Tête-à-tête

Tête-à-tête

By S’Eleene Paris seleene_paris@yahoo.com

Rated: G

Pairing(s): Harry Potter/ Hermione Granger; suggested Nyphadora Tonks / Remus Lupin

Synopsis: During the summer before their sixth year, Hermione visits Harry while he’s still at the Dursleys’ home. They end up having a private conversation about the prophecy, death, life, and love.

Disclaimer: You know if I owned the Harry Potter trademarks, series, and such I wouldn’t be writing fan fiction now would I? I’d be the lucky one being a billionairess and living comfortably in the United Kingdom. Oh, well, since the only thing I really own is the story plot, I guess I will have to make due paying off my college bill some other way.

Author’s notes: A Tête-à-tête (as defined my American Heritage Dictionary 4th edition) comes from the French language. It means (when used as a noun) a private conversation between two persons. It can also be used as an adverb or an adjective and it would be defined as: with out the intrusion of a third person. This is a short, so there is nothing else.

Special Thanks: To the gang at the Third-Floor Corridor yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thirdfloorcorridor/) for putting up with my crazy creative juices.

Early Morning rays of sunlight filtered through the glass windows belonging to the inhabitants of Privet Drive of Little Whinging, Surrey. Another unbearable hot summer day was evident due to the temperature outside already reached the low of 23 degrees Celsius. Several of the street’s inhabitants already had their air conditioners running on high including the newly installed one at number four and were pleasantly tucked away inside their homes.

All for excluding one teenaged boy who folded himself among his Aunt Petunia’s flowerbed, pulling weeds from her Lily of the Valley, Petunias, and rose bushes. He had done this not on his Uncle Vernon’s demand, but rather volunteered himself for rigorous activities such as this to keep his mind of the past years events since he did not have any school work to complete since concluded his fifth year with his O.W.L. examinations.

Harry James Potter took off his glasses and wiped the sweat from where they had rested on his cheeks. He had only begun working for an hour and his natural black hair warmed his body more than it would have if he had been born with blonde hair since black had to have a tendency to absorb rather than reflect. Today he had plans to weed, fertilize and water the flowerbeds, fill the bird feeder and bath, manicure the hedges and wash the sun room windows from the outside. He knew what ever he couldn’t finish he could continue tomorrow, but that would throw his schedule off.

This new productivity was not unnoticed by the Dursleys. Harry’s Uncle Vernon had mentioned something about it the previous evening once Harry had come inside to make dinner after mowing the lawn. “About bloody time you helped out around here, boy. With all you do around here, you would think food was free.” Harry had let this comment slide since he was too tired to argue. Instead of commenting he continued to cook dinner in silence. “What ever happened to you this year at that school of yours, should have happened a long time ago.”

Coming back too the present, Harry had to pull extra hard on a stubborn weed while noting its desire to live among his aunt’s lilies. As Harry finally released the obstinate weed, he flew backward and the dirt prayed in his face.

“Next time you decided to rip apart my flower bed, you may want to use the weeding devise your uncle bought for me last year which is sitting in the garage.” The voice of his Aunt Petunia floated in his ears. He quickly turned around and wiped the dirt from his glasses to his aunt holding a glass of water with a slice of lemon inside.

“I didn’t think I was allowed to touch your things.” Harry looked up at his aunt while taking off the gardening gloves he was wearing.

His aunt noticed the unusual gloves and asked. “What are you doing wearing those things out here where people can see you? I know they are from that school of yours. What are they made of snake skin?”

Harry looked around to make sure none of the neighbors or his uncle was in earshot. Of course they weren’t, but he did it anyway to annoy his aunt. “Dragon hide, actually.”

“Dragon hide? Why? Afraid something is going to bite your hand off? Don’t be silly. There are no such things as Dragons.”

“Actually, yes. Most magical plants require the use of gloves like these.” Harry rolled his eyes, but then cringed because he had used a “forbidden” word in the Dursley household.

“Don’t use that word.” His aunt hissed.

“Sorry.” Harry cringed as he looked back up to his aunt who was still standing above him.

“This is suppose to have been for you, but you have a visitor waiting for you in the foyer.” His aunt went back inside of the house.

“Curious.” Harry thought to himself as he stood up from the ground and followed his aunt into the house. Once inside and past the frosted glass door in between the kitchen and the foyer, he smiled at his guest. Her back was turned away from him, but he knew those locks of bushy hair. “Hermione, what are you doing here?”

Startled, Hermione swerved around to face him. “Harry!” she exclaimed as she folded him into a bone crushing hug. “Its so good to see you!”

“It’s great to see you too, Hermione.” Harry smiled as he gasped in her grasp. “Could you let go? I can’t breathe.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s alright. You still didn’t answer my question, though. What are you doing here?”

“Visiting you of course.”

“I’m not too sure how my aunt and uncle feel about that.”

Hermione giggled. “I see you have been getting some sunlight.”

