Shrimp-De-La-Spoilt
Harry didn't know what the voice meant by saying `you know who', was it literal meaning that Harry was suppose to know someone? Did it have anything to do with the Horcruxes and Regulus Black? Was it another cryptic message about someone else? But mainly Harry couldn't help but consider the fact that it could of easily have been referring to Voldemort, the vast majority of wizards referred to him in such a way. Harry couldn't think what it could be about him, could it have been a warning that Harry was in very real and present danger, but why then would it of been said so cryptically. Anyway Harry already knew that he was in very real and present danger, all in a days work for the boy-who-lived Harry thought grumpily to himself. Why did this have to happen to him, why did it always happen to him, and of course Harry knew the answer to this question as soon as he asked it, the prophecy and his fate meant it was unavoidable. Unavoidable was a word Harry had often used to describe his life nowadays. He thought of everyone else, of Seamus, Cho even Ginny and saw that they had always had options in their lives, thousands of different choices that could have lead their lives to anywhere, could still lead them anywhere. Harry knew that he had never had that luxury, there hadn't been any choices in his life, he had been forced to ride down a single road of fate ever since Professor Trelawney had made that Prophecy to Dumbledore, leading to Snape informing Voldemort and consequently the murder of his parents. The prophecy seemed to have everything outlined for Harry's life, he would more than likely die at the hands of his parent's murderer, if he was lucky to get that far Harry thought grimly thinking of the various tasks and enemies ahead of him, from werewolves to death eaters. Harry's life was never destined to be easy…
Although the excitement of the previous night had all been while Harry was asleep he was still exhausted, although he reasoned that it was probably mental, and thus had quickly fallen back asleep to a dreamless sleep. It felt like his eyes had barely been shut when he was woken up by a gentle nudging on his arm. The words `you know who' was instantly on the brain trying to put the riddle from last night into light, Harry could almost hear the words spoken aloud like the speaker was whispering them into his ear. Before Harry could open his eyes he heard a new voice, a voice he noticed and enjoyed hearing, for some reason even more than usual.
`Wake up sleepy head! Were already running late, Mrs. Weasley was expecting us about half an hour ago' came Hermione's voice, her voice showed evidently that she was in high spirits.
As soon as Harry had rolled over and fetched his glasses he realized that the extra sleep had rested him well and he was feeling much better. He surveyed the room, a warm feeling passed over him as he remembered that this was Sirius' old room and consequently he thought of the night's unexpected guest. His Beloved Godfather was well and happy, for a dead man at least.
Harry turned his attention to this mornings guest and realized that Hermione had brought up a tray of food, obviously so Harry could have breakfast in bed, she could be simply wonderful at times he thought, when she wasn't being so…Hermione-ish! He looked at his best friend appraisingly, having seen Sirius again had made Harry much more appreciative of those he cared about, it's amazing what real closure can actually do for you. Harry had of course heard that closure did help, but having never received closure on anything in his painful life yet consequently he was previously unaware of how much this truly healed the soul. And so he looked at one of the last people he truly loved.
Hermione was what anyone would call a pretty girl, very pretty Harry concluded, she would never be the Hollywood blonde bombshell kind of girl but she had so much more. Her face was smooth and delicate, her lips were a natural soft pink that brought out the softness of her pale skin and made her seem innocent in a girl next door kind of way. Her bushy hair was a big part of her looks and during her time in Hogwarts her hair seemed to Harry to have a mind of its own, uncontrollably messy, but now due to the relaxing and slow life that they had been adopting this summer, and without the time constraints that class and homework put Hermione under, meant that now she was able to get it under more control. It was now a common sight for Harry to see Hermione sit reading a book just running a comb through her hair for hours on end, Harry spied on her at these times, finding this natural and relaxed Hermione to be extremely calming. Her hair would always be a bit bushy, Harry indeed liked it like that, but now it didn't look like it had been attacked by a hippogriff, a hippogriff who you had just called as ugly as Snape and charismatic as Grawp. Today all the tangles were brushed out and a simple yellow bow held it back from falling in her eyes. She had never really grown much, Him and Ron still dwarfed her, but because of her slim body it made her very cute in a petite kind of way. Her Hogwarts robes had left way too much to the imagination, she had always just seemed like a short shapeless person, now it was all to clear she was definitely a girl, no, a woman. Today she was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a light yellow v neck t-shirt with 3 quarter length sleeves, this simple but fashionable kind of attire was Hermione's usual dress sense, which meant she looked both elegant but natural. Being out of Hogwarts had definitely had a positive effect on her, and this relaxed look was essentially echoing her personality, she was much more calm and relaxed without being under all the rules and obligations attending Hogwarts brought, rules and obligations that Hermione had meticulously followed. Harry could definitely see now what Ron saw in her, she was pretty, funny and nice, his best friend.
