Harry Potter looked down at his best friends face, her eyes wide, her lashes fluttering teasingly as she begged him to help her cook dinner for her parents.
"Please Harry! You know I'm a disaster when it comes to the improvised bits, everyone remembers the beef stew incident."
Harry's stomach churned a little at the memory of the beef stew and chuckled at Hermione's pleading.
"Of course I'll help you, or rather I'll let you help. You're strictly relegated to peeling and chopping - and are to stay away from anything that looks remotely like gravy." Harry teased, quickly leaping out of the way as Hermione went to hit him on the arm.
"I know I've said it a hundred times `Mione, but I just don't understand how someone who can get 100% in one of Snape's Potions exams can be so bad at cooking…" Harry pondered shaking his head in disbelief.
Hermione bit back from challenging her best friend, remembering she needed his help, and no one could stay mad when Harry grinned, so she simply stuck out her tongue.
Harry laughed and pulled her into a hug.
"Alright I'll see you later, I have to run into Diagon Alley. Do you need anything while I'm there?"
"Um, ingredients for whatever we're going to cook?" She asked sheepishly.
"Miss. Granger! I'm surprised at your lack of organisation." Harry attempted to be stern, but failed miserably as a chuckle escaped.
"Alright, I'll get stuff for dinner. What time are they arriving?"
"Seven. And Ron's out with Luna tonight so it's just the four of us. Oh and can you pick up that book I ordered in from Flourish and Blotts?"
"Sure. Anything else needed for your birthday dinner?"
"Nope. Just food!" Hermione replied with a wink as Harry kissed her on the top of the head, grabbed his jacket and made his way out of the house.
Harry smiled to himself as he walked the short distance to Diagon Alley through the sunny London streets. He had never been so happy in all his life than he had for the past five months. He had always thought leaving Hogwarts would have been a momentous occasion, but it had passed in a haze of preparations for yet again facing Voldemort, the Wizarding World had been torn apart by death and destruction. The end of the war had also passed Harry by in many ways, he tried not to remember that fateful night he had ended Voldemort's life. It was in the past, they were safe now, and the war hadn't truly been over until the last of the Death Eaters had been rounded up. It had been five months since he had turned down the job as an auror as he handed over Lucius Malfoy, the last of the Death Eaters, and he, Ron and Hermione were now happily settling into their home in London, not far from Grimmauld Place where the Weasley's now lived after the destruction of the Burrow during the war. Thankfully he'd been so busy immediately after Voldemort's death that he had not been too exposed to the media frenzy, his fame was now ridiculous, as were Ron and Hermione's and they tried to avoid the public eye as much as was possible with Ron playing Quidditch professionally. Harry had taken a break at Hermione's insistence so he could figure out what he really wanted to do with his life, now that his destiny was no longer decided by prophecy. He never thought he'd be happy to not do anything in particular, but with Hermione's encouragement he was finally learning how to relax, and had begun to organise his life. He knew Hermione was dying to know what he was going to do next, and if he was honest with himself he knew he was withholding the information to wind her up a little bit, just to see that adorable look on her face when her forehead wrinkled. He chuckled to himself as he gathered ingredients in the supermarket, ordering them to be delivered by floo before heading over to Flourish and Blotts on Hermione's errands. Andrew the shopkeeper greeted Harry with a wide smile as he entered the shop.
"I had a feeling one of you would be in today." Andrew commented with a raised eyebrow.
"What can I do? She's got me running errands for her now…" Harry put upon an exaggerated sigh and Andrew chuckled.
"I take it the book's in?" Harry asked as Andrew searched under the counter for a package.
"Here it is, and she'll want to know that a second volume is already in the pipelines…"
"Thanks Andrew. Just put it on my tab. Maybe she'll consider it a good enough birthday present…or maybe not…I don't suppose you've got any inside information about any new releases she'd love?" Harry asked with a note of desperation.
"Sorry Harry - your Hermione tends to know about them before me, and to be honest I'll soon be moving on. It only came through yesterday but I'm finally going to retire, so it looks like me wife will be finally getting her wish." Andrew smiled wryly.
"What's going to happen to the shop?" Harry asked concerned, knowing Andrew was the last in the line of the Blott family.
"Putting the premises up for sale. It looks like the business will finally finish - there just isn't the interest there used to be…" Andrew sighed.
Harry smiled, a small smile that spread rapidly into a grin.
"Well, I was looking for a birthday present…"
Andrew looked at him confused until realisation dawned and his eyebrows appeared to disappear into his receding hairline.
"I don't know why I didn't think of it before - I don't think I'd trust anyone more than young Hermione with this place." Andrew said wistfully, looking around the bookshop he'd treasured for so long.
"Any chance you can shut for a little while so we can talk this through?" Harry asked thoughtfully.
