Reunion
What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone?)
How do I feel by the end of the day,
(Are you sad because you're on your own?)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
(With a Little Help From My Friends-Joe Cocker)
Hermione and Ron stood on the porch of the Dursley household. She was fussing with her clothes as she spoke.
"Now Ron, please try and behave while we are here," she said.
"I will if they do," he grumbled, earning himself a hard look from her. "What?" he said defensively. "These are the people who locked Harry in a cupboard, abused him while he was here."
"I know very well what they have done to him," she retorted waspishly. "That's why we're here but we aren't helping Harry out if we do anything to anger his aunt and uncle."
"You'd be surprised just how much it would help Harry out if we knocked his aunt and uncle around a bit with magic," Ron muttered.
Hermione tutted impatiently and rang the doorbell. A moment later, footfalls could be heard from the other side and the door opened to reveal a large man who could've filled the entire doorway.
Vernon Dursley looked down at the two teenagers. The pretty girl with her brown hair in ponytail, pink t-shirt, jeans and carrying a small bag. The tall young man, long nose and a mop of red hair who wore a very worn red shirt and army green pants with patches on them. He recognized the young man immediately as one of…those people, therefore these two must be Harry's "friends".
"Uh..hello, sir," Hermione broke the uncomfortable silence. "My name is-"
"Get in here!" Vernon hissed, reaching out and yanking both kids into the home. "You cannot just stand out there outside of our door. People could've seen you two!"
Hermione was speechless at this greeting and at the briskness at which they were thrown into the house.
"HARRY POTTER!" the man bellowed and Hermione and Ron jumped back.
They heard a door close from somewhere upstairs and the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs before a tall figure with messy raven hair appeared.
Uncle Vernon was turning a shade of deep red and Harry braced himself for the verbal onslaught. "Harry, your friends have arrived. They were standing outside of the door where anyone could see them. I warned you…"
"You warned me that they shouldn't do any magic. They were only standing…"
"ANYONE could have seen them."
"They only were standing there!" Harry shot back.
"But people will see your kind."
"And what do we look like?" Harry crossed his arms over his chest.
Vernon blustered for a moment then ordered them all to go upstairs. Harry led his friends to his embarrassingly tiny room. He had done his best to clean it without magic but it still had the cleanliness standard of any typical teenage boy. He closed the door behind him and stuck his hands in the pockets of his faded denim jeans, his grey t-shirt fit nicely on him. Hermione turned her gaze from her fanciable friend and to the cluttered bedroom.
"Well…welcome to my room," he said.
"Good to see you mate. I see your family is the same," Ron grinned as he clapped his friend on the back.
"He was just downright rude," Hermione said as she gave her friend a hug.
"I warned her," Ron chimed in.
"But still! The nerve!" Hermione huffed.
"Sorry Hermione," Harry said letting her go.
"Don't worry about it, Hermione," Ron said as he made himself comfortable on Harry's bed and pulled out a couple of chocolate frogs from his front pocket. He tossed one to Harry.
"You get used to it," Harry said grimly, catching the candy.
"No one should have to get used to that, Harry."
"Whatever," he shrugged. "I'm glad you guys are here."
"We promised we'd be here," Hermione replied.
"Thanks," he said, looking at her.
The door opened behind them and Aunt Petunia stepped into the room. She was impeccably groomed and dressed in a black blouse with flower print and a long grey skirt. She looked directly at Hermione.
"I don't think it would be very proper for you to stay in here so I have arranged a room of your own," she announced.
"Oh, okay," Hermione picked up her bag and left the room with his aunt.
Harry stuck his head out of the door and into the hall to see that she was being quartered in the guest room down the hall. He turned back into his room.
"How's Ginny?" he asked, tentatively.
Ron, who had been thumbing through the latest Quidditch Supply catalogue, looked up at him. "She's alright, I guess. Asks about you a lot. She asked me to give you this." He took out a bent envelope from his back pocket.
Harry took it from him, recognizing the neat cursive handwriting of his ex-girlfriend. He leaned against the wall nearest to his window and opened the letter. Her familiar flowery scent filled his nostrils.
