Conversation on a Hill

jardyn39

Rating: PG
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 12/07/2005
Last Updated: 12/07/2005
Status: completed

It is almost time for the OWL results, but Harry’s off on a sponsored walk in aid of the house elves. The walk ends with Harry having to be pulled from a raging river. The results arrive and Hermione wants to know why he’s less than enthusiastic about knowing his results. Soon, though, he may just want to throw himself back in again.

Chapters

1. Conversation on a Hill

1. Conversation on a Hill

Conversation on a Hill

by Jardyn39

Summary

It is almost time for the OWL results, but Harry’s off on a sponsored walk in aid of the house elves. The walk ends with Harry having to be pulled from a raging river. The results arrive and Hermione wants to know why he’s less than enthusiastic about knowing his results. Soon, though, he may just want to throw himself back in again.

Conversation on a Hill, in a Living Room

Ron Weasley sat up in bed staring at the plain unopened envelope that a large brown barn owl had just dropped onto his bedclothes. Pig was still fluttering madly around the room in his usual state of high excitement.

He took a deep steadying breath, closed his eyes and opened the envelope. He pulled out the single piece of folded paper inside and dropped the envelope.

After a moment spent composing himself, Ron opened the paper out.

He waited a few more moments and finally concluded that he wouldn’t be able to tell how badly he’d done in his OWL examinations, unless he opened his eyes.

A single piece of paper.

He honestly didn’t know whether that was good or bad. He never bothered to look and Bill or Charlie’s results. Percy would never have trusted his results to anyone and Fred and George hadn’t been too keen to discuss theirs at the time.

He turned the paper over a few times and then decided he ought to take a peek.

He opened his right eye the barest amount. There was definitely writing of some kind.

Ron tried again, for longer this time; long enough to realise he was holding the paper upside down.

He turned the paper over.

He was just about to read it properly when there was a loud rap on the door.

Ron opened his eyes in alarm and stuffed the letter under his bedclothes.

“Ron,” cried his mother. “I’m going shopping in half an hour, so if you want me to cook you breakfast, get up now!”

“Yeah, okay, Mum. Thanks,” he replied at once, his heart pounding.

He heard her going back downstairs. Once it was quiet again, he brought the letter gradually out into the light again.

He held the letter close to his chest with one hand and slowly pulled the paper out. He read with his chin tucked down on his chest line by line.

“Hogwarts, blah, blah,” he muttered before pulling out a further inch or so.

“Dear Mr Weasley, We are pleased to advise, etc.” he continued.

He pulled a little further until the tops of the first subject characters were visible.

He was trying to determine exactly what the subject was, just by looking at the tops of the taller letters, when he realised that the pass mark appeared to be an, “A.”

Acceptable!

Encouraged, he pulled again to reveal the subject to be, “Charms.”

“Well, that’s one,” Ron said to himself, feeling a pique of curiosity at last.

He pulled the top of the letter again.

“No way,” he whispered, reading the “E” mark against his Defence Against the Dark Arts.

“Wow, thanks, Harry. I owe you, mate,” he breathed, pulling quicker now.

The next mark was an, “A,” for Transfiguration and after that another, “A” for Astronomy.

That was it. Ron had beaten Fred and George. Realising that was all that really mattered to him, he pulled the entire results paper into the open and quickly scanned the remainder.

One “P.” He’d failed Divination. No surprise there.

The rest were all, “A.”

Ron rested the paper down a moment to gather his thoughts. His results weren’t as good as Bill or Percy had got, but then again he hadn’t taken as many subjects as them. He wasn’t too sure, but he may have marginally edged Charlie though.

If he was honest with himself, Ron was actually very pleased with his results. They were far better than he’d expected, really, but were they good enough to become an Auror?

He knew he really needed a few more, “E,” grades and he hadn’t any, “O” passes.

“Well,” said Ron to himself and throwing off the bedclothes, “they are good enough to try for NEWTS, anyway.”

Ron pulled his dressing gown on, grabbed his crumpled results and headed down for breakfast.

*

The house was strangely quiet after his mother had gone to the shops. Dad was at work and Ginny was out somewhere. His other brothers had all moved out anyway.

Ron placed his dirty plate in the sink and thought about his mother’s reaction to his exam results.

She had seemed genuinely surprised that he’d got so many passes, saying she thought it wonderful that he'd be staying on a school and not getting a job.

Ron had already had a discussion with his father about whether or not he should get a job and not bother with NEWTS.

His dad had said he should try and get as far as he could with his education as early as possible.

Ron, of course, had worried that they might not be able to afford his staying on two more years.

Ron’s thoughts then turned to Harry and Hermione, wondering what results they had got.

Realising this was a good excuse to write, Ron headed upstairs to draft out a couple of letters for Pig to deliver.

It was only when he got to his desk that he realised, with a grin, what day it was.

*

Harry Potter was sure his lips had turned blue with cold. He stamped his feet again, trying to get some feeling back.

Harry wiped the drizzling cold rain from his glasses, wishing that Hermione’s charm to resist driving rain hadn’t worn off.

At least the wind had dropped a little, he thought to himself.

To his side, Hermione was studying her plastic covered Ordnance Survey map intently, not that it was doing them much good at the moment. It was difficult to tell where you were when the mist came down to obscure everything.

They were standing on a wide stone path that was winding up a steep, grass covered hill.

Harry was hoping the rising sun would burn off the mist so they could get their bearings. He knew he should have been more forceful instead of allowing Hermione to march them off.

Not that he blamed Hermione.

No, this was clearly all Ron’s fault; and no doubt Ron was even now having a good chuckle at his expense.

A warm, dry chuckle, at that.

When Hermione had written to Harry asking for sponsorship for her walk in aid of the House Elves, he had agreed at once.

He also agreed to sponsor Ron too. Ron had contrived to forward his sponsor sheet with Harry’s name on it.

In the event, support for the event could best be described as lacklustre, with only Harry and Hermione doing the walk and Harry, Hermione and her parents being the only sponsors.

Harry had tentatively suggested that he didn’t mind paying, even if they didn’t actually do the walk. Hermione hadn’t agreed though, saying the House Elves needed to be shown that people are prepared to go to an effort for them and, besides, her mum and dad had sponsored them to walk.

Hermione had researched thoroughly everything there was to know about orienteering.

Mr and Mrs Granger had dropped them off at a small campsite the day before where they attended an orientation course where the dangers of being caught in bad weather were stressed.

The plan was that Harry and Hermione would meet with Mr and Mrs Granger at an agreed car park. They themselves would not be walking with them as they planned to visit some relatives in the area. Harry also suspected they didn’t fancy camping out in the cold.

Harry was surprised just how cold it had been last night, even though it was in the middle of summer. He wondered if it was the slightly higher altitude.

Hermione had been keen to make an early start, and so they had left the campsite before dawn.

They had made very good progress, initially, but the sudden poor weather hampered their progress.

