Holiday's.
"Hermione, I can't do this."
"Yes, you can. You are the fearless Harry Potter."
Was there a hint of laughter in her voice?
"Well, I am not feeling that person right now. I think my other personality has taken over."
"Come on! You fly hundreds of feet in the air," Hermione joked.
"On a broomstick and in front of hundreds of people that can break my fall," Harry retorted quickly.
"This never stopped you from cracking your skull. "
"I think I have developed a new fear of heights."
"No you haven't, Harry. Stop complaining."
"I'm not complaining. Just being honest."
"Scaredy cat. I showed you everything you need to know."
"And you looked very cute while doing it too I might add."
"Flattery will get you nowhere."
"It did the night of the dance."
"Sod it Harry and just ski!" Hermione smacked him in the arse so he had no choice but to careen slightly out of control down the slope, marked by a blue square.
"See, you are doing fine." Hermione skied lazily beside him and saw him roll his eyes at her. Managing to get down the hill in one piece, he half walked- half skied to the tree line and stepped out of his skis dropped to his knees and kissed the snow.
"You do this every winter?" he looked up at her, struggling to stand up and needing her help to do so.
"Just about." Hermione hauled him up and handed him his poles. "Let's do it again."
"No way. I am sore enough from yesterday." Harry groaned. "You owe me you know. You owe me big time for getting ME on THESE." He gestured to the sticks lying at his feet.
"I owe you?"
"Oh yea, a back rub…OR," he grinned madly at her, "A full body rub!"
"God Harry, can you think of anything ELSE just for a day?" Hermione kidded him, taking her pole and rapping him on his rear, again.
"Can you hit me anywhere else? And with you in those light blue ski pants and cute puffy ear muffs, how can I think of anything else?" Harry grabbed his skis and poles. "Switzerland is freaking cold. Let's go get some coffee or something." Harry gave Hermione a push down the gentle incline to the lodge.
"Wimp!" Hermione yelled at him and took off to the ski racks before Harry could contradict her.
Fifteen minutes later, they were settled in a comfortable, leather sofa in front of a roaring fire. Harry stretched out his legs, clad in dark blue ski pants, his jacket on the rack next to him. Hermione watched with interest as three blond females walked by, ogling him openly. Harry was looking down at his cup, blowing on it and not noticing them.
"Harry."
He looked up at her, eyebrows raised questioningly. "You aren't going to call me more names are you? If so, I
might have to put a spell on you."
"Do you realize how incredibly handsome you look sitting here? Every girl that walks in your general vicinity is checking you out." Hermione took a sip of her coffee, enjoying the blush that crept to his cheeks as he looked up and met her dancing brown eyes.
"So? I'm not looking back, so you can't yell at me for that." He smiled at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. He flung an arm around her and she nestled up next to him, carefully balancing her cup in her hands.
"On a totally different note," Hermione began before Harry interrupted her.
"Uh-oh."
"Stop." Hermione punched him in the leg and continued. "What do you think of Katharine?"
They had met Katharine briefly at The Burrow before they left with Hermione's parents for Switzerland.
"I liked her; she was very funny, pretty quiet until she got used to having everyone around, but seemed to fit in fine with the Weasley's."
"It's funny thinking that Ron will be an uncle in four months." Hermione smiled to herself.
"Merlin, can you imagine if it is twins like she thinks, what Fred and George will do!" Harry gave a chuckle which resonated in Hermione's ear. Reaching down to the coffee table in front of her, she set her mug down.
"Did Ron seem ok to you?" Hermione pulled back a bit to read Harry's face. His fingers turned the coffee cup in circles as it rested on his knee.
"Well, he seemed a bit down."
"Samantha."
"Yea, I mean I have never seen him as into any girl as he is with her…," Harry mused.
"Same here, with her I mean." Hermione interjected.
"It had been three whole days, on the day we met Katharine, since he saw Samantha you know." Harry smiled slightly then shook his head. "Three days of him moaning; imagine what next semester will be like!"
"We have to figure out a way for them to see each other at least a few times," Hermione said firmly, carefully removing the coffee cup from Harry's hands, imagining hot coffee spilling all over them.
"Well, he is visiting with her and her parents now, and by the time we all get back home we'll have a week until the next semester starts again."
"She is going to visit her grandparents while we get ready for school that week, then she starts back at her school. I have no idea when we could try and get the two of them together again." Hermione leaned her head back. "But, we have to plan something or he will be a huge sodding mess by the time February comes to an end."
"Welllllllllll…," Harry laid back with her, "His birthday is at the beginning of March. Maybe we can talk to Dumbledore about her coming or something. He was pretty lenient in letting me go to Hogsmeade to buy your ring."
"I'll let you talk to him then, since you have experience in this," she joked with him. She looked down at her ring and smiled to herself.
A few minutes of comfortable silence followed and Hermione waited for Harry to speak up with what was on his mind. She could tell by the way he was drumming his fingers on her arm he was thinking about something.
"I'm wondering about Ginny though, she seem ok to you?" Harry asked, reaching for his coffee cup and taking a sip.
