For You

Hi again. Another short one-shot for you. Wrote this for a friend of mine (yes, you know who you are!) who was a bit down one day. She’s been bugging me to post it ever since. So here it is! Please R/R!

Disclaimer: It still all belongs to JKR…

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For You

End of seventh year had come way too soon. The end of May saw the last trip of the year to Hogsmeade, and with exams fast approaching, the students were looking forward to getting out of the castle and away from the stress.

Harry was pacing back and forth in the Gryffindor common room, waiting (im)patiently for his girlfriend to join him. Everyone else had already left, anxious to get to Honeydukes and all the other places Hogwarts students invaded on their trips to the village.

Harry checked his watch for the sixth time in 20 minutes. Where in the blazes is she? he wondered. He glanced up the stairs and let out a breath. He was antsy. There was a new broom he wanted to look at and he was anxious to get going.

He took a step up the staircase. “Hermione?” he called.

“Be down in a minute,” came the response.

Harry nodded. You said that 10 minutes ago! He fell down onto the couch in front of the fireplace and put his head back, closing his eyes.

A smile crept onto his face. He was happy. For the first time in his life, he was at peace. He had defeated Voldemort nearly a month ago to the day, and now he was free to graduate, live his own life, look forward to a career, a family…it was all he ever wanted.

He suddenly felt a pair of small, warm hands cover his eyes. “Whatcha thinking about?” came the soft voice in his ear.

The smile on his face widened. “What do you think I’m thinking about?” he responded.

“Better be your girlfriend, Potter.”

Harry laughed and moved to stand up. When he turned to face her, his mouth hit the floor.

“What?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious about the outfit she had chosen to wear. She had wanted to look nice for him when they went to Hogsmeade, but perhaps she had overdone it.

“Um,” Harry stammered, eyeing her up and down, his eyes finally meeting hers. “Wow.”

Hermione smiled, looking down at herself, straightening out a wrinkle in her skirt. “You like it?” she asked, twirling around. Harry felt his mouth begin to water. The skirt was a tasteful length, stopping just below her knee, but when she spun around, it flared out about her and he got a nice glimpse of her gorgeous legs.

“Um, would ‘most definitely’ work for you?” he asked.

She giggled and stepped up to him, gently putting her finger below his chin and closing his gaping mouth. “I could live with that,” she said, kissing him softly.

As he put his arms around her waist, his stomach fluttered as his fingers made contact with her bare skin. The shirt she was wearing was loose fitting and stopped just above her bellybutton, showing off her flat, tight stomach. He nuzzled her neck and placed light kisses along the column of her throat. “I have to take you out right now,” he said between kisses.

“Oh?” she said, closing her eyes and tilting her head back slightly to give him better access, clutching at his shoulders. “And why is that?”

He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. “Because I want to show every guy at this school what they can’t have.”

Hermione blushed. “Why, Mr. Potter, how completely caveman of you,” she teased.

He chuckled and pulled her against him in a tight hug. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He took her hand and they nearly ran out through the portrait hole.

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Finally arriving at Hogsmeade, Harry and Hermione walked hand-in-hand down the main street, pausing briefly to glance in windows and to say hello to friends as they passed. After a quick lunch at the Hogshead, they headed off towards the book store. A new book Hermione had wanted for ages had finally come out and Harry had promised to buy it for her.

While she was perusing through the store, and after a quick kiss on the top of her head, Harry dashed across the street to the Quidditch store. The new Firebolt model was out and he just had to see it.

He had run into Ron and Seamus and while they were excitedly drooling over the newest gaming broomstick, someone had come up behind Harry and wrapped their arms around his waist.

Harry jumped at the contact; it didn’t feel like Hermione, and he wanted to know who had touched him so intimately. He spun around and found himself face to face with…Cho.

“Hi, Harry,” she said sweetly.

Ron and Seamus looked at her, like they couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to do that. “Cho,” he said flatly, removing her hands from around his middle.

She looked at him, mildly surprised. She certainly hadn’t expected him to rebuff her. “How are you?”

“Fine, thank you,” he said coldly.

“So,” she said, glancing at Ron and Seamus, and ignoring the hateful stares from them, “you graduate soon, uh?”

“Yes,” Harry said, “in three weeks.”

Cho smiled. “Then what?”

Harry’s brow crinkled in question. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “We’re going to take some time off and travel for a bit,” he explained. “Then she’s going into training to become a healer, and I’ve thought about Auror training….”

“She?” Cho asked, interrupting him. “Oh. So you have a girlfriend then?”

Harry nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh.” The answer was cold. “So who is it?”

“Hermione, of course,” Seamus piped in. Ron half snorted, then quickly covered his mouth.