Another factor was the weight of the heavy gear they were carrying. Quite quickly, Harry realised that it would take them a good deal longer than planned to complete the walk.

Hermione was squinting out into the mist.

“Is that the outline of a hill?” she asked. “If it is, I thing we could be here,” she said pointing down to the map.

Hermione shivered visibly and cried in annoyance, “Argh! We shouldn’t have taken that shortcut. If we’d just followed the longer path, we’d know where we were!”

“Come on,” said Harry gently, taking her hand. She was colder than he was.

“Let’s keep moving. There is only one path anyway, and if we stay still we’ll just get even colder.”

“Okay,” she agreed and they set off, still hand in hand.

“I’m really sorry, Harry,” she said miserably.

“Don’t be, Hermione. If I have to be wet through, stranded on the side of a mountain in the freezing cold, there’s no one I’d rather be with.”

Hermione snorted and he grinned at her.

“Actually, this is only a hill. Mountains have to be over a certain altitude at the peak to count.”

They reached a bend and paused, both looking with a little trepidation as the path’s progress continued up the hill.

Harry lifted Hermione’s hand up so he could see her wristwatch.

“It’s still early,” he said encouragingly, pulling her along up the path.

They spoke infrequently on the climb, both breathing deeply through their exertions.

At long last, the path levelled off.

“Let’s rest for a moment,” suggested Harry, pulling Hermione over to what looked like a small vantage point.

They sat on the edge, their feet dangling over a convenient drop. It looked like the ground had fallen away slightly at that point.

Wet as they were, they weren’t bothered at all about the wet grass they were sitting on. Their bright waterproofs would have been great had they not been wet on the insides as well.

“Oh, look Harry!” exclaimed Hermione, grabbing his arm.

Bright shards of sunlight broke over the horizon, lighting up the valley far below. The mist began to rise at once.

“I can’t believe how quickly the mist is going. Look, you can see almost across the valley now!”

Hermione grabbed the map.

“I can’t see where we are, Harry.”

Harry looked down and pointed, having recognised the emerging shape of the valley.

“Gosh, we’re miles away from where I’d thought we’d be.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Harry. “Look, we can follow this road. It hits a main road at the end of the valley. It won’t be a picturesque walk, but it won’t be too much farther.”

Harry got up and pulled Hermione to her feet.

“I think we should get moving while there’s a break in the weather,” said Harry.

Hermione nodded and Harry took her hand again.

“Up for a run down the hill?” he asked with a grin.

“No!” she screamed as he jokingly made to pull her down the steep path.

Just then a Land Rover passed them and screeched to a halt, its wheels locking and sliding along the stony path. It was a fluorescent orange mountain rescue vehicle and they had only just heard it coming.

“You okay?” shouted someone from the passenger side.

They quickly approached the van.

“We’re fine thanks,” said Harry.

“The weather reports indicate that heavy rain and low cloud cover are on their way. You should have time to get down to the main road, but please don’t hang around. Remember to stay together if you get lost.”

“Yes, we remember from the course,” Hermione began to say, but the van was already moving.

“Let’s go,” said Harry.

“I wonder how many people will be caught out in the open,” said Hermione, looking out over the valley.

*

It took them an entire hour to get to the end of the path, and by that time it was pouring with rain and the wind was picking up.

It wasn’t so bad for them at the moment, as they were walking under a canopy of trees as they approached the main road.

“Harry, look up there!”

Harry looked where she was pointing and gently pulled the map from Hermione’s fingers.

“I think that was where we were sitting,” he said smiling.

They stood for a moment, looking up and the hill. They had followed the path down onto the valley, and now were looking up from the other side. In contrast to the wet grass that covered the rest of the hill, the side they were looking up at was almost a shear rock face.

They hadn’t seen anything for the mist, but they had been sitting at the very edge. Had they slipped, there would have been nothing but a long drop straight down until they hit the rocks below.

“Do you think that side was once quarried?” asked Harry.

“Possibly,” said Hermione, her voice sounding a little shaky, “but it looks more like a landslide to me.”

Harry took her hand again and squeezed gently.

“Come on. All we have to do is follow the path beside the river until we get to the main road. We might even be able to catch a bus from there.”

Hermione appeared to perk up hearing this, and they went on their way.

*

The river was in full flow, almost at the point when it would burst its banks. Stepping stones were submerged but the water was gushing up in high sprays when the continuous waves hit.

“We haven’t got to cross this, have we?” asked Hermione.

“I hope not. I think there is a bridge up ahead.”

The rain was getting harder now, and Harry could tell that Hermione was beginning to tire. They had been moving faster than was comfortable in these conditions for some time now.

Still, at least they were off the hill now, he mused.

Harry looked back up at the hill. Dark angry looking clouds completely obscured the top of the hill now.

He could just about see specks of yellow and red moving down on the other side of the valley. It looked like other walkers had been caught out too and were hurrying down.

Harry turned and said, “Hermione, give me your rucksack.”

“No, Harry. It’s too heavy, especially now everything is soaked.”

“It’s too heavy for you. Look, let me carry it for a while to give you a rest. If it gets too much for me and we still need to hurry, we’ll abandon it.”

Hermione hesitated for a moment, but then undid the straps at the front. Harry heaved it off her shoulders.

This was the lighter of the two rucksacks, but Harry wasn’t sure how long he would be able to carry it, especially with such cold hands. He was amazed that Hermione had got this far with it.

“Take out what we can’t afford to lose,” said Harry.

Hermione quickly checked but almost immediately said she had everything. Clearly, she had considered abandoning the kit before then.

They walked on, and Harry said, “I was looking forward to a picnic lunch, actually.”

“Warm soup in a café would be better.”

“True, but I wasn’t really thinking about the food.”

“No?”

“No. I must admit,” said Harry, stumbling slightly on a wet stone, “that when you sent me that sponsor form, the first thing I thought about was perhaps getting the chance to talk to you.”

“You can talk to me anytime, Harry.”

“True,” he agreed with a laugh, transferring Hermione’s rucksack to his other hand. The metal frame was particularly cold against his bare skin, drawing the little heat remaining from his stiff wet fingers. He moved around to take Hermione’s other hand with his free one.

Their conversation was somewhat protracted, as each of them needed to take several deep breaths before replying.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Hey, there is a bridge!”

They emerged from the trees and, in the full force of the heavy rain, climbed up towards the humped back bridge.

They stood together on the top of the stone bridge and watched the torrent of the river raging below.

“What are those people doing, Harry?”

Harry looked up, trying to wipe his glasses. He could barely see for all the rain. Further up the river, in the direction from where they’d just come, Harry could just about see three yellow and one orange blur. They appeared to be in the middle of the river.

Then he realised.

“They are taking quite a chance using those stepping stones in this flow. They were almost submerged when we passed them,” said Hermione.

As they watched, one of the yellow shaped dipped and then vanished.

Harry threw off his rucksack, realising he only had seconds to catch whoever had fallen.

“Harry, the river is flowing too fast! You’ll be carried away as well!”