"Well, she seems better than I thought she would be after revealing to her brothers she is seeing Malfoy. The talk she had with her parents was hard…I mean, trying to convince someone who hurt your daughter has suddenly become a decent human being doesn't go over well with your parents."
"They said they would think about him visiting for a day…that doesn't sound to bad."
"Well, in normal families, that usually means NO. But, we know the Weasley's aren't your normal Muggle family." Hermione copied Harry by taking a sip of her coffee, then turning to him.
"What do YOU think of this whole Ginny/Draco relationship?"
Harry was silent for a minute, gazing out the window beyond the fireplace, looking at the gorgeous scenery outside and lazy snowflakes spiraling downward.
"Well, I don't get any feel of something covert going on. She seems to be treading very carefully, as does he, as if waiting for everyone's approval. I have a hard time forgetting everything he did to us, but with Voldemort gone, I try not to dwell on that negative stuff."
"That's deep Harry." Hermione gazed up at him, momentarily stunned that he made a philosophical statement. He met her gaze, reached out and touched her cheek.
"This high altitude does wonders for my intelligence." Hermione rolled her eyes and stood up.
"Come on. Let's do some more runs. Please?"
"Not "some", no way." Harry took one more sip of his coffee and stood up with her.
"Ok, two."
"One…and you owe me a back rub." They put on their coats, hats and ski gloves.
"Make it two and I will throw in a full body rub." Hermione linked her arm through his, squinting her eyes at a dark haired woman that looked at him causing her to turn and hurry away.
"Hmmm….deal." Harry pulled her to him and kissed her hard. "Let's make this fast. Your parents said they would be back in a few hours." They walked outside to the rack to find their skis, pushing and shoving each other all the way.
------------------
It was late afternoon on Tuesday, December 30th, and Hermione was lying on the couch, idly flipping through her Advanced Potions book while Harry was out shoveling the snow, the Muggle way. He had told her it helped him stay in shape for Quidditch so he didn't really mind it, having to do it, occasionally, the past eight years of his life anyway.
Shattering the silence, Harry's phone rang. Her parents had insisted on having a phone at Grimmauld if she wasn't going to be living at home. She pushed herself up and crossed the room to the phone, answering it with a, "Hullo, mum."
"How are you, Hermione? Harry out shoveling the snow?" she heard her mom's voice on the other end and the distant sound of the TV in the background. She knew her father was getting ready for his usual night of TV watching.
"Yes he is; I'm studying. Anything wrong?" Hermione sat in the chair next to the table they had bought to hold the phone, twirling the cord between her fingers.
"We were wondering if you and Harry wanted us to go with you to the train station on Saturday." Hermione could hear the hopefulness in her mom's voice and knew that she was missing her only daughter.
"That would be great mum. Would you come by and pick us up?" Hermione placated her mother.
"Should we just pull up outside the building next to where your house is supposed to be?" her mother and father had been so confused when Hermione tried to explain Grimmauld Place. She finally used simple words to explain the unplottable house. "It's invisible and only Magic Folk can enter it. To you it looks like an old abandoned store, so just call us before you ever want to come over and we will meet you outside and bring you in."
"That's it mum. Why don't we call you back on Friday and set up a time, or…," Hermione was feeling brave at the moment, "Why don't you and dad come here for dinner on Friday night? We can talk about school and you can help us pick out a date for our wedding next year." Hermione felt like she had just scored two hundred points on the "Good Daughter Card".
"That would be wonderful! We'll bring dessert if that is okay."
"Sure. Great!" Hermione heard Harry come in and stamp his feet. "Oh, how are Samantha and her grandparents?"
"Well, they leave France on Friday morning and get in early afternoon. But, I did talk to your aunt and she said Sam mentions Ron's name at least twenty times a day."
"Hmmmm...," a thought was forming in Hermione's head and her mom gave a small chuckle.
"What are you thinking about?" her mother asked laughing at the same time.
"Wondering if Aunt Veronica, Uncle Richard and Sam would feel up to coming over for dinner."
"Why don't you call and leave a message on their machine? Then they'll get it when they return."
"Good idea. Well, I should go help Harry. Is there anything else?"
"No…for now!" her mother laughed. They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.
"Your mum?" Harry came in, wiping his glasses on his sleeve.
"Yes, and I invited them over for dinner on Friday night."
"Oh. You cooking?" Harry asked with laughter in his voice.
"We can both cook. I am not that bad."
"You almost killed me this morning with those eggs," a familiar voice said and in came Ron, obviously apparating into the foyer since he wasn't covered in snow.
"You kept telling me to hurry up so that's why they were runny. Make your own damn eggs next time," Hermione retorted and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Mature," Ron sniffed at her and helped himself to some chips that were in the kitchen.
The three of them sat down in front of the fire, Ron tossing the Potions book onto the table and stretching out on the sofa.
"Talked to my mom today, Ron." Hermione said, enjoying the look of happiness that fell across his face. "She told me that Samantha will be back from France on Friday, so you might be able to get a hold of her that evening. Also, my parents are coming to dinner that night."
"Seems like she has been gone…," he started.
"Forever. We know." Harry flicked off the TV whose volume had been turned down. "How are you going to keep in contact during the school year?"