Dear Harry,
How are you? I hope you are doing well. Things are busy here at the Burrow with the wedding and all. Fleur is an absolute tyrant of a bride, she's throwing the biggest fits over the smallest details. Anyway, I'm sending this letter with Ron since he will be staying with you until your birthday. I hope you will return to the Burrow sometime this summer and not just for the wedding. I miss you.
Love, Ginny
P.S. Tell Hermione I said hello.
"Shame about Hermione being put in another room," Ron spoke up.
"Why's that?" Harry asked as he folded her letter and put it away in a drawer in his desk.
"No reason," Ron said quietly as he turned a slight shade of pink that Harry was oblivious to.
"I should check on her," Harry said, moving to the door, "to make sure my Aunt hasn't locked her in a closet or something." Ron chuckled.
He walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door.
"Come in," Hermione answered.
Harry walked in to see that his aunt had already left her presence and that Hermione's small bag was now enlarged to something the size of a hockey bag.
"How much stuff did you bring?" Harry asked as she unpacked her clothes as was putting them in the drawers.
"You can never be too prepared," she answered.
"I guess," Harry said, disbelieving as he snuck a peek in her bag. With a wave of her wand, a small stack of books came flying out of the bag and piled themselves neatly in Harry's arms. "Geez, Hermione, did you bring the library with you?"
She put her hands on her hips. "Very funny. I brought some books for us to read that I think will help us. Come on, let's go back to your room."
Ron laughed at the sight of Harry already being put to work by Hermione when they returned to the room. Harry threw him a glare and set the books down on his cluttered desk. Hermione sighed and took out her wand again.
"It's a good thing we can do magic outside of school now," she said as she enlarged the room.
"You can," Harry said sulkily.
"Cheer up, mate. You only have a few weeks to go," Ron chirped.
"You know, you could help," Hermione said to him as she transfigured a bed for him.
"Transfiguration is your strength, not mine," he replied and returned to the Quidditch magazine.
Hermione scowled and hexed Harry's blankets to start attacking Ron. Harry let out a laugh at his friend who was struggling against being smothered.
"Call it off!" his shout was muffled. "Hermione, undo this!"
She ignored him and pasted a large map on his now larger wall space. "What's this?" Harry asked.
"It's a map I bought at Flourish & Blotts," she replied. "See? Here you are," she pointed to a red dot on the map. "Here is my parent's house," she pointed to another red dot. "And here is the Burrow."
There was a loud thud behind them and they both turned to see that Ron's struggle with the blankets had now moved to the floor. They both turned back to the map.
"I'm going to need help plotting the Riddle house and where you were the night…" she couldn't finish the sentence and Harry shuffled awkwardly but she quickly continued. "But we can plot all the Death Eater activity we can." She turned to face him. "I'm willing to bet that we will see a pattern emerge. Voldemort will be looking for those horcruxes as well, now we can track him and possibly stay one step ahead of him."
Harry looked down at her and smiled. "Brilliant, Hermione." She beamed. They both looked back down at Ron. "I think you'd better take the hex off," Harry appealed.
Hermione shrugged. "Serves him right." And with a flick of her wand, the spell was lifted.
~*~
Dinner was announced when Dudley finally came home late that evening from having "tea" with friends. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Dursley will still convinced that their son was the most popular boy in the neighborhood. When the trio arrived downstairs, Harry saw that his aunt had set up the larger dining room table to accommodate their "guests".
"May I help you, Mrs. Dursley?" Hermione bounced into the kitchen.
There was a loud thump and Harry turned to see Dudley standing in front of the open door of the refrigerator, massaging the top of his head. He was staring open mouthed at Hermione. It suddenly occurred to Harry that this might be the closest his cousin had ever been to a girl.
"Uh…of course," Harry could tell that Hermione had caught his aunt off-guard. "Take this." She practically shoved a large salad bowl into Hermione's waiting arms. Hermione turned and noticed his cousin standing by the fridge.
"Oh, hello," she said politely to him before continuing on her way.
Dudley turned a bright shade of red. Ron stepped forward and made himself visible to him. Dudley, remembering the last time he had seen this young man shrank and hid behind the refrigerator door. Which was an impossible task for the size that he was.