Harry wasn’t listening.

“Shout if you see them!” he commanded, scanning the frothing waters for any sign.

Then he saw them. For a fraction of a second, a bright yellow arm popped out of the water a few yards before the bridge.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Harry vaulted the rock wall and plunged into the freezing water.

*

Harry couldn’t believe the force of the water, trying to pull him under and away.

The water wasn’t that deep, possibly no more than three feet, but the velocity was extraordinary.

Luckily, Harry found himself pinned against a submerged boulder. He was just considering what he should do next, when he saw a submerged yellow figure pass him.

Harry instinctively reached out and grabbed them. Unfortunately, as a result of this he lost his footing and the pair of them were pushed along under the water. Harry caught a glimpse of the dark underside of the bridge.

Then it was light again and they slammed into another submerged boulder.

Harry held on, determined not to let them go. In all the buffeting from the water, Harry could not tell if they were conscious or not.

The water felt almost warm. Certainly warmer than out exposed to the wind, anyway.

Harry tried to raise them both, but it was quickly apparent that the water current was far too strong for him.

He vaguely thought they had been pushed to the side, possibly nearer the bank. He heaved the body up out of the water with the last of his strength. Harry knew he was running out of time. He hadn’t taken a breath for ages and he was sure the force of the water would overcome him sooner rather than later.

Harry gave one more last push, trying to give the person the best chance he could. He had no idea at all whether this person was a man, woman or child. It didn’t matter now. He knew he didn’t have the strength to pull himself out, but perhaps they were high enough out of the water to stand a chance.

Suddenly Harry felt the body being ripped violently from his grip.

Harry turned, arms flailing around in a desperate attempt to reach them again. In his shock, he had taken in some water. He fought the impulse to cough, knowing if he did so, all the air he had left would be gone.

Harry felt himself hammered against the boulder one last time before he lost consciousness.

Just before darkness overcame him, he thought he heard Hermione’s cry.

Then he was violently pulled away.

*

Harry regained consciousness as soon as his head emerged from the waters. He was being dragged out of the river by someone of extraordinary strength.

He felt many hands grab his clothes and pull him onto the grass bank.

Harry immediately began coughing up water.

“This one’s fine. Give him a moment to catch his breath. How’s the kid?”

“We’ve revived him, but it looks like he’s got a few broken bones and a nasty head cut.”

Panting, Harry turned over onto his back. His glasses were gone, presumably at the bottom of the river. He weakly held up his hand.

Hermione immediately grabbed it and sobbed loudly.

“You okay?” he asked weakly.

Hermione nodded, leaning down until their foreheads touched.

“Hey,” he said gently, stroking her cheek with his other hand.

Harry heard thumping footsteps approaching and Hermione rose up again.

“Right, let’s get this young man checked out. Tell me when it hurts.”

Harry was vaguely aware of an oily looking deep orange blur that had dropped down next to them.

“Thank you so much,” said Hermione. “I can’t believe you had the strength to pull them both out like that.”

Harry felt his limbs being patted down in a methodical fashion, followed by firm pressure to each of his ribs.

“Well, the kid was light and almost out thanks to this one. No bones broken, from what I can tell. Let’s have him up.”

Harry was about to protest, but he was grabbed by his shoulder and hoisted up to his feet. Feeling annoyed, Harry shrugged himself free just in time to receive a friendly slap on his back that almost winded him again.

“Now listen here,” said the unfocussed man with an unmistakable grin. “Today is not a good day to go for a swim in this river. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen you dive in with my own eyes. Well done,” he added with an encouraging squeeze of Harry’s shoulder, “the kid will be fine.”

“You were lucky we found the pair of you so quickly, though. You have your girlfriend here to thank for that.”

The man turned to check on the others. The boy’s family had got there by now and it looked like they would be receiving some stern words about how sensible it was to attempt a river crossing when the water was so high.

“He’s as strong as Hagrid,” whispered Harry.

Hermione enveloped him in a hug which Harry returned. They were both shaking with cold.

As they stood there, someone came up and wrapped a large blanket around them both.

*

“I wish I had my glasses,” said Harry, shivering, “then I could hear what they are saying.”

Hermione snorted and huddled up closer, tugging on the warm, mostly dry blankets.

They were both sitting in the back of Mr and Mrs Granger’s parked car, sipping scolding hot drinks. Mr Granger had left the engine running with the heater going full blast, much to their appreciation.

The warmth in the car was beginning to mellow Harry’s bad mood.

They had been driven the short distance down to the lower car park which happened to be the one they’d arranged to meet Hermione’s parents. They had been quite shocked to pull up just as Harry and Hermione disembarked from the emergency vehicle.

Hermione had been whisked off by her mother behind the stone tourist information hut and Harry intended to wait and change behind there afterwards. Unfortunately, Mr Granger had other ideas.

As soon as Hermione and her mother were out of view, he ordered Harry out of his wet things. Harry knew he needed to get out his wet clothes. He was shaking violently from the cold, but he really didn’t feel he had to suffer the indignity and embarrassment of changing in full view of everyone, not that anyone was actually paying them the slightest attention.

Harry’s rescuer overheard his objections and marched over to lend Mr Granger a hand.

Had he known that he would actually feel warmer standing in his underwear in the pouring rain, Harry probably wouldn’t have struggled so much. Not that his struggles amounted to much; being numb with cold was hampering his efforts slightly.

They finished helping him just as Mrs Granger and Hermione returned.

Stifling a grin, Mrs Granger wrapped him in a warm blanket and persuaded them into the back of the car to warm up.

Harry glanced over to Hermione who was looking at him. Some of his indignant expression must have remained because she dissolved into laughter.

At last, Harry’s scowl turned into a sheepish smile.

“I think Mum’s trying to get you off,” said Hermione, once she’d calmed.

“Get me off what?” Harry asked, feeling suddenly nervous.

“Oh, it’s an old Bylaw, but Mum was saying to me earlier that they take that kind of thing very seriously around here.”

“What did I do?”

“Um, it’s not really what you did. It’s just that you have to be properly equipped to go hiking in these areas. You’ve seen how unpredictable the weather is.”

“But we did have all the right equipment!”

“I thought so, certainly.”

“So what did we forget?”

Hermione bit her lower lip and put on a slightly pained expression.

“I’m sorry, Harry. It really never even occurred to me that you’d be climbing in such terrible underwear.”

“Well, these were Dudley’s. They are all I’ve got and-”

Harry stopped abruptly seeing the grin spread across Hermione’s face.

“Ha. Ha,” he said gently. “I think you must be warming up.”

Hermione laughed silently, almost shaking the car.

“I’m surprised they fit you, being Dudley’s, I mean.”

“He was twelve when he discarded these, actually. They’ve only just begun to fit me. Can we change the subject?”

Hermione smiled and snuggled up to him.

“So, what did you want to talk about? You were about to tell me before we got to the bridge.”