All of a sudden Harry noticed something and his heartbeat started to pump faster and faster, panic was taking a grip of him, a panic that was far more worrying than all his encounters with the Death Eaters. The panic was causing his breathing to become broken, he found he wasn't able to take his eyes away from her direction, was what he was noticing true? Could it be? And what was he going to do if it was? He knew he had to find out quickly, and then he would have to deal with it, one way or the other.
`Hermione…' Harry was speaking softly, the words coming out slowly as he tried not to show the panic he was stricken by `can I… ask… ask you a question?'
Hermione narrowed her eyes, staring intently at Harry, obviously wondering what the reason was for the weirdness Harry was suddenly under `Sure, Harry, you know you can always ask me anything…' Hermione said gently taking Harrys hand in her own to try and calm him down a bit.
Harry started to become less worried, he knew that she was his best friend, she might get angry and scream and shout but she'd be ok with it soon enough, the risk of not asking was too great.
`Its just…did you make that meal?' Harry asked a little sheepishly.
`OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE!' Hermione shouted half exasperated letting go of Harry's hand to throw her hands up in the air. But she had to carry on though as Harry had kept on staring questioningly but this time her voice was slightly softer `no I didn't, ok? And I'm not that bad! How was I supposed to know that the shrimp had gone of, and who knows that milk sours that quickly! At least I tried to cook. Two incidents and you're never going to trust me again, you're still here aren't you?'
`I'm sorry Hermione, but you are pretty bad!' Harry said, He knew he had to make light weight of this or she could sulk for days over it, her and Ron had always been proof of that, `two incidents out of two attempts isn't that bad…' Harry added with a cheeky grin, the grin he had found out that could usually calm Hermione down, a bit anyway.
`Oh ha-ha Harry, you're just being nasty and you know it!' the words though contradicted how her demeanor was at the time, Harry quick actions had worked, she had calmed down.
`Nasty, to my favorite chef? Never?' Harry teased grinning even more as a small smile formed upon Hermione's lips and he knew it was safe to carry on `then I'd never again be able to get shrimp-de-la-spoilt!' Harry said the last part in an over the top French accent, the kind you get at a very cheap and very fake French restaurant.
`You better be nicer Harry James Potter or I swear ill cook for you for the rest of your life, which due to my shrimp-de-la-spoilt as you call it, wont be very long!' Hermione teased back, `now eat your food and shower quickly and then we better get going, ill be downstairs waiting…ready I might add!' and with that she got up and started to leave the room.
`Hermione…' Harry said urgently waiting for her to turn around fully before carrying on `thank you' and with a smile Hermione turned and left.
It had only taken Harry about forty five minutes to eat his breakfast, being a full English breakfast which was gorgeous making Him realize for the first time that there were benefits for having Dobby here after all, Shower and get dressed. Harry was dressed in simple but smart blues jeans and a white polo shirt which gave him a nice midway between a casual and smart look as he had realized he had no idea how formal today was going to be. Harry quickly realized he didn't even know what today was going to be seeing as it was the day before the wedding.
Harry met Hermione in the living room, she was patiently waiting enthralled in a book entitled `Darkest Arts Artistically Applied' Harry could see as she held it before her. He approached her as she lowered her book to look at him in appraising sort of way, checking to see if he was dressed suitably for the visit or not. To this Harry did a little fake cat walk, twirl and a curtsy which made the pair laugh.
`You've been fighting against evil all this time and its only now you realize what you're real calling is!' Hermione said mock seriously, to which Harry simply sighed nodding fake sadly. `Ok then Mr. Model, we better get going or Mrs. Weasley will be sending a search team out for us, now take my hand and I'll side along apparate with you, they took the anti-apparation wards of the Burrow today seeing as so many of them will be coming'. Harry took her hand in his and linking his fingers with hers delicately trying to feel calm, Harry still didn't like the apparating. Hermione gave a little nod and Harry felt the usually squeezing feeling of apparition, a feeling he was quickly coming too loathe.
With a crack Harry and Hermione appeared just outside of the burrow, quite a few people were outside, sitting on the chairs outside of the house. As Harry surveyed the house he felt instantly at ease, ever since the second year when Ron and the twins had rescued him from Privet Drive in a flying Ford Anglia the Burrow had always felt like a second home to Harry and it felt good to be back here. Harry saw that in the large garden was where the wedding was to take place, rows of chairs had been set up leading to the altar where the ceremony between Bill and Fleur would happen. The Altar was beautiful, the base was made from beautifully made slabs of stone, resembling olden medieval churches, and the frame and roof of the small wall-less room was made from mahogany, carved into vines of roses rising up to the roof. Harry had never been to a wedding before but he knew that this one was spectacular, during the summer they had watched some movies and Hermione had forced them to sit through numerous `chick-flicks', many of them had beautiful weddings. To the side of this was a huge marquee, Harry thought which would have been magically enlarged, which was a bright spotless white.