Harry took a seat next to Hermione at the dining table, Ron sat across from him and, much to Harry's dismay, Dudley sat across from Hermione. Dinner was an awkward affair, Hermione eventually gave up on the small talk after receiving short one-worded answers. And Ron wasn't going to speak to anyone but Harry and Hermione, and they had warned him to refrain from talking about magic or anything related to it so conversation from his end was dead. Harry looked over at his cousin and saw that he was staring at Hermione. He kicked him sharply under the table and when he got his attention, he slowly nodded a "no". Harry was surprised and very thankful that Ron hadn't said anything about the meager meal that was served that night. He wasn't sure that Ron had ever eaten a salad before in his life but if Ron had any qualms he kept quiet.
Again, Harry noticed that Dudley was absent-mindedly stabbing his fork to the table, completely missing the plate as he stared at Hermione. Harry cleared his throat, ever so slightly, telling Dudley once again to back off.
"Would you like any help cleaning up?" Hermione asked his aunt.
"No thank you," she replied, shortly.
"It really isn't a bother," Hermione smiled. She moved her hand to her pants pocket where her wand lay. "It's just a simple incan…" There was a sharp intake of breath from the Dursley's and Harry's right arm crossed over Hermione and gently grabbed her hand to stop her from drawing out her wand.
"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said softly to her. She looked up at him, suddenly remembering how much his relatives hated magic, and slid her wand back into her pocket.
Harry turned back to his aunt and uncle. "We'll just take our plates to the sink."
"That will be fine," Aunt Petunia answered in a strained voice.
~*~
"Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermione said as he closed his bedroom door. He turned to look at her, her face flushed with embarrassment and concern.
"Don't worry about it," he said softly to her, giving her a small grin.
"I just…I just don't want to do anything to get you in trouble," she rambled on.
"Hey, hey," he said as he reached out for her arms. "You aren't going to get me in trouble. You being here will make my aunt and uncle want to see even less of me," he grinned as he rubbed her arms. Hermione looked up at him still unconvinced, her brown eyes filled with concern.
"Aha! Here they are!" Ron exclaimed, drawing Harry's attention from Hermione. Ron had been rummaging in his bag since they returned to the room and was now taking out some wrapped parcels.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Meat pies," Ron grinned. "I had mum make a bunch just for this occasion. I knew the Dursley's wouldn't properly feed us."
"Excellent," Harry said as he took one and sat on his bed.
"Hermione?" Ron offered one to Hermione.
"No thank you. I actually didn't mind dinner tonight," she replied.
"Oh yeah. Girls like salads," Ron grinned.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sat on the chair from Harry's desk. The three of them talked until Hermione declared that they should all go to bed.
"Goodnight boys," Hermione said as she left the room. Ron watched her leave.
"I'll be back, mate," he said as he moved off of his bed. "I'm just…going to say goodnight to her."
The click of the door left Harry alone in the room and alone with a strange feeling. He had the distraction of Ginny, Hogwarts and the eventful year to keep him from dealing with his two best friends' feelings for each other. Now, it was shoved down his throat again and still leaving a bad taste. He wasn't comfortable with the idea back then and he felt guilty that he still didn't like the idea. Even though his two best friends were now here to keep him company at the Dursley's, he'd never felt more alone.
He finished brushing his teeth in the bathroom, washed his face and took a good look at himself in the mirror, mentally willing himself to stop being a jerk about this. He opened the door and stepped out in the hall only to collide into Hermione.
"Sorry!"
"Oh! I'm so sorry!"
They whispered at the same time, then paused a moment to make sure they hadn't disturbed the Dursley's, they both grinned when all was silent. Her hair was down from her ponytail, her curls resting gently on her shoulders and falling down past them. She was wearing a pair of pink, plaid, flannel pajamas.
"Room alright?" he asked.
"Yes, it's fine," she answered.
"Good. Well then," he paused. "Good night, Hermione."
"Good night, Harry."
They moved past each other to go their separate ways but Harry's mind was screaming at him to say something.
"Hermione?" he turned around.
"Yes Harry?" she answered.
What the hell was he going to say? He knew what he wanted to ask, he wanted to know about her and Ron. Was she happy with him? Did she like being with him? Were they together? Did he kiss her goodnight? Did they ever kiss? Did she like it?
"Er…," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "You…you might want to put up some wards around your room," he finally said. "I don't trust my cousin."
Hermione smiled. "One step ahead of you, Harry."
With nothing more to say, they parted ways for the night.
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