The front two doors of the car opened and Mr and Mrs Granger climbed in, quickly slamming them cold. In the brief time the doors were opened, almost all the warm air escaped. Harry and Hermione gave identical shudders, recoiling slightly under the blankets.

“You two beginning to warm up?” asked Mr Granger, turning in his seat.

“Yes, thanks,” they both answered.

“We tried to get some rooms for tonight so you could get warm properly, but everywhere is booked. It’s the height of the summer season. The closest place with any vacancies is miles away,” Mrs Granger explained apologetically.

“Let’s just go home, Mum,” said Hermione.

Harry could see them both nod, but without his glasses he couldn’t see their expressions properly. They turned back to put their seat belts on. Hermione did the same. Harry placed their empty drink cups down and pulled the belt across him. He shivered as the cold material touched his bare shoulder.

Mr Granger put the car in gear and pulled slowly out of the small car park.

As they passed the mountain rescue crew packing their equipment away, an imposing figure stepped out in front of their vehicle.

He stepped around to the side and opened the rear door next to Hermione before leaning in.

“Just wanted to say ‘bye,” he said in a deep voice, extending out his right hand to Harry.

Harry grinned and shook his rescuer’s hand. He had an incredibly firm handshake.

“Thanks for pulling me out.”

“No problem,” he replied. “Take care now,” he added with a nod to the other three.

He slammed the door shut and patted on the roof as they continued on home.

Harry very much regretted not being able to see his anonymous rescuer properly. In his mind he imagined him to be a shorter, slightly less hairy Hagrid.

Hermione slipped her hand into Harry’s, where it remained until they arrived home.

*

“It’s a letter from Ron,” said Hermione, sitting down again and opening the envelope. “Pig must have delivered it while we were out. I wonder why he didn’t come straight to us?”

“Probably didn’t fancy being out in the rain,” suggested Harry, pushing away his plate and again squinting down at the odd assortment of clothes he was wearing.

Fortunately, the bag with the charity shop donation of unwanted clothes hadn’t been collected, so Mrs Granger had retrieved a few of Mr Granger’s old things for him to wear. Seeing that he was still looking cold, she had also insisted he wear a couple of her old flowery pink cardigans as well.

Still, he thought, at least they are warm.

“What does Ron say?”

“Goodness,” replied Hermione, apparently still reading.

“What’s happened?” asked Harry, feeling suddenly concerned. Ron’s letters were usually short. This one was taking Hermione ages to read.

“No, I just wanted to re-read it to make sure I understood it correctly,” Hermione said as if reading his mind. “Ron’s got his OWL results. He’s actually done rather well. It looks like he’ll be coming back to school after all.”

“Wasn’t he?”

“Honestly, Harry. He’s been considering getting a job if his grades weren’t good enough.”

“Oh. Yes I knew that. I remember now.”

“I wonder where our results are?” Hermione wondered aloud.

“On the mantle piece, dear,” said Mrs Granger as she opened the kitchen hatch to pick up a bowl from the table and then disappearing again.

Hermione jumped up and dashed over to collect them. She thrust Harry’s envelope into his hands and then returned to her seat opposite him.

Harry fingered the envelope.

“I once wondered how I was going to avoid admitting to you that I’d got all Ts in my OWL exams,” mused Harry.

Hermione snorted and he looked up.

“Why haven’t you opened yours?” he asked.

“Why haven’t you?”

Harry shrugged and got up, picking up the last of the dishes and taking them the short distance into the kitchen where Mr and Mrs Granger were washing up.

He returned with the feeling that they were taking their time, using the washing up as an excuse not to disturb them while they opened their results.

Harry returned and sat down in the settee.

Hermione sat at the dining table for a while and then came over to join him.

“What is it, Harry?” she asked gently, placing his envelope in his hands again.

Harry sighed and said, “I’m not entirely sure. I’ve never really thought that these exams were that important.”

“We need these to carry on and take our NEWTS, Harry. Of course they are important,” said Hermione, sounding quite shocked.

“I think I’m going back to Hogwarts regardless of my exam results, Hermione. Anyway, that’s not really what I meant.”

Hermione didn’t say anything.

“Thanks for coming back into focus,” he said with a smile. “Even if you’re frowning at me, it’s nice to actually see you properly.”

“What did you mean, then?” she asked seriously.

“Oh, nothing. Come on, we can’t force your parents to wait in the kitchen all night long, can we? Open your results.”

Hermione grabbed his envelope and dropped hers in his lap.

“You can open mine, and I’ll open yours,” she announced.

Harry sighed and picked up the envelope. It felt a little thicker than his had felt.

Hearing Hermione tearing open his envelope, Harry gingerly opened the other envelope and took out the contents.

He unfolded the two leaves of paper and read.

“I thought you gave up Muggle Studies, Hermione?”

“Yes, that’s right, Harry,” Hermione replied absently.

“But you’ve got a mark for it.”

“Oh, well. I only did that one on the off-chance anyway.”

“Actually, Hermione. You didn’t get a pass. You didn’t get any As at all, in fact.”

“What?” asked Hermione, sounding quite horrified.

“Sorry, I meant you got Es and Os in all your subjects, even the ones you didn’t take.”

Hermione sighed with relief and reached over to read her results for herself.

“Oh, I’ve been so worried about these,” she whispered as Mr and Mrs Granger came in carrying a bottle of champagne and four tall glasses.

Harry grinned as Hermione got to her feet and was immediately hugged by her parents.

The champagne bottle was opened with a loud pop and soon they were all toasting Hermione’s success.

“What about yours, Harry?” asked Mrs Granger.

Harry realised that his results letter had fallen to the floor by the settee.

“I think they must have been too bad for Hermione to tell me,” he said with a smile.

Mrs Granger dived down and picked them up before Harry had a chance to react. Mr Granger leaned in to read as well.

Harry knew something was up when they both continued to read.

Mr Granger opened up Hermione’s results once more for them to compare against.

“How do the grades work again?” asked Mrs Granger.

Harry made to reach for his result letter but Hermione pulled his arm back.

“Oh, no, Harry. You weren’t interested before, why should you be now?”

They spent the rest of the evening talking mainly about the subjects Hermione planned to take at NEWT level whilst gently teasing Harry about his results.

Harry eventually went to bed, still none the wiser, but chuckling at the career suggestions made by the other three. He wasn’t sure, but Security Troll Training seemed to be the favourite.

*

Harry woke and for the first time in hours didn’t feel cold or hungry. The only thing the matter with him was that he wasn’t at all sleepy now.

He got up and crept downstairs, intending to get himself a glass of water.

Once there, however, he changed his mind. He sank into the comfortable settee, sitting in darkness and contemplating.

He realised that he had taken to night-time wandering ever since he had returned to Privet Drive. It had started because he had begun to be afraid of the dreams.

For the last few nights, this had improved. He hadn’t had the usual dream about Sirius falling through the veil. He had still dreamt of Sirius, but he hadn’t died in the dream.

Harry knew he was beginning to recover from his bereavement, and he was sure that spending a few days with Hermione and her parents had helped him enormously.