"You didn't hear?" Ron sat up and stared at Harry.
"Hear what?"
"Well, for Christmas we each chipped in money together and bought an owl. She named it Cleopatra, Cleo for short. We talked it over with her parents while I was there after Christmas."
"That is a great idea!" Hermione said warmly. "I like the name too. Better than Pig…I'm
joking." Hermione waved a hand in his direction as he glared at her.
"Wow, Ron, your first purchase as a couple." Harry kidded. "What's next on your list, a house?"
"A ring," Ron said vaguely, enjoying the silence that surrounded him as he stared at the ceiling. All he heard at the moment was the fire crackling and sputtering.
"A ring?" Hermione squeaked. She came over and threw his legs off the sofa sitting down where they had been a moment before. He immediately brought them back up again and laid them on her lap.
"Like an engagement ring?" Harry asked quietly.
"That would be the one." Ron smiled smugly. He had been thinking about it the whole week. He actually had run the idea past Ginny to see what she thought if he asked Samantha to marry him. After getting hugged again, she told him it was the best idea he ever had.
"Wow," Harry said softly.
"When did you come up with this idea?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.
"Well…I thought seriously about it the past week, but the idea that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her came after the…your…you know." Ron couldn't say the word and refused to meet Hermione's gaze.
"Why then?" she asked confused and Harry made a noise that sounded like he agreed. Hermione glanced at Harry who met her gaze, reached over and squeezed her hand.
"Well, that night we were up late talking about what happened. We were up forever, probably til four or five in the morning…anyway," Ron crossed his legs on Hermione's lap and continued. "We just started talking about kids, if we wanted any (yes for both of us) what we wanted to do in our futures and on and on."
"One of those talks," Hermione said knowingly and Ron nodded.
"We both had similar goals, well as similar as a Wizard and Muggle can get in life, but it got me to thinking about being with her after school, while we both work and stuff. Then, after you two got engaged, the idea formed in my head about marriage. I passed the idea by Ginny and she started crying and hugging me which means she liked it." Ron chuckled then sat up, swinging his long legs off of Hermione.
"What do you think?" he asked them earnestly, looking from Harry to Hermione, who had a hand over her mouth.
Before Harry could answer Hermione jumped over to him and hugged him.
"I love the idea," she said, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Makes you my cousin then." She pulled back and stood up, letting Harry come over and shake his friend's hand.
"Harry, I have no idea where to start looking for a ring. Can you help?" Ron asked.
"Sure. Takes some time to get what you want. When do you plan on asking her?" Harry sat down near him on the couch and accepted a butterbeer from Hermione with thanks. The three touched bottles then took a sip.
"I don't know…sometime after I have the ring and I see her, if I can see her, while we are still in school." Ron glanced at a calendar on the wall next to him, eyes running down through the months. Harry nodded and took another drink, suddenly springing up from his seat.
"I never told the Dursley's I'm engaged!" Harry put his bottle down on the table.
"So?" Ron asked as Hermione said, "Will they care?"
"Well, seeing that Aunt Petunia actually came to my school, I think I should probably let her know…something is still up with her though I don't know what it is." He mumbled to himself as he trotted up the stairs to where Hedwig was most likely just starting to wake up in their bedroom. Ron and Hermione shrugged at each other and she sat down in the spot Harry had just vacated.
"I doubt she will be as excited as my parents were," Hermione said to Ron.
"Yea, your family seems to cry a lot at good news." He grinned at her as she shoved him to the side of the sofa.
"Well, I'm their only daughter and they like Harry so I can see why my mom cried. Just glad my dad didn't though…don't know what I would have done then."
"My mom cried just as hard as yours when you showed her the ring on the platform that night." Ron glanced down at her hand.
"Just what girls do I guess." Hermione too looked down at her ring, feeling a rush of love for Harry that he had found the perfect ring.
"Bet she didn't cry when you told her you were moving , though." Ron finished his butterbeer and let out an impressive burp causing Hermione to roll her eyes.
"Excuse you, RONALD. No, she wasn't too happy at first but she and daddy got married at age nineteen, so it isn't like I'm so much younger than they were." Hermione stared into the flames, remembering how she calmly explained to her mother, with Harry next to her, that she was moving into what was to be 'their house' and she really wanted to start her independent life.
"What are you doing for dinner?" Ron asked suddenly.
"Not cooking YOU anything," Hermione said hotly, but with a small smile at her lips.
"No, I don't mean that. It's just that Ginny is a nervous wreck since Malfoy," Ron let out a small shudder, "is coming by tomorrow, and I think maybe you could help her if you went to my parents for dinner and talked to her."
"Ahh…yes, tomorrow is Wednesday." Hermione sent the bottles to the trashcan with a wave of her hand as Harry came down the stairs.
"Sure, I'll go over and see how she is doing." Hermione stood up and smoothed out her pants. She waited for a few minutes looking at Ron and Harry.
"You boys coming?" Hermione asked as Ron explained to Harry what was going on.
"We never miss a home-cooked meal," Harry and Ron said in unison and the three apparated to The Burrow.