Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling,
various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner
Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Julia, my old Beta, thank you for the fantastic job you did on this chapter. As
for the 15 fab reviewers, you make each morning brighter with all your kind words. Never beware of flaming -
constructive criticism is a good thing.
Emerald iris, Draco and Ginny had made it a habit to hang around the flat every Sunday morning, wither they've been invited or not. While Harry dislikes it, Hermione sees it as a chance to catch-up with Ginny. Molly tends to side with Harry, though. Marrlyn42, as I said, Ginny and Draco practically don't have a home in this story. Emilyjane, thanks for the point out, the story was written in 2004, before JK told us much about anything. (:
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Chapter Two: Flying Books and a Black Eye
It was the beginning of July, but the nights were still cool and breezy. The evening wind had started to blow, and it was getting darker as the hours passed. The hour turned eight p.m., as the sun was begging to set. And The Wizard Clock was now pointing at the words 'Dinner time!'.
Harry was buttoning his dark-green button-up shirt, while throwing small glances at Hermione, from the corner of his eyes. She noticed, but still continued to get ready, while clearly ignoring his presence in the room.
"Hermione." Harry's voice was calm, but a little edgy.
He had tried to make her answer him, by simply repeating her name over and over again in the last hour, but she seemed not to hear him. His small plan had failed, because he was the one who started to crack, before Hermione did.
This is Malfoy's fault... he thought bitterly. Draco Bloody Malfoy!
Truth be told, he had become one of his best mates. But it certainly didn't make him less of a git than he had been.
When they became friends it was hard for them not to insult each other, which was the reason they developed some kind of a strange game. It could have been called by its purpose, the 'Who Will Get The Other One Into Trouble With His Girlfriend/Wife Faster?' game.
But the outcomes were never even, which was a problem. Because Ginny usually forgave Draco after ten minutes, while Hermione could have declared a war on Harry.
Harry was now becoming very restless with Hermione's behavior; she was making a fuss over nothing. So what if he had sent her friends home, in a very unfair way? That was not an excuse to give him the silence treatment.
"Come on!" Harry snapped, irritated. "I told you I was sorry! What else could you possibly want from me,
woman?"
The last word to leave his mouth was the one to make Hermione far beyond cracked.
The only answer Hermione could give Harry caught him off-guard, as it came flying at him in a shape of a big brown book. It hit him straight in the face, knocking him down flat on his back.
"OW!!! What did you do that for?" he asked angrily and clutched his eye, while trying to get up.
She could only giggle silently at the sight of his swollen eye that was bound to get purple very soon. Unless she was very much mistaken, Hermione had just given him a black eye.
"Crazy Hag..." he muttered to himself as he got to his feet.
At the same second he finished saying that sentence, Hermione got angry again. Another book came flying at him, missing him by an inch as it landed.
He came to the conclusion that shutting-up at this point would be a splendid idea.
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A half hour later, still not speaking to each other, Harry and Hermione Apparated into the Burrow. They were standing in the middle of the Living Room, which was crowded with people. All the Weasley clan had arrived (except for Percy, who was visiting Penelope's parents that night) to the gathering.
"Well, look who decided to grace us with their presence," said a smiling Arthur Weasley.
"Arthur!" beamed Hermione as she hugged the man that had been like a second father to her. "We had a few problems, I am so sorry to have kept you waiting!" she said while frowning in Harry's direction. Arthur just smiled and moved to greet Harry.
"Harry." His smile grew bigger. "What did you do to deserve that?" he chuckled lightly.
"It was Malfoy's fault, Dad! Ask Mom!" he protested while glancing at the now smirking Draco. "But I did kind of call her a Crazy Hag..." Harry murmured.
"Now, that is not nice, son. Hermione can't be a hag, she's too beautiful," Arthur said cheerfully, ignoring the crazy part, because everyone knew Hermione's moods.
Hermione greeted all the men in the room with hugs, and hurried to join Ginny, Lavender, Angelina, Fleur and Jessica.
Jessica was Charlie's wife. She had long black hair, bright brown eyes and the body of a super model (which she was). But one thing was different about her, not like the others in the room--she was a Muggle.
Hermione greeted the mob of giggling women, and told them all about Harry's last 'accident'.
Ron reached Harry first after his father, with a big smile on his face. Harry knew what was coming, it's not every day that he waltzed into The Burrow with a black eye.
"Harry mate, would you mind explaining that?" said Ron, gesturing toward his face.
"Ron... I could easily explain it to you, he was born that way. Unlucky bloke. Why are you so surprised now?" Draco said with a smirk.
"Don't get me started on your face, Malfoy!" Ron said with a snarl.
"What is wrong with my face, dear brother? I believe you said Malfoy, have you forgotten my last name?" Ginny asked him with a calm look. When he didn't answer she smiled. "I see. Well Harry, you were saying..." she said with an evil smile playing on her face, turning her eyes to Harry.
"I...um...see, I tripped over something..." He stumbled on his words, while Ron looked at him suspiciously.
All the women in the room and Draco broke into peals of laughter, as the rest of the men (minus Arthur who kept smiling) looked at them weirdly. Harry felt the temperature of the room rising, as he blushed deep shade of scarlet.
Ginny was the first one who stopped laughing after a few seconds.
"Sure you did honey, with all those"--she let out a giggle--"books... lying around the flat!" She soon started laughing again.
"What are you getting at' Gin?" Fred asked her curiously, but she kept laughing with the other women.
"She's mental. They all are," George replied to his twin brother's question.
"Wait a second. Jess, what's going on?" Charlie asked his wife.
"Ask Harry!" was all she told him. A very unhelpful answer, that was.
Bill, who had stayed silent the whole time, watched as the women made the other men very confused, and Harry very embarrassed.
He also noticed that Draco was the only one with a smirk on his face, and approached him.
"Okay, mate, what do you know?" he whispered to him.
"Only that I got our dear friend over there"--he nodded toward Harry--"in a lot of trouble with Hermione this morning." He smiled proudly, while Bill let out a small laugh.
"So he pissed her off, and she threw a couple of books at him," Bill said, a little too loud, because now the whole room was bursting with laughter, and poor Harry felt like digging a hole in the ground and disappearing into it.
Suddenly, like Harry's prayers had been heard...
"DINNER!!!" Molly's voice boomed from the kitchen as she called.
The merry crowd soon forgot about Harry, and was now exiting the living room and making their way to the kitchen.
Still flushed and grim, Harry stood in the middle of the room, shock playing on his face.
"She's an evil thing, that woman...evil!" he hissed at Ron who was looking rather amused.
"I told you to never get on Hermione's bad side!" Ron told him knowingly.
"But-but-she gave me a black eye! And then...then this!" he threw his arms in the air, gesturing at the room.
"She's your girlfriend." Ron shrugged. "Come on mate, the food's waiting and I'm hungry." He patted his stomach lightly.
"You're always hungry," Harry said rolling his eyes at him.
"I'm a man," Ron said defensively. Harry only smiled, as the pair of them made their way to the kitchen.
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