Harry turned to see Hermione standing and staring at him from the doorway.

She appeared to be startled by his sudden movement, but quickly came over and sat next to him.

“Can’t you sleep again?” she asked with concern.

“No.”

“I thought you might be trying to sneak a look at your grades.”

Harry snorted.

“I left them on the table so you’d find them.”

“Thanks.”

Hermione grabbed his wrist and lifted his arm before wrapping her arm across his chest. Harry lowered his arm down onto her back.

“I’m sorry I got you frozen and almost drowned.”

Harry laughed but his laugh turned into a hacking cough which he fought to control.

“I thought about just walking around the park a few times, but I thought you might not want to come.”

“I said I’d come before you told me about the walk,” he reminded her. “Anyway, I couldn’t very well not come after you’d bought all that equipment and signed up for the safety courses.”

“Oh, the safety courses were free and the ground rent on the camp site was quite reasonable for the one night. We got the boots and walking gear from a car boot sale. It was very cheap.”

“That was lucky,” said Harry, tilting his head so his chin touched her forehead slightly.

“So, are you going to tell me?” demanded Hermione.

“I’m not sure I know myself,” he replied honestly.

They were quiet for a few moments.

“You’ve got Ron worried as well, you know?”

“What about?”

“Well, I thought he might have worked it out, actually, but I don’t think he has yet.”

“What?”

“He’s, um, thinking of asking me out.”

This statement stunned Harry.

“What do you think about that?” he asked a little stiffly, lifting his head up.

“I’m not sure. I suppose I might agree, unless I had a better offer.”

“So, what did you think Ron might have worked out?”

“Oh, just why I was really so desperate to do well in my exams.”

“Er, so why were you, then?”

“That’s too obvious to bother answering, even for you, Harry,” said Hermione, but Harry didn’t see her smile. He was too busy cursing his stupidity.

“I think I’ll try and get some sleep,” he said, lifting his arms and pushing towards the edge of the settee.

Hermione resisted, keeping her arm held across his chest. He gently placed his hand on her forearm, careful not to touch her skin, and she let go.

“Harry, please stay.”

Harry tried to say something, but he couldn’t.

“Look, let me get us some coffee?” suggested Hermione.

Harry hesitated, but then nodded.

Hermione sighed with relief and then hurried off into the kitchen.

Harry stuffed his hand into his pyjama top pocket and brought out the small glass phial. Inside rattled a tiny polished black pebble. He snapped the glass in two and allowed the pebble to tumble out onto the palm of his hand.

Hermione returned with two mugs of coffee, only to find the living room deserted.

*

Harry stood in almost complete darkness. Gradually, his eyes became more accustomed and he looked around.

Faint moonlight was coming through the windows, but he could not make out any other features. The room was colder than it usually was, and Harry noticed that the fire wasn’t lit.

Usually, even in the middle of the night the Gryffindor common room fire had embers glowing at least, even in warm weather.

The lanterns began to light themselves one by one.

Gradually the room came into view.

Harry sat in his usual seat by the fireplace and stared miserably into the empty grating.

He toyed with the small Portkey for a while before placing it down. Dumbledore had sent it to him for emergencies. He knew he shouldn’t have used it, but he just had to get away.

Harry had known that Ron had feelings for Hermione, although he didn’t seriously think he would ever act on them.

He reminded himself, again, that Ron didn’t have the same hang-ups as he did. Just because he couldn’t find the right moment to speak to her, it didn’t mean Ron wouldn’t keep waiting. No, Ron would make the moment. Or at least try.

Harry sighed deeply.

He could also understand the brief moment of awkwardness between them just after Hermione’s parents had left the campsite. It had supposed to be all three of them on the walk, not just the two of them.

Clearly, Hermione was hoping that Ron would be there. Perhaps he, Harry, should have been the one to drop out.

At least, he told himself, he had been spared the embarrassment of telling Hermione his feelings.

He almost had told her that night at the campsite, sitting together beside the small dwindling fire. Hermione had sat close to him and then leaned heavily against him. They sat quietly for a long time before Harry was ready to speak.

Just as he was about to say something, Hermione’s head nodded forwards. She had fallen asleep.

Harry steadied her with his arm, thinking all the while how precious Hermione had become to him.

When she woke a few minutes later, Hermione looked so tired he hadn’t the heart to keep her up longer and had insisted that they turn in for the evening.

The fire erupted into life lighting the common room in green flames.

Harry was expecting this, but he wasn’t expecting it to be Lupin to step out of the fire.

“Good evening, Harry?” he said, brushing down his robes.

Harry returned Lupin’s warm smile, in spite of how he was feeling.

“The Headmaster said I might find you here,” said Lupin, sitting down on the couch in front of the fireplace.

Harry nodded, watching as the flames died down.

“Here,” said Lupin with a smile, “you may appreciate these. We had to guess at the prescription, so don’t wear them for long periods until the lenses are adjusted.”

He held out a new pair of glasses.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently, as Harry put the glasses on.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“Hermione alerted us that you’d gone. I was given strict instructions to bring you back so she could shout at you properly.”

Harry snorted.

“I should have said something,” he admitted before looking directly into Lupin’s eyes. “I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble. I know I shouldn’t have used the Portkey.”

“Why did you?”

Harry spent a moment trying to muster an answer, while Lupin sat patiently.

“I suppose, Hermione told me something that disturbed me. I needed time to think about what she said. I tried to make an excuse, but she wouldn’t let me go up to bed.”

“Yes, she said. I rather got the impression that she was worried she had upset you. She wanted to explain something properly.”

“It won’t make any difference, no matter how she explains it.”

Lupin frowned slightly, but his voice remained light as he said, “Tonks is with Hermione now, trying to calm her down.”

“I didn’t mean to upset her.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll be upset later. Right now, though, she’s in a towering temper.”

Harry leaned forward with both elbows propped on the arms of his chair. He wiped his face with both hands, pushing his fingers up under his glasses to rub his eyes.

“You caught us out at the camp,” continued Lupin. “You’d packed up and gone before we even looked out of our tent.”

“You were there too?” Harry asked in surprise, pulling his hands away from his face and accidentally dislodging his glasses.

“Oh, yes. We tried following your intended route but you must have departed from it. In the end we contacted Hermione’s parents and they said you were with them.”

“You should have told us. We could have walked together and you would have been good company at the campfire.”

“Well, we thought we might get in the way.”

“There was nothing to get in the way of,” Harry said testily.

“Ah,” said Lupin softly. After a moment he added, “Are you sure, Harry?”

“Very.”

“A pity to end a friendship because of it, though.”

“Who said anything about ending our friendship?” Harry asked angrily, before adding doubtfully, “I haven’t, have I?”

Lupin reached into one of his robe pockets and pulled out two small glass phials.

“Here,” he said, offering them to Harry.

Harry reached out. There was another with a tiny black pebble and another with a blue pebble. The blue one looked identical to the one that had taken him to Hermione’s house a few days ago.

