Harry flopped down onto the squishy velvet armchairs of the common room, a smile plastered over his thin face, and was immediately accosted by Ginny.
"Harry, I should warn you…"
He turned to look at her lazily, a dim smile on his face, too cheerful to get worked up about anything. However, she did seem rather worried about something, as her ears were almost as red as her hair, which was not a good Weasley sign. His smile faltered.
"What is it, Ginny?"
"Ron's on the warpath. I… kind of told him where you were, and well…"
"Oh…"
He sighed. The last thing he wanted at the moment was a confrontation with Ron, especially after what he had heard from Hermione. If truth be told, he was a little bit angry at Ron for making Hermione so upset, and if Ron was to start an argument, he would most likely not be able to control his temper.
"Oh dear, here he is now."
She grimaced, and shot an apologetic look at Harry before retreating quickly up the 5th year girls dormitory staircase, leaving Harry to look around at the portrait hole to come face to face with an angry looking Ron.
"Hey, where have you been?" Harry started, trying to keep his voice calm. He didn't want any unnecessary arguments and if he could settle this without shouting, then he would do so. "Listen… Hermione was really upset earlier. You know you shouldn't have said things like that to her. It's not her fault."
"Oh, so she's told you then?" Ron's voice was loud and sharp, obviously he did not share Harry's hope for a quiet talk about this. "Been up there having one of your snogging sessions have you?"
Harry snorted. He didn't think Ron was this stupid.
"Don't be thick."
"Thick, now am I?" He marched around the sofa to stand in front of Harry, his hands firmly on his hips, his ears a deep crimson. "So that's why I didn't see you two going at it like Nifflers in Gringotts behind my back!"
"Well, if you think that me and Hermione have been seeing each other behind your back, you must be!" Harry's voice was rising now, too. "You know very well we wouldn't have done anything like that without telling you! You're just being stupid."
"Oh ho!" Ron threw back his arms in an exasperated manner and rolled his eyes. Harry just stood and glared at him in disbelief.
"Right. So you're telling me," he put his hands resolutely back on his hips and stared at Harry, looking him right in his bottle green eyes. "That you can look me in the eye, and you can honestly say, that there is nothing going on between you two?"
"I can look you in the eye, Ron, and tell you that there was nothing going on!" Harry was half-shouting now, he could feel his face beginning to burn. He was only vaguely aware of the rest of the residents of the common room slowly fading away, knowing better than to stay and watch. "But I am going on a date with her tomorrow, Ron, whether you like it or not."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah," Harry nodded, a smirk lining his features. "And you know who did that? You."
Ron fell silent, his mouth opening and closing like he was gasping for air. Harry sighed, willing himself to calm down. He closed his eyes, more aware of the cold air slapping at his cheeks now that he had stopped shouting. Arguing like this wasn't going to get anyone anywhere. He didn't want to do this anymore. He lay his head gently on his hands, his arms propped up on his knees, and ran his hands through his hair, fighting a massive headache. Not five minutes ago he was as happy as a hippogriff with a dead ferret, now he felt like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
"You know what, Ron?" He said, his voice calm and quiet, not threatening anymore, not angry, merely tired. "There are more important things, you know? I think it's about time you realised that."
He stood up, turned away from Ron and started to make his way towards the boys staircase, his head thumping, his eyes heavy with exhaustion. He needed to lie down. However…
"Yeah, more important and your make-out sessions, I guess?"
Harry froze. Willing himself not to explode at Ron, he could feel the blood pumping in his ears. He instantly felt angry at Ron's words, as if someone had poured a cauldron full of Pepper-Up potion through his veins. If only Ron knew… If he had listened to what Dumbledore had told him at the end of last year…
He turned on his heel and faced Ron with a deadly glare. Ron fell silent.
"Actually, Ron," His voice was quiet, but it was not calm. It was deadly and heavy with anger, shaking slightly with restraint. "I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that I might not live 'til graduation."
He watched Ron's eyes grow wide, and found that he didn't care. He didn't care whether Ron was worried about him or not at the precise moment, all he cared about was that Ron was sorry. For making Hermione cry, and for this.
"Come to think of it," he continued. "I might not even live 'til the end of this year. So do you really think that I want to spend whatever time I have left arguing the toss with you over who likes who?"
"Harry… I-" Ron's face grew red.
"You know what, Ron? I don't want to hear it. I just thought that 5 years of friendship would mean more to you than who has what or who."
"Harry-"
"Just save it. I don't want to talk to you anymore tonight, Ron. In fact… I think you should just leave me alone for a couple of days. I don't even want to look at you right now."
Without giving him a chance to reply, Harry spun on his heel and marched upstairs, where he flung himself onto his bed, willing himself to only think about tomorrow and his date with Hermione, and not what a prat Ron was.
He woke up early the next morning and dressed more carefully than usual, even taking the time to try to get his unruly mop of hair to look less like he had some sort of hairy gremlin atop his head, but to no avail. After three fruitless attempts at trying to get it to lie at least flat, he gave up and ran his hands through it, making it look spiky, if anything.
At half 8 he made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast, and found Hermione sitting next to Ginny at the end of the Gryffindor table. She was dressed in a pretty pink sundress, her brown hair looking like she had tamed it a little. Instead of bushy-ness, smooth dark ringlets fell over her back. Harry grinned appreciatively as he made his way towards her.