Harry instinctively went to his cheek to where the rims of his owlish, round glasses would have rested since he had not put them back on since being outside. Spreading from one cheek to the other was a light sunburn. “I have been spending a lot of time outside, but I see you haven’t.”

Hermione nodded. “Professor Dumbledore send warning to me and my family a few days after we came back from Hogwarts. Somehow, Dumbledore felt that we would be much safer where he can be close to us. That’s why we have been spending a lot of time at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters.”

“How are your parents handling that?” Harry asked and then after that he had paused. Hermione sensed his hesitation and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“You know, Harry,” Hermione began, “it wasn’t your fault Sirius died. There was no way you really could have known…”

“I could have listened to you.” Harry shot at her. Harry then sighed as he leaned up against the wall. Before he said anything else, he made sure no one was in earshot. “If Voldermort is after you, shouldn’t you have a guard too?”

“Lupin and Tonks are outside waiting for me.” Hermione mentioned as she gestured toward the door. She sighed, and then took a glance over in his direction. “I saw a park on the way in. I don’t suppose you’d like to go there with me and we could talk.”

Harry’s gaze went down to his shoes and he nodded. “I’ll go and get my wand. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” He raced up the stairwell and entered the first room to his right.

Hermione’s eyes followed him up the stairwell and noted the half-a-dozen locks on the outside of his bedroom door. Mad-eye, Tonks, Fred, George, and Ron all had warned her about his aunt and uncle. Not to mention hearing several stories from Harry himself. She never in her wildest dreams thought they were true. “This has to be some kind of abuse, really. Emotional neglect? I will have to look this up at the library.” Hermione thought as Harry came down the stairs a moment later. “Ready then?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Harry said as he stepped down on the last stair. He pulled on the lever to open the door then the two of them exited the house. Lupin and Tonks greeted them.

“Watcher, Harry.”

“Hi, Harry.”

“Hi.” Harry gave an attempt to smile, but it failed miserably.

“Are the muggles treating you alright?” Lupin asked eyeing his physical condition. “You looked flushed.”

“It’s a sunburn. I’ve been spending a lot of time outside.” Harry admitted as the four of them headed down the street toward the park. “I’ve been doing some yard work.”

“If you’re sure.” Lupin didn’t look convinced.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” The four of them stayed quiet until they reached the park.

“We’ll stay here.” Tonks mentioned when they reached the gate. “You two go ahead.”

Once Harry and Hermione were out of earshot, Lupin sighed. “I thought we were suppose to be watching them closely.”

“We are.” Tonks smiled at the two teenaged wizards. “We’re just out of earshot. Let them have a moment alone, at least. After what happened last year he deserves a few moments alone with her. You never know what will happen, you know. There might be a wedding one-day. Besides, she seems to be only one of the few people to get him to talk about what’s eating him.”

Remus lifted an eyebrow at Tonks at her comment about a wedding, and then grew serious. “I don’t blame him for what happened to Sirius. I need to tell him that.”

“And you will, Remus. Right now, let’s let him grieve in private.” Tonks patted him on the shoulder. She took a moment to look up the street to see if anyone was looking. Once she was sure no muggles were paying attention, she quickly changed her hair color from bright bubblegum pink to natural black and the length of her hair changed from short and spiked to mid-back length and straight.

“You know, Nyphadora, You do look rather lovely in your natural form.” Remus mentioned shyly as he leaned against the gate.

“It’s Tonks, Remus.” The metemorphamagis blushed.

*****

Harry reclined on the swing watched Lupin and Tonks talk. Hermione said at first nothing as she watched him. “Lupin doesn’t blame you, Harry. No one does.”

“They should. It was my fault. I as good as killed him. Not to mention hurt you.”

“Harry, it was Sirius’ own choice to come after you.” Hermione sighed. “As for my own injuries, I still don’t blame you for that either.”

“Again it was my fault. I’m always the reason you get hurt.” Harry starred off in the opposite direction as the two of them sat on the swings. “I wasn’t just you wither it was Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Ron.”

“You have a really short memory, Harry. We all wanted to go with you. You wanted us to stay behind, but we all went anyway.”

“Because you wanted to know what it was like to go against Voldermort.” Harry sighed. “Well, now you know.”

“Yes and we all agreed we wanted to do everything in our power to help you defeat him.” Hermione looked over at him. “I promise you, Harry, that you will defeat him.”

“That’s just it, Hermione. I have to defeat him. I have to kill or be killed and frankly I would rather do neither.”

“Harry, what are you talking about?”

“The prophecy.”

“I thought the prophecy was destroyed in the Ministry of Magic.”

“With my luck, what was destroyed in the Ministry of Magic was only the recording. It had been reveled by Professor Trelawney to Professor Dumbledore before I was born.” Harry began to kick the dirt under the swing. “It was either me or Neville and it is obvious who drew the short straw.”