He frowned and asked, “You expected me to do this, didn’t you?”

“Dumbledore expected something, certainly.”

“Great,” Harry muttered, “everyone knew expect me.”

“No, Harry. Dumbledore knew that he’d given you a way to get far away to safety. He suspected that you’d use it even if you weren’t in mortal danger.”

“Oh.”

They were quiet again for a few moments.

“Maybe you could tell Hermione that I’m sorry.”

“I’m afraid not. This is something she needs to hear from you. I also believe that you owe it to her to listen to whatever she wants to say, even if it is uncomfortable for you to hear.”

Harry nodded.

Harry was about to ask Lupin for his advice, when he stood abruptly.

“It’s up to you, Harry, but I honestly think you should consider returning now. Tonight.”

Harry got up hesitantly, having got the distinct impression that Lupin wanted to avoid being asked anything too awkward.

Harry nodded and said quietly, “Thanks. I’ll go back.”

*

Harry found himself standing in the Granger’s kitchen facing the kettle and two unmade mugs of chocolate. The lights were on in the kitchen but the house was quiet.

He flicked the switch on the electric kettle and the water quickly boiled.

Having made the two drinks, he picked them up and walked quietly into the living room.

Hermione was curled up in one of the easy chairs, the room being lit by the single lamp beside her. Harry walked over and placed the hot drinks on two coasters on the low coffee table.

He crouched down and gently rubbed the sleeve of her dressing gown. Hermione’s eyes opened at once.

“Hi,” whispered Harry with a smile. “I fancied chocolate rather than coffee after all.”

Hermione snorted and stretched back in her chair. Harry reached over and brought her mug of chocolate over to her.

“Have a drink and then you can shout at me all you want.”

“I’ve had enough of shouting,” croaked Hermione, her voice sounding strained.

Harry knelt in front of her and said, “I’m so sorry, Hermione. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was being selfish, not wanting to listen to what you had to say. Please believe me when I say that all I want is for you to be happy.

“Your friendship has meant so much to me. You’ll always have my friendship, no matter what.”

Hermione sighed deeply.

“I’m not sure if I want to say thanks or throw these mugs again,” said Hermione.

“Again?”

“Yes. Tonks had a terrible time clearing up after me. She threatened to put an unbreakable charm on them unless I stopped.”

Harry smiled sadly.

“Thank you for your apology, Harry, but I think I owe you one too.”

“No, you don’t, Hermione.”

“Well, Tonks persuaded me otherwise while she was cleaning the carpet. She appears to have been watching us rather closely at the campsite. She said you kept trying to tell me something, but I kept changing the subject.”

“Or falling asleep,” agreed Harry with a grin.

“What I don’t understand, Harry, is why you didn’t just interrupt me or wake me up if there was something bothering you.”

“I didn’t know how to say it,” he admitted. “The campsite wasn’t busy, I know, but I really didn’t want to be overheard.”

“But what about while we were walking?”

“Well, the priority was just to get down off the hills. Besides, I had pinned my hopes on speaking to you properly when we stopped for lunch.”

“Well, I’m listening now and there’s no one listening. Pretend we’re out on the hills, and we’ve just finished our picnic.”

Harry looked down.

“I’ve just eaten all I can and the weather’s so nice I can’t think of a thing to say,” she continued.

“Really?” Harry couldn’t resist asking.

Hermione slapped him playfully on his shoulder before relaxing back and saying, “Not a single thing, Harry.”

Harry sighed and said, “I know I perhaps deserve to be tortured like this, Hermione, but is there really any point to this?”

“Of course there is, Harry. The house elves need our support.”

“No, Hermione. I wasn’t talking about the sponsored walk. I meant, this. My talking to you now.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Harry,” she said with a smile and her eyes closed. “It’s a good job we made good time this morning, or I’d be hurrying you up the hill again. As it is, we have plenty of time to let our lunches go down and for me to listen.”

“I think it may rain later,” he said darkly.

“No chance. There’s not a cloud in the sky. I may need to put sun block on later.”

Harry grimaced and finally said, “Oh, all right.”

He sat down at Hermione’s feet and rested his head against her knees. Hermione brought her hand down and stroked his head, pushing her fingers gently through his unruly hair.

“You want me to pretend we haven’t had our conversation this evening, right?” asked Harry.

“It isn’t evening yet, Harry. It’s early afternoon.”

There was a click as Hermione switched off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

“When you wrote to me about going on that walk, my heart leaped.”

“This walk, Harry.”

“You know what I mean. Ow!”

Hermione let go of the hair she had just tugged and stroked his scalp gently again.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to imagine them actually sitting on the hillside. Perhaps it would be less painful that way.

“When you wrote to me,” continued Harry, “the very first thing I hoped was that I’d have an opportunity to talk to you. The more I tried to write to you about this, the more I knew I couldn’t just write to you out of the blue. I had to tell you, face to face.”

“Can you make do with face to knee?”

Harry laughed and said, “I’ll try.”

For a moment, he lifted his head up and as she laughed too, Hermione accidentally banged her knee into the side of his head.

She immediately let go of his hair and brought both hands down to the sides of his face.

“I felt that,” she said with obvious concern. “I’m sorry, Harry. Are you alright?”

“I’ll survive,” he said, looping his left arm around under her legs and holding them still as he lent back down.

Hermione relaxed back into the chair, crossed her legs at her ankles and once again began playing with his hair. Harry relaxed again too, bringing his other arm over so that his fingers could entwine over the soft cotton of her pyjama legs.

“It’s dangerous on this hillside,” quipped Harry.

“Well, it certainly will be unless you get on with telling me.”

“Point taken. Where was I?”

“Face to face.”

“Right,” agreed Harry. “So I wrote back at once volunteering to do anything and offering to sponsor Ron and you. I figured that I’d stand a good chance of speaking to you.”

“Which is what you’ve got now, Harry.”

“That’s not a note of impatience I’m detecting in your voice is it?”

“Me, Harry? I’m the most patient person on this hillside.”

Harry snorted and grew quiet.

“I, er,” he began, but his voice cracked and he felt tears form in his eyes. He blinked back the tears and cleared his throat.

“Sirius,” he continued hoarsely, unconsciously holding Hermione’s legs tight to himself. Harry cleared his throat again, and this time his voice was stronger. “I found myself wishing I could ask Sirius’ advice about what to say. He was always good at knowing how I was feeling, deep down. There was so much I didn’t tell him, but the thing I wished I could have, more than anything, was something I didn’t know until after he was gone.”

Hermione’s fingers were making small gentle swirls across his scalp.

“Talking to Lupin just isn’t the same. I mean, I still think of him as our teacher. Somehow, I felt awkward telling him what an idiot I was being.”

Harry wiped his eyes against the hem of Hermione’s dressing gown and said, “I’m sorry to embarrass you like this.”

“Harry, you’ll never embarrass me. I can’t say the same for the sheep over there though.”

“Never?”