Harry hadn't been admiring the view for long when he felt someone throw themselves into his chest, filling his eyes with nothing but a large amount of red flaming hair.
`Harry' Ginny said stifling a little sob, of which Harry hoped was happiness `I've missed you so much, I've been going crazy!'
The surprise caught Harry of guard as he realized that he had forgotten that Ginny was going to be here, really stupid Harry berated himself as this was Ginny's home. How could he have forgotten he was going to see Ginny today, something he had been longing for since he left the Hogwarts Express! But then he remembered Sirius coming to him last night and it wasn't so difficult to think that he'd forget. He leaned back, still holding her in his arms, so he could look at her and when their eyes met he felt a small surge of butterflies flitter into his stomach. She was even more beautiful than he could remember, her fiery red hair was enough to drop Harry's jaw. He couldn't do this, if he lasted any longer with her in his arms, her voluptuous mouth close enough to push his lips to…he had to stop thinking of this, he had to leave this situation.
`I've missed you too' He said softly before breaking eye contact and slipping away from her grasp `We better go and see everyone, were late already…' he said with a little force in his voice to try and take control of the situation as he scanned the people on the bench. Ron, Charlie and the twins were there, all waving in Harry's direction.
`Horrible, showing affection in public!' Fred said indignantly with mock out rage as Harry approached the bench smiling at them, Ginny left a couple steps behind him.
`Disgusting, and in front of the young girls brothers, and the Quibbler makes you out to be a hero!' George said in the same tone as his twin.
`Leave it out you two, Harry its good to see you again.' Charlie said laughing slightly as he shook Harry's hand.
`Thanks, good to see you all again' Harry said as he scanned the happy faces of the Weasley family before realizing that Hermione had disappeared `Where's Hermione?' he asked with the smallest amount of panic audible in his voice.
`While you two were practically having…' but what they were practically having was cut short as a murderous glare from Ginny, which Mrs. Weasley would have been proud of, stopped George mid sentence.
`Well, while you two were, shall we say, otherwise engaged, she went in to see Mum' Fred carried on for his twin brother. Harry felt relief pass through him to hear she was safe.
`Alright mate, you better get inside as well, Mum'll want to see you, she was getting worried about you' Ron said looking between Harry and Ginny in a slightly eager fashion. Harry averted his eyes and left after saying thanks. As he walked towards the door he looked back to see a hurt Ginny staring after him trying to restrain tears from falling from her eyes, a job which wasn't going too well.
Harry felt terrible, he had hurt Ginny again, but he always knew he would have to, every fantasy he had made where he went back on his plan to protect her with distance and snog her senseless were useless in real life. Harry knew he was going to have to talk to Hermione, she'd have some good advice for him, she always did. As he made his way into the kitchen through the back door he saw Hermione and Mr. Weasley sitting at the kitchen table talking, while Molly was preparing some food.
`…but Hogwarts is safer for…' Mr. Weasley seemed to be pleading to Hermione about something when he saw Harry enter the room `Oh, Hi Harry, great to see you!' his voice was happy but the redness that was flushing his ears meant that Harry knew he was wondering how much Harry had heard and seemed to be embarrassed.
`Harry!' Mrs. Weasley practically yelled with joy pulling him into a bone crunching motherly hug. As she let him from the embrace she held him back as to get a proper view of him `You're looking good for once Harry, Hermione must have been looking after you well! Sit down, sit down'. Mrs. Weasley said leading him to his chair, Hermione seemed to be blushing slightly, but still seemed rather happy.
`Thanks Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley' Harry said politely, Mrs. Weasley interjected with `Molly and Arthur dear', Harry smiled at the two of them, he was happy that they cared so much for him. `And Hermione's been fantastic, been taking great care of me… and Ron as well' Harry said, making Hermione turn the color of Ginny's hair through blushing but had one of the biggest smiles Harry had ever seen, which in turn caused Harry to smile quite as much. Mrs. Weasley was pacing up and down preparing food. `Where's Bill?' Harry asked simply.
`He's at St. Mungo's for the night, he wants to look his best for fleur tomorrow and the healers are trying some things out. The work hasn't been going great but his new healer Miss McCloud has some new ideas…We'll have to wait till the morning to see…' She trailed of sighing, evidently Bill's injuries was worrying her a lot. She stood there looking pain stricken as the others entered the room.
