looked up at him and was immediately embarrassed. "Harry, I'm so sorry! I - I didn't mean to - ".
"It's fine Hermione." Harry said crawling out of bed and helping her to her feet. "It's okay really. You didn't drool on me or anything." WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT? Harry yelled at himself in his head.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled and hit herself on the forehead with her hand. She let out a sigh of frustration and noticed something floating at the edge of the bed. "What is that?" she asked Harry, pointing to it.
"Dunno." Harry said. They walked over to it and realized it was a piece of parchment. Hermione snatched it out of the air. "It's a note from Ron." she said and began to read it.
Imagine waking up to what I saw this morning!
HA! I knew you two always fancied each other!
`Bout time the both of you realized it really!
I've gone to have breakfast with Luna...thought you two would want to be alone! HA HA!
See you later,
Ron
Harry and Hermione both looked at each other as if they had been hit by Bludgers.
"What?"
"What?"
"He's er..."
"Yeah...he's
"You and I - "
"We're not - "
"Right..." they both said at the end. They gave each other weak smiles and then quickly looked away from one another. "Er...I think I'm just going to go and take a shower," Harry stuttlered "And er...go down for breakfast...kill Ron."
Hermione gave a weak laugh. "Right. Er...I'm going to go take a shower too and er...I'll see you later." She said nervously. " You can let me know how killing Ron goes." she added as Harry walked out of the room and out the portrait hole. Hermione took a deep breath and sighed. She couldn't possibly be angry...well angry at Ron maybe and embarrassed. But this is what she had wished for. It was the perfect birthday present, awkwardness and all. She had known what it was like to be held in Harry's arms. Mind you, only for a brief moment. But it had been wonderful all the same. In fact, the must have spent the rest of the night like that. And it wasn't like he had jumped out of bed the moment he realized she had been on top of him. He woke her gently. Hermione smiled as she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
After Harry left Hermione's dorm, he couldn't keep his mind off of her. The way she breathed, the sound of her voice in the morning, the smell of her hair...her smile. Her features kept whirling around in his mind. "I love her." he whispered to himself as he reached his dorm. That was it, plain and simple. He would kill Voldemort and have the life he wanted with Hermione...no matter what.
After a shower, Harry went down to the Great Hall to find Ron and murder him accidentally on purpose. Hermione had also finished up with her shower, got dressed and was off to the Great Hall to find Professor Bright about the homework she had given them last lesson. On her way down, Hermione met Lavender. "Hi Hermione." she said.
"Oh, hi Lavender. Listen, do you know if Professor Bright is in the Great Hall?" Hermione asked.
"No, she's not. Liz just went to go talk to her a few minutes ago. I don't know why...she doesn't have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Right." Hermione said. "Thanks Lavender." Lavender smiled and walked off. Hermione wheeled around and headed for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
When she finally reached it, she found no one inside. There was no Professor Bright and no Liz. She walked in quietly and suddenly heard voices. They sounded familiar. Hermione walked slowly over to the office and pressed her ear against the door and heard someone talking. She heard a voice...it was Liz's voice. "So how is she?" Hermione heard Liz ask someone. "She's fine." the familiar voice replied. "So have you gone to see Fred and George yet?"
Fred and George? Hermione thought. How does Liz know them...she's never met-
"No I haven't gone yet." Liz said. "I was thinking about dropping in on them later...I haven't seen them in ages! And Ron...he - "
Hermione couldn't take it anymore. What was going on? Where was Professor Bright? She burst in through the door and saw Liz standing in front of the fire talking to...Hermione let out a gasp. There was a man's head in the fire. She knew this man. It was Charlie Weasley.
A/N: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know what you thought about this chapter!!! I LOVE HEARING YOUR REVIEWS!!! :)
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