“You or Neville?” Hermione chortled. “I think Voldermort chose wisely. You’re definitely the more powerful wizard.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Hermione.” Harry chuckled, and then grew serious. “He chose me because I was the biggest threat. According to Dumbledore, I am his equal. Merlin, Hermione, our wand cores come from the same bird! Fawkes of all creatures!”

“You’re wand core is from the headmaster’s phoenix?” Hermione asked and Harry nodded. Hermione was quiet for a moment and Harry knew she was thinking about what she was going to say next. “His Equal? Harry that would make sense. You’re both technically “half-bloods” because your mother was a muggle born witch.” Harry’s silence and lack of response prompted Hermione to change the topic. “So, you and Cho…”

“Cho and I are done.” Harry kicked the dirt under the swing. “I think maybe it would be a good idea if I don’t get too involved with anyone considering the prophecy.”

“You’re horrible, Harry.” Hermione stood up and stormed away.

“How can I be horrible, Hermione?” Harry stormed after her. “B not getting involved with her keeps her away from Voldermort’s eye which means she’ll be protected against any attack he could plan against her.”

Hermione violently swiveled to face the svelte boy. “But Harry, I am already a target…” Hermione growled at him before she realized he had heard her.

“What did you say?” Harry blinked in disbelief. Hermione was not able to articulate the words and Harry’s eyes bulged. “That’s what I thought you said.” Harry paused, his mouth still agape from the revelation. “How long?”

“How long, what?”

“How long have these feelings been going on? How long have you known you’ve been in love with me?”

“Third year, then fourth.”

“Then fourth what?”

Hermione huffed, for what seemed like the hundredth time today. Her cheeks grew red with embarrassment as she explained the situation. “I have had feelings for you since third year and I’ve known about them since fourth.” Hermione would have rolled her eyes at the boy’s ignorance if had not been her that had been confessing. Instead she looked at her shoes like they were the most important and interesting things in the world. “I know it’s not how it’s suppose to be, but you cannot help who you fall in love with.”

Harry said nothing, but lifted her chin with his finger. His eyes locked with hers and his fingers moved to her cheek. His fingers became his palm and his simple touch became a caress. Realization hit Harry like a ton of hippogriffs landing on top of him; after all those years and after all those adventures they had together, he did not love the girl like he thought he did. Brother / sisterly love was not the way he loved her after all. “This isn’t the way I wanted you to find out.” Hermione continued cautiously once he did not respond verbally. “I was thinking it would be something more graceful. Not to mention something a little more romantic. Maybe something like stargazing in the Astronomy tower, or sitting up late at night by the fire in the Gryffindor common room fireplace, or even down by the lake under that willow tree. Anything other than after your Godfather dying…”

Harry continued to stare into her eyes, but his hand wandered to a few of her curly stray hairs. His face closed in on hers and soon he lightly kissed her lips. The initial kiss was short, but when she regained his eye contact he huffed. “This is going to be bit of a problem isn’t it?”

The female Gryffindor smiled and chuckled. “I never thought I would come across the day there would be a problem the Great Harry Potter couldn’t handle.”

This finally got a smile out of the Gryffindor boy. “It won’t be a problem if I know you would help me through it.”

Hermione nodded her response and Harry leaned down again to capture his lips again with his own. Before their kiss could go too much farther, the cheering coming from Tonks interrupted them. “Go Harry!”

Harry let go of the kiss in enough time to catch a glimpse of Remus rolling his eyes at her interrupting the moment. “Nyphadora! Would you please stop drawing attention to yourself.”

Harry blushed so scarlet; his cheeks turned the complete shade of his sunburn. Hermione looked at him and chuckled. “I guess she saw it coming.”

“Remus did too.” Hermione continued chuckling. “As did so many others. Maybe they were just staying out of the way until we figured it out.”

“Well, were do we go from here?” Harry asked her as he took her hand and kissed it.

“There is no way we can go back to what we had before.” Hermione mentioned, as she looked back at Remus and Tonks. “I guess the only way we can go. Forward. The only question is are you ready?”

Contemplating his answer, Harry stood silent and stared into her eyes. An inward battle was going on inside Harry Potter and Hermione saw it in his eyes. “I am not sure if anyone is really ready, Hermione. It just sort of hits you like a bolt of lightning, but not matter what happens I know I can face it because you are with me.”

Hermione smiled as she wrapped her arms around him once again. “Wow, Harry. I never really pictured you as a hopeless romantic.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about me, Hermione Granger. I just hope the sorting hat wasn’t right about you really belonging in Ravenclaw and you would be brave enough to figure things out.”

“Is that a challenge, Mister Potter,” Hermione smirked, “because I don’t back down from them.”

“You could take it that way.” Harry smirked back at her. He offered her his hand and together they walked toward the gate to where Remus and Tonks were standing waiting for them. “I just hope you know what you got yourself into.”

“Oh, I do, Mister Potter.” Hermione smirked back up at him. “Oh, I do.”

*****

End.