“Never,” said Hermione, yawning. “Mind you, I may pretend to be embarrassed and punish you to keep up appearances. You have been warned.”

“Reciting your birthday limerick at the breakfast table may need a rethink then. Look, you must be tired, Hermione. Why don’t we- OW!”

“Sorry, the sheep made me do that.”

Harry laughed in spite of the pain he was in. She tugged again and he laughed harder.

“I think I may be getting a headache,” admitted Harry.

“Probably the altitude. Get on with it. The sheep are getting restless.”

“These sheep sound dangerous. I haven’t actually seen any yet, though.”

“Ninja sheep, Harry. If you see them, it’s too late.”

Harry laughed again but this time Hermione took pity on him and didn’t pull his hair.

“Hermione, this is part of what I wanted to say. I mean, you’ve got me laughing again. Until I saw you again, I was utterly miserable. Of course, that made me feel ashamed too.”

“What’s there to feel ashamed about?”

“Well, you see I wasn’t just miserable because of Sirius. I mean, sometimes I’d just think of the good times we’d had, few though they were.”

“Like at Christmas,” Hermione added fondly.

“Christmas,” Harry echoed, smiling. Then his smile faded.

“Hey,” said Hermione gently, as if reading his thoughts.

“I should have made more of an effort to speak to him. When I had the chance.”

“Well, how about speaking to me, Harry, while you have the chance.”

Harry turned his head violently.

“That’s not funny, Hermione!” he found himself almost shouting.

“Harry, it was just a joke,” pleaded Hermione.

“Not a very funny one,” he said, still breathing deeply.

Hermione appeared quite lost for words for a moment. Then she resumed playing with his hair, and Harry relaxed back again.

“I’m sorry,” they each whispered at the same time.

“I didn’t mean to shout at you,” continued Harry, a little shakily. “You see, that’s what I keep dreaming. First I’m watching Sirius fall back into the veil again, just like it really happened. Then I see other people falling, almost in slow motion. I keep running up onto the dais, but I always trip and fall back to where I began from.

“Sometimes, it’s you that’s holding me back instead of Lupin, but that only happens when it’s you that falls through the veil. I keep trying to run through the arch, but you keep pulling me back.”

“Do you only dream about the arch?” asked Hermione.

“No. I keep reliving the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, except.” Harry paused and swallowed.

“Except, that I’m usually Voldemort. The outcome is usually different too.”

“Have you been practising your Occlumency?”

“Yes, well I’ve been trying. The problem is that if I’m too upset, then I’m vulnerable. Seeing Sirius fall is bad, but I’m beginning to accept it. But when it’s you falling through the veil, it upsets me. I’m sure Voldemort is manipulating what I’m dreaming then.”

“Do you remember how Voldemort is casting his spells during the duels?”

“Yes. Either he’s obsessing, dreaming of alternative outcomes,” said Harry.

“Or he’s teaching you,” finished Hermione.

“Why would he do that?”

“He’s trying to use you. If you set upset with Dumbledore, you’ll know that a particular spell could defeat him. In some circumstances, you might be tempted to use them.”

“I’m pretty sure Dumbledore could defend himself. What I’m most concerned about is if I’m caught off guard and I react out of instinct. I could easily kill or seriously injure someone less prepared.”

“Well, I suppose there might be a small risk, but remember, you’ve never actually tried Voldemort’s spells. It may be like the Unforgivable Curses, in that there is a lot more to them than just saying the words.”

“That’s what worries me. I feel what he’s feeling.”

They were quiet for a moment, and then Hermione said, “Harry, I don’t want to appear insensitive, but-”

“Insensitive? You?” interrupted Harry, earning himself a sharp tug on his hair again.

“Harry,” continued Hermione, as they both struggled not to laugh, “I don’t see why you had a problem telling me all this before.”

Harry tensed and said quietly, “There’s more.”

Hermione reverted to stroking his scalp with her fingers, waiting for him to continue.

“Dumbledore told me how Voldemort wasn’t able to retain his possession of me while he was goading Dumbledore. All I remember is the pain, begging for it to end. I remember thinking out Sirius, and that was when he let go.

“Dumbledore said it was my feelings that saved me. My love for Sirius took me to the Department of Mysteries and it was my love for him that saved me.”

“I can’t think of anything else quite so anti everything Voldemort stands for,” agreed Hermione.

Harry shook his head slowly, and bowed his head. Hermione’s fingers fell away.

“He was wrong,” he said in barely a whisper. “Voldemort knows too.”

“I don’t understand, Harry.”

“Dumbledore said that the power I had was love. From the Prophecy. But he was wrong. I’ve never known love and I’ve certainly never,” he finished abruptly.

“No,” he corrected himself. “That’s not true. I have known tenderness. When Mrs Weasley held me in the Hospital Wing, I was sure my heart was about to burst. I’ve never been held like that, not even when I was little.

“The point is, I can’t feel love any more than Voldemort can. I reacted because I’m as vulnerable to love as he is.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Hermione burst into laughter. Harry turned to face her. This was not quite the reaction he had expected.

“I’m sorry, Harry. I just had a vision of you chasing Voldemort and offering him a cuddle.”

She collapsed into a fit of giggles again and Harry found himself grinning too. Hermione slid down off the chair and sat next to Harry, looping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest.

“Let’s examine your theory against the known facts,” said Hermione gently.

“I’ve never known you to do anything selfish, Harry. You will always place yourself at risk regardless of the consequences. The list is endless, right back to when you got Neville's Remembrall back, or when you saved me from that Mountain Troll. The point is, what compels you to help people?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did your Aunt and Uncle teach you to stand up for those too weak to defend themselves?”

“No, of course they didn’t.”

“No, I suspected as much. Now, you mentioned Mrs Weasley and not being held like that.”

“Mm,” mumbled Harry.

“Well, when we were trying to get to the Philosophers Stone, and I tried to hug you before we parted, you reacted rather strangely. I mean, no boys of eleven are exactly comfortable with girls but you were clearly ready to fight me off.”

Harry chuckled.

“I think that it is rather likely that you were never comforted by the Dursleys during your formative years. It isn’t any wonder that you react defensively, or become overcome when experiencing a simple act of tenderness after a truly horrific night.

“No, the wonder is that you keep going, never afraid of the consequences.”

“I am afraid,” admitted Harry.

“Not afraid enough not to jump into a raging river in a storm to save a complete stranger.”

“That’s different.”

“How? What are you afraid of then?”

“Well, as far as Voldemort is concerned, I’m mostly afraid that it’s been one big mistake. That was the first thing I asked Hagrid when I met him. Had he made a terrible mistake? I have visions of my finally facing up to Voldemort and then discovering that it wasn’t me after all.”

“What else?” Hermione asked gently, shifting and looking up at him.

Harry was silent.

“No? Well, how about if I take a couple of wild guesses?” offered Hermione.

“Where did I put my Portkey?” asked Harry, pretending to get up.