`Harry we're going to play Quidditch, I brought your firebolt and robes, you game? It's me, you and Ginny' Ron paused for a moment on Ginny's name emphasizing it for Harry, a thing he had been doing all summer, `against Fred, George and Charlie. Its pretty fair, we even have two seekers!'
`Yeah, that's cool' Harry was excited at the prospect of being back on his broom before turning to Mrs. Weasley and asking `unless there's anything you want me to do?'
`No no, go enjoy yourself, Hermione are you staying here?' Molly asked.
Before Hermione could answer though Harry had teasing said `please say she's not allowed near the cooking!' causing the pair to break into a grin.
`Well actually Harry, I'm cooking my specialty, shrimp-de-la-spoilt,' Hermione retorted in her bad French accent, causing Harry and Hermione to break into laughter, while everyone else gave questioning looks to each other puzzled at the joke, making Hermione add `Sorry, just a little joke'. This brought many more curious stares from the Weasley family, Ginny's' look of surprise was also mixed with something Harry thought to be anger.
`We better get going' Harry added quickly as the atmosphere had suddenly got a little tense `Cant wait to get on my broom, catch you later' and they left for the quidditch game.
The quidditch game lasted all afternoon, several hours in which Harry had enjoyed every minute, the sense of abandonment while riding a broom was ever present for him. Harry had heard a lot about Charlie being Quidditch Captain and the teams' seeker, but Harry had never seen him play. Harry found out that he was very good still even though he wasn't playing much anymore, Harry had the upper hand but Charlie was still holding his own against him. Ron was playing very well, his problem with confidence had seemed to be left behind him now, and the twins were the same as ever, `human bludgers' they were called by Wood once, Harry's first captain. Ginny though was spectacular, she was scoring well and overall was just very impressive. Plus the robes she had were tighter than the robes he had seen before and were fantastic light blue that showed the color of her hair superbly. Twice Charlie had caught the snitch without Harry realizing simply by the fact that he had stopped to watch her, both times a small smile flickered upon her lips.
By the time they were finished playing they had just enough time to get changed before dinner was served, on tables in the garden like in Harry's 4th year, when the family had met up before the Quidditch world cup final. The dinner was another one of Mrs. Weasleys' master pieces and Harry was happy to discover Hermione had played no part in its creation.
At the end they sat around talking as Fred and George told Harry of some of their new inventions, `firework fudges' which were sweets that made you expel small no-heat fireworks from your mouth when you spoke to a powder based on veritaserum that made the owner tell the truth just for one question. Now they were talking about `really revealing robes'.
`So the owner thinks they've put on a normal dress robe' Fred said.
`Ideal for very formal situations' George added.
`But only he can see them, meaning everyone else sees said person in all their glory' Fred said.
`Or lack of glory' George mused.
`As would be in Ron's case' Fred said teasingly, making Ron blush slightly.
Harry thought that the idea was great, although was now determined to properly check everything he ever put on again, for the rest of his life. Harry looked at Hermione again for about the 1000th time, he had been trying to get her on her own to ask her advice about Ginny all night, but Ron had been keeping her busy, and Harry thought he saw Hermione flirting outrageously with him. Harry was annoyed at this, he needed her advice but she was of being all flirty with someone, Harry was rather jealous at the time they were spending together, while he was left confused about Ginny. He would make sure he grabbed her tomorrow at the latest, even if he had to accio her from Ron's grip.
Soon it was approaching 11 O'clock and Mrs. Weasley was ordering them to bed, on the basis that it was going to be an early start and was going to be a very busy day. Harry was nearly to his door when Ginny took him by the hand.
`Just a moment Harry' she said, a small fire burning behind her eyes as Harry looked into them. Every time he found himself doing this he was sure he was losing more and more resolve, he was closer and closer to just giving in with every look, and now the presence of her hand in his was destroying the little resolution he had left. `Were you just going to carry on ignoring me forever?'
Harry didn't know what to say, he couldn't sat he was only doing it to stop himself from launching into kissing her `I'm…I haven't been, I just, the situation hasn't changed and I'm confused' Harry said honestly.
`Well, while you're confused' Ginny said playfully and she pulled Harry face down to hers, smashing her lips forcefully against his, pushing her tongue into his accepting mouth, before slowly withdrawing it and biting playfully on his bottom lip, `there's more to think about…' and with that she disappeared down the hall into the darkness.
*
Another chapter finished, and the longest so far! Some more H/Hr interaction, hope you enjoyed it. The wedding is next, and shall be great fun! More of you are reviewing but still not enough. Thanks to those who have and do, bad on those who don't! review please!
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