Andrew nodded, and soon the two could be found ensconced in the back room of the shop going over tables of figures and charts.
"Harry! You've been gone ages - I thought you were only going to Diagon Alley?" Hermione shouted down the stairs as Harry closed the door behind him two hours later.
"Well I had to pick up your birthday present for tomorrow didn't I?" Harry called back teasingly.
"Ooh, tell me what it is?" Hermione teased, bounding down the stairs to greet him with a hug.
"And why would I do that?"
"Because I'm your best friend in the whole world?" Hermione asked, fluttering her eyelashes in an exaggerated fashion causing Harry to chuckle.
"I thought that was why I was cooking dinner tonight." He said over his shoulder as he began sorting through the ingredients that had arrived by floo.
"Ah, well…you want to tell me because I've saved your sorry butt so many times over the years…" Hermione teased.
"Hmm, I thought defeating Voldemort got me out of that one." Harry grinned as Hermione slapped his arm playfully.
"Chop the mushrooms - not even you can get that wrong." He commanded in a passable impression of Snape. Hermione laughed and moved across the kitchen.
"Why are you so curious anyway?" Harry asked a few minutes later as they were busy preparing the dinner.
"Every year I think that you're never going to be able to top the last present you gave me, and every year I'm somehow wrong. But this year I really don't see how you're going to top my watch." Hermione said with a smile, looking down tenderly at the watch on her wrist, much like Molly Weasley's kitchen clock it had three hands, labelled with pictures of her, Harry and Ron, letting her know at all times that her best friends were safe, it was her most treasured possession.
Harry looked at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled softly to see her admiring her watch.
"I have a feeling you'll like this even more." He replied quietly smiling over at her. They shared a private smile and returned to preparing the dinner. Soon Hermione was softly singing along with the Muggle radio on the kitchen windowsill, and Harry chuckled before joining in and singing loudly and off-key to all the old 60's songs blasting from Hermione's favourite radio station.
"You know I'm going to lie awake half the night wondering what you've got me for my birthday…" Hermione teased later that night as they quickly tidied the living room before her parents arrival.
"Well, in that case…" Harry began before chuckling.
Hermione put on an exaggerated pout and Harry pulled her down to sit down beside him on the sofa.
"Well, actually I had planned on giving this to you before the party tomorrow night, so it might as well be now Miss. Impatient." Harry smiled.
"Accio Gift." He held out his hand and a large envelope wrapped with a ribbon zoomed into the room and into his open hand.
"Really? I was only teasing Harry." Hermione blushed.
Harry smiled and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"I know you were, but I want you to have this now." He handed her the envelope and watched her as she ran her hands lightly over her name scrawled across the front before carefully opening the envelope and pulling out a small stack of parchment.
"The deeds to number 29 Diagon Alley…" She read aloud before gasping and turning to him in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
"Flourish and Blotts? You bought me the bookshop?" She gasped, her eyes shining.
Harry nodded.
"But….How?" She stammered, still poring over the documents in her hands.
"Andrew's retiring - and there's no-one he'd rather hand the shop over to you than his favourite and most frequent customer." Harry said smiling, as Hermione studied the contract, tears in her eyes.
His airways appeared to be cut off when Hermione threw her arms around him and hugged him so tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her hair, smiling as he did so. As they pulled apart she alternated between gazing at him in amazement and studying the papers on her lap.
"You know Ron is never going to believe me…I've finally made the great Hermione Granger speechless." Hermione looked up and threw a cushion at him before engulfing him in another bone crushing hug.
"Thank you Harry…even you're not going to be able to top this one next year." She said smiling through her happy tears.
"Oh really?"
"You've got something planned already?" She asked incredulously.
"Well I might have." Harry replied with a wink. "I might not be able to save it until your birthday though." He mused.
"Can I have a hint?" Hermione teased, sitting up and facing him cross-legged on the sofa.
Harry looked at her shining eyes, and her chestnut hair cascading in soft curls around her face and smiled knowing he'd never be able to wait a year before asking her.
"Well, I thought I'd ask you to marry me, but it seems a little forward now as I'd planned on asking you on a first date sometime before your next birthday." Harry said, holding her gaze. There was a moments silence and Harry smiled shyly.
"Definitely a new record - I seem to have silenced you twice in one evening - Ron's never going to believe…" At that moment he was cut off as Hermione threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately.
They drew apart several minutes later, both breathing unsteadily, their faces flushed.
"Did I mention I loved you?" Harry asked, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
"No, I believe you forgot to mention that one Mr. Potter." She replied with a smile before kissing him again.
He gently pulled away from her and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Hermione asked breathlessly.
Harry chuckled and Hermione blushed.
"Oops. I love you too." She said softly, meeting his eyes and smiling before wrapping her arms around him once more.
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