Cho looked at both of them, then back up at Harry. “Really.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. “I didn’t think you’d settle for someone like her.” Seamus and Ron’s mouths fell open. She did not just insult Hermione in front of Harry, did she?

“Someone like her?” Harry asked through clenched teeth.

“You know,” Cho said, nonchalantly. “She’s so plain and ordinary. Sure, she’s smart and all, but not very pretty, and….”

“Hey!” Ron shouted before he could stop himself.

Harry took a dangerous step towards Cho. He was a towering 6’1” now, and he loomed over her like a huge, black bat. “You’d better just stop right there.”

He could tell she was flustered, but she stared up at him defiantly. “You deserve better than that, Harry,” she said seriously. “Someone who’s more elegant, more well-respected….”

“Oh, boy,” Seamus breathed from behind Ron, whose ears were turning red in anger.

“I didn’t realize you had such a high opinion of yourself, Cho,” Harry said, his anger now full-blown. “It’s a shame, really.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “If you were half as pretty on the inside as you think you are on the outside, you wouldn’t be a half-bad person.” He looked at Ron and Seamus who were trying not to laugh. “See you guys later,” he said, and with another disgusted look at Cho, he turned to leave the shop.

“Harry, wait,” she said, running after him and grabbing his arm.

He spun around on her and yanked his arm from her grip. “Do not touch me,” he said, his voice even and dangerous.

“Are you sure you don’t want to, I don’t know, maybe go for a butterbeer or something?” she asked him.

Harry looked at her, stunned. “I don’t believe you,” he said incredulously.

“Oh, come off it, Harry,” Cho said. “You can do so much better than her. You need someone….”

“What could you possibly know about what I need?” Harry asked her, his anger rising.

“You liked me once,” she said assuredly.

“I had a crush on you,” Harry corrected her. “And to this day, I still don’t know what I saw in you.” Cho was silent. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find my girlfriend.” He stormed around her and left the shop.

Cho stood there, angry tears in her eyes. She glanced up at Ron and Seamus who were trying to keep their attention on the new Firebolt while at the same time trying not to laugh.

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Harry walked across the street just as Hermione was coming out of the book store, her arms full of new books. Harry shook his head and smiled. “You amaze me,” he said, taking half of them from her.

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for this,” she said, showing him the spine of the book he had bought for her. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this one.”

“I know you have,” Harry said, as they started off down the street. “How about a sundae?”

“Sure,” Hermione said, glancing over at the Quidditch store. “Did you see the broomstick?”

“Oh, yeah,” Harry said, “and no, I didn’t buy it,” he teased, knowing she was going to ask.

She just giggled. “Don’t know what you would have done with it anyway. You have your Firebolt under lock and key and surrounded by so many protection charms. Why on earth would you want to replace it?”

“Well, actually,” Harry confessed, “I did buy one…for Ron’s graduation present.” Hermione stopped and stared at him. “What?” She put the rest of her books in his arms and reached up to kiss him while he tried to balance the new weight.

“You are too sweet, Harry,” she said admiringly, her eyes shining with love for him.

Harry couldn’t believe it, but he actually felt himself blushing. “Come on,” he said, readjusting the weight in his arms and starting to walk again. She followed him.

At the ice cream shoppe, they sat at a small table outside with a huge chocolate and raspberry sundae between them. The books were stacked in the empty chair beside Hermione. “We’ll have to come back here after we graduate,” Harry said, putting a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. “I can’t live without this.”

Hermione nodded as Harry reached across the table to wipe off some whipped cream that had strayed to the side of her mouth. He was pulling his hand away when Hermione grabbed his wrist, and sucked his finger into her mouth, tasting the whipped cream on his finger.

Harry groaned and closed his eyes. “You are going to be the death of me, woman,” he said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as Hermione released his finger. He leaned closer to her so their noses were barely touching. “How on earth do you expect me to wait, when you keep me doing stuff like that to me?”

“Stuff like what, Harry?” she asked innocently.

“Ugh!” Harry explained, sitting back. Resting her elbow on the table, Hermione put her chin on her palm and batted her eyelashes at him.

He let out a frustrated breath and his eye suddenly caught something across the street. “What?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.

He suddenly got up and walked into the small shop. Hermione waited for a few minutes until he came out again, holding something behind his back. She looked at him suspiciously as he took his seat across from her. “What do you have there?”

From behind his back, he pulled out a perfect single white rose. Hermione gasped. Her hand began to tremble as she reached forward for it.

Harry pulled it back slightly and her hand stopped in midair. He leaned closer to her and kissed her softly. Then he sat back and held it out for her. “For you.”

With tears stinging her eyes, Hermione smiled as she took it from him. While across the street, standing alone, with her arms folded across her chest, Cho Chang frowned as she watched them.