Seeing him approach, Ginny caught his eye and grinned, then winked at Hermione before leaving. He looked around at Hermione, who blushed pink. Obviously, Ginny would know by now, if not from Ron, then Hermione, who always told her everything. He grinned and took a side beside her.
"You look nice today." He said, helping himself to toast. "I've never seen you wear that dress before."
She smiled and blushed an even deeper pink. "Well, I don't wear it very often. Not really a dress kind of person I suppose."
"Well, it suits you," Harry smiled as he filled his mug full of Tea. "And so does the hair."
Hermione blushed almost as brightly as her dress.
After breakfast they made their way out of the castle doors and though the iron gates, talking companionably. It was amazing how well they could still talk to each other like normal even though they both felt that they should be feeling awkward. It was just like normal, they talked about school work, Hagrid and what new creature he was going to bring to their lives next, they laughed and joked like normal. The only thing that didn't come up in conversation was Ron, and Harry felt just fine with that.
The sun was shining brightly as they walked into the village, and after visiting a few shops (Harry visiting the Sweet-shop for Sugar Quills, Hermione spending half an hour in the bookshop), they decided that it was about time they would sit down for a drink.
"Where do you want to go?" Hermione asked, fanning her face with her hand. It was swelteringly hot and although she had appropriate clothes on for this sort of weather, the fact still remained that it was cooler inside the shops than outside.
"I don't know," replied Harry, who was about ready to faint from the heat. He was also wearing summer clothes, long shorts and a t-shirt, but they were not really helping. "I don't really fancy the Three Broomsticks, might run into…"
"Ron." She finished for him and they shared a look before skirting round the subject. "The Hog's head isn't really a nice place, is it? I don't really want to go in there."
"No, me either."
He racked his brains for another solution: just how many places were there in Hogsmeade where you could get a drink? As he thought, one place in particular came to mind with a grimace.
"Well, I don't know if it's really appropriate…" he said, peering up a side road towards a tiny, pokey looking teashop. "But last year… when I came here with Cho we went into this teashop called Madam Puddifoots. It was stupid at the time, because there were all these daft frills and bows everywhere, but it should be okay now. "
Hermione looked slightly put-out, and Harry couldn't blame her. He knew how he felt when Cho had started talking about her ex-boyfriend while on a date with him; how would Hermione feel if he started talking about his ex-girlfriend while on a date with her? However, it was the only solution to where they were going to get a drink, and after all, it wasn't as if Harry liked Cho like that anymore. He hoped Hermione knew that.
He led her down the side road and into the cramped little teashop, heading for the table in the corner. Sitting down, Hermione seemed to have forgotten about Cho as she looked appreciatively around at the décor.
"It's very nice… looks very cosy, doesn't it?"
"Yeah…"
He much preferred it without all the silly valentine's day decorations, he decided.
The waitress came over almost instantly and they each ordered their drinks, which also appeared almost instantly and they sat, sipping them happily.
"I've had a really fun day today, Harry," said Hermione, smiling. She was looking a little tanned from the sun and it made her skin glow a little. Her eyes were looking very pretty today, and it wasn't until Harry looked into them properly that he realised that she was wearing the tiniest bit of make-up. "Thank you for asking me out."
She blushed and Harry grinned.
"No problem. I've had a fun day too. We… Uh-" his grin turned shy. "We should definitely do this again."
She nodded. "I totally agree."
Their conversation carried them through three more drinks, Harry deciding after the third that he wanted ice-cream, so they shared a strawberry and chocolate sundae between them. They sat opposite each other, eating out of the large sundae with separate spoons, grinning at each other as they amused themselves.
After they'd finished their ice cream, it was getting late, and they decided that they should head back to Hogwarts. As they left the shop, the sky had turned a dusky sort of red, and the air had chilled slightly, causing Hermione to shiver as they walked lazily back through the streets of Hogsmeade. Harry smiled, and without a second thought draped his arm around her shoulders. She smiled up at him.
As they walked back through the gates in peaceful silence, Hermione snaked her arm around his back. Harry smiled serenely. This was nice, he liked doing this with Hermione, it was easy. He looked down at her, and grinned.
As they reached the castle doors, they stopped and turned to face each other, their faces glowing brighter than the setting sun. Harry linked Hermione's fingers with his, still smiling. She gripped just as tightly back.
"I had such a good time today, Harry," she said, and releasing her grip of Harry's fingers, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He wrapped his own around her back, pulling her closer.
"Me too."
They smiled, and their faces moved closer together. Harry closed his eyes, and felt Hermione's lips touch his gently, just touching, but it qualified as a kiss in his opinion. It was sweet, not the most extravagant kiss, but the feeling he got from it was amazing. It was this that made him realise that he did indeed like Hermione the way she liked him, if not more. They had just spent an amazing day together, and were now sharing such a sweet kiss, Harry felt like he wanted to keep this forever.
Hermione moved even closer to him, and pressed her lips more firmly to his, which he reciprocated without a second thought. They spent at least five minutes standing in front of the doors to the castle, their kisses growing deeper until Hermione's tongue skirted along the bottom of Harry's lip, and he happily opened his mouth to her. They kissed until the sun had fully set, when Harry felt Hermione shivering, and he insisted they go inside. They walked back to the common room in comfortable silence, Hermione holding Harry's hand all the way, and hugging his arm as he smiled at her.