“No chance,” said Hermione laughing and pushing him down. The chair slid back on its casters leaving Harry lying flat on the carpet. Hermione immediately launched herself on top of him, making sure there was no escape.

“Comfortable?” he asked.

“Almost,” said Hermione, still chuckling. After making rather a meal of getting comfortable, Hermione continued.

“First of all, Harry, you are not just afraid Hagrid made a mistake. You are afraid that when you face Voldemort again, you’ll fail to react.”

“How did you know?” asked Harry incredulously. “It’s true. Every time I’ve faced him so far, I’ve never reacted in time to defend myself. I’ve always had help or been lucky before.”

“You’re afraid that help or luck will abandon you?”

“No. I mean, in the end, there won’t be any help, nor any luck.”

“That may be true, Harry, but we can’t know that now. Anyway, I don’t think anyone could be prepared for Voldemort under those circumstances.”

“Dumbledore was.”

“Exactly. Harry, Dumbledore is an experienced wizard. You can’t be expected to take on the mantle of defeating Voldemort just like that. It takes time. You needed time to grow. You are growing, Harry. It’s probably happening far too quickly, but you are fast leaving youth. You will soon have the skills of an adult and the maturity to use them wisely. The Centaurs could see that you were almost a man, Harry, and they were right.”

Harry half shrugged, still pinned down.

“I’m sure the second thing feels even worse, sometimes.”

“What thing?”

Hermione pulled herself up, deliberately allowing her hair to drape across Harry’s face has she whispered dramatically, “Girls!”

“Oh, shut up,” said Harry laughing as well now.

“Tell me it isn’t true, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I’m only having trouble with one girl at the moment thanks.”

“Another crush, eh? Well, you can tell me.”

“Not that kind of crush, actually,” replied Harry, struggling for breath now.

Hermione laughed and rolled off him, making sure he got at least one elbow in his ribs and commanding, “Stay there, Harry. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Harry had almost sat up when Hermione returned and pushed him back down to the floor again. She sat down heavily, straddled across his stomach this time, unfolding a piece of paper.

“Right,” she said brushing her hair back. “These, Harry, are your OWL examination results. I’m going to read them to you and you’re going to tell me how important they are.”

“Hermione, please,” he pleaded, laughing.

“And,” she continued laughing, “if I don’t think you are taking them seriously enough or didn’t get the grade you were capable of, I’m going to have to punish you.”

“Hang on,” he groaned, “Do we have to do this now? I’m not sure I can cope with all T grades and almost drowning on the same day.”

“No time like the present, Harry. But I’ll be kind and start with an easy one. Let’s see. Charms. You got an E for that. Well done.”

“Oh,” said Harry with a sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to be punished yet.

“Now, tell me why your Charms OWL is so important. Give a good answer and you can avoid punishment.”

“What? No way! I passed that one! Well, it’s an easy subject. OW!” he cried rubbing his arm, laughing.

Hermione was laughing silently and having trouble holding the paper steady enough to read.

Harry decided to take advantage of this delay to plea for better terms.

“Shouldn’t I get credit for good marks?”

“I’ll give credit for very good marks but only with a valid explanation as to why they are so important.”

“Oh, dear. What’s my maximum credit potential?”

“You should have looked earlier then. And, talking about seeing into the future, we have Divination. I should really let you off that one, since it isn’t a proper subject.”

“Thanks, Hermione, you’re really kind- Ow!”

“That’s right, Harry. You got a P.”

“But I expected to get a T!”

“You got a P,” she insisted. “That means that with a little more effort you could have got a pass grade.”

“If you say so, Hermione. I’m not really in a position to argue right now.”

“Potions!”

“Oh, no!” he said laughing and raising his arms to shield himself.

“Oh, yes, Harry,” said Hermione, easily grabbing both his arms and pinning them up behind his head.

“Yes, Hermione, Potions is really important. If I didn’t do OWL Potions, Snape wouldn’t have anyone to torment.”

Hermione laughed and asked, “Is that you final answer?”

“I think it will have to be.”

Hermione leaned down towards him and Harry tensed and screwed up his eyes, waiting for his punishment.

It took him a moment to realise he wasn’t hurting this time.

Hermione lifted herself up again, and said, “Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

“Hang on.” said Harry. “What mark did I get for Potions?”

“You got an O, Harry. Well done.”

“No way,” he said in disbelief.

“Defence Against the Dark Arts,” Hermione repeated, still holding his arms down.

“That was important to show the Ministry how good Umbridge was at teaching.”

Hermione laughed and nodded, before leaning down as she had before. Harry was relaxed this time, and actually realised that Hermione had kissed him on his cheek.

“What was that for?”

“You got an O. Oh, yes, before I forget, I want to thank you for getting me through the exam too. I would never have got a pass grade without your teaching us, let alone an O.”

Harry began to say, “No, Hermione, you’d have passed anyway,” when she cut him off with a kiss to his lips.

Harry just lay there, utterly stunned. It took a painful prod from Hermione to get him to listen properly.

“Well, Harry? I asked you why is History of Magic important?”

“Did you just kiss me, Hermione?”

“History of Magic, Harry,” she insisted.

Harry twisted one hip and lifted his arms up. Although Hermione resisted, Harry easily and gently toppled her off him and soon their positions were quite reversed except Harry didn’t hold her arms down.

“Hermione, listen,” he said seriously. “I want to tell you something as a friend. A kiss on the cheek is okay, but a kiss on the lips is quite another thing for someone going out with Ron.”

“Ron? I’m not going out with Ron!”

“You said you were earlier.”

“I did not! I do wish you’d listen. What I actually said was, I’d consider going out with him if he asked and if I didn’t have a better offer.”

Harry frowned.

“You did say that, didn’t you?” he agreed quietly.

“Yes!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Well?”

“I said I was sorry!”

“No, Harry. I mean, is there any chance of a better offer?”

“Well,” he said doubtfully, as Hermione struggled to regain her advantage. “I think Neville fancies Ginny,” he teased.

Harry leaned down and Hermione grew still. Their lips were almost touching when he pulled back.

“Harry!” groaned Hermione in frustration.

“Are you really sure about this?”

Hermione reached up and gently stoked his cheek.

“Yes, if it’s what you want.”

“It shouldn’t be about what I want.”

“No, it won’t be just about what you want,” said Hermione, pulling him down towards her. Harry hesitated again, but this time Hermione raised her head until their lips met.

Harry had no resistance as Hermione pushed him over again and once more sat straddled across his middle.

“Good. Now that’s sorted out, we can continue.”

“No!” protested Harry, laughing and trying half-heartedly to keep his arms free.

Hermione pinned him down once more.

“Later you can tell me all about the Prophecy that you let slip earlier. Right now, though, History of Magic, Harry,” she said again, grinning widely.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to my NEWT results, Hermione,” he said flatly.

“Well the punishments may have to be a little harsher to reflect the difficulty of the exams,” she replied laughing and leaning down to kiss him. “Mind you, the rewards may have got better by then too.”

END