Disclaimer: See Part 1
Author's Note: Thank you, everyone, for reading and reviewing! Now, what you've all been waiting for- the part where Harry and Hermione finally kiss. :-D
Rewriting one of my favorite parts of GoF to make it better. ;-) (And you should read this in conjunction with the original chapter in GoF because I absolutely refuse to spend time retyping Snape being his usual cruel bastard of a so-called teacher and skimmed over it in my version.)
Thanks to Rita Skeeter
The first days after the second task weren't quite as nice and worry-free as Harry had been rather hoping. Ron was rather irritable because Harry's status as champion had been, almost completely, accepted by Hogwarts (except, of course, by the Slytherins) and after the success of the second task, Harry's fame had only been enhanced. Harry himself was conscious of being frustrated at being in the limelight again; it seemed he couldn't go anywhere without seeing groups of students clustered together watching him and then whispering amongst themselves or more directly, asking him what it was like under the lake and asking him to tell them his story. By the fifth request to tell his story, Harry was (almost) wishing he could have stayed under-water for another week.
And, as if that weren't enough, Hermione too wasn't in the best of moods as she had had to endure a lot of teasing about being the thing Harry would miss most.
The only comfort and somewhat encouraging thing about the situation was the fact that, whenever anyone brought it up, Hermione always glanced at Harry and blushed scarlet, though she refused to comment. And he couldn't help but wonder-if she didn't fancy him a little, surely she would say more, be insisting that she and Harry were only friends-or something…
He was distracted from any thoughts of romance when the brown owl he had sent to Sirius with the dates of the Hogsmeade weekend returned at breakfast on Friday morning with half its feathers sticking up the wrong way, after having fought its way through the bitter March winds. Harry had barely taken off Sirius' reply than the owl flew off, obviously afraid it was going to be sent outside again.
Sirius' letter was very brief and to the point.
Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish & Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.
For one blank moment, Harry stared at the note, unwilling and unable to believe what it meant and desperately hoping he might have misread it. He hadn't.
"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" Ron asked incredulously.
"It looks like it, doesn't it?" Hermione asked, meeting Harry's eyes with a worried look and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was.
"I can't believe him," Harry bit out tensely. "If he's caught…" He trailed off with a brief shudder and Hermione put her hand on his arm for a fleeting moment, as if to tell him that Sirius would be fine.
"Made it so far, though, hasn't he?" Ron asked, clearly not as troubled by the news of Sirius' return as Harry and Hermione were. "And it's not like the place is swarming with Dementors anymore."
Ron's valid point did little to make Harry feel any better but he had to admit that he really did want to see Sirius again. And of course, he reasoned, Sirius wasn't stupid; he would be careful not to let anyone see him.
So it was with more cheerfulness than Harry had felt for a while that he went down towards the dungeons for double Potions later that afternoon.
Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing huddled outside the classroom door, along with Pansy Parkinson's group of Slytherin girls, all of them sniggering and giggling maliciously over something Harry couldn't see.
Pansy's pug-like face spotted the three of them around Goyle's back. "There they are, there they are!" she giggled and the knot of Slytherins broke apart, grinning with spiteful satisfaction.
Harry felt a flicker of unease and apprehension-what now?
It was a magazine, Witch Weekly, Harry saw, the moving picture on the front showing a curly-haired witch smiling broadly and pointing at a large sponge cake with her wand.
"You might find something to interest you there, Granger!" Pansy said loudly and threw the magazine at Hermione, who caught it, looking surprised.
At that moment, the door opened and Snape beckoned them inside, although his expression remained about as welcoming as a Blast-Ended Skrewt.
Harry, Ron and Hermione headed for a table at the back of the dungeon as usual and once Snape had turned his back to write-up the ingredients of today's potion on the blackboard, Hermione hastily flipped through the magazine until she found what they were looking for.
A color photograph of Harry was printed alongside a short piece entitled, Harry Potter's Secret Heartache.
Harry grimaced, the flicker of apprehension growing to become a fist squeezing his stomach, at the sight of the byline. Rita Skeeter had written the article.
A boy like no other, perhaps-yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.
Harry felt his cheeks burn with a hot blush as he read the words, "his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger." And all he could think was, I wish…
Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgaria Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum, who is quite smitten with the devious Miss Granger, [devious? Harry scowled, mentally consigning Rita Skeeter to perdition] asked Miss Granger to attend the Yule Ball with him (she decided to go with Harry Potter instead in what may have been a ploy to disguise her other interest in Krum, who was seen kissing Miss Granger's hand at the Yule Ball after dancing with her) and has asked Miss Granger to spend the next day in Hogsmeade with him. He insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."
[He- what?! Harry glanced quickly at Hermione. Krum had told her that?! When? Krum didn't even know Hermione-how could he…]
However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms which have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.
"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion; she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."
[Harry choked back a disbelieving laugh. Hermione ugly?! Pansy Parkinson pretty?! Maybe from a bull-dog's point of view, since Pansy so resembled one, he thought sardonically. Doubtful natural charms, ha! As if someone like Pansy or Rita Skeeter could ever appreciate the depth of friendship and loyalty and kindness that was Hermione's real charm…]
Love Potions are of course banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.
Albus Dumbledore, Harry thought, was smarter than to believe a word of Rita Skeeter's garbage and certainly smart enough to know that Hermione was incapable of the sort of behavior Rita Skeeter described. As for a worthier candidate-Harry bit back a snort. There was no such thing, he was quite sure of it.
"I told you!" Ron hissed at Hermione, carefully avoiding looking at Harry. "I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of- of scarlet woman!"
Hermione, who had been looking stunned, stopped and started laughing.
"Scarlet woman?" she repeated, shaking with suppressed giggles as she looked at Ron with raised eyebrows.
"It's what my mum calls them," Ron muttered, his ears going red.
"If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch," Hermione said dismissively, throwing Witch Weekly onto the empty chair beside her. "What a pile of old rubbish."
She smiled briefly at Harry before looking over at the Slytherins, who had all been watching them avidly to see if they had been upset by the article. Hermione threw them a sarcastic smile and wave and then turned back to start unpacking the ingredients they would need for their Wit-Sharpening Potion.
"There's something funny, though," Hermione commented a few minutes later, stopping her pestle in mid-air over her bowl of scarab beetles. "How could Rita Skeeter have known…?"
"Known what?" Ron inserted quickly. "You haven't been mixing up Love Potions, have you?"
An annoyed expression crossed Hermione's face as she opened her mouth to respond but Harry beat her to it.
"Don't be silly," Harry spoke up. "Hermione wouldn't." She doesn't have to, he added mentally. To say nothing of the fact that Hermione was the last person to brew something like a Love Potion against Hogwarts rules.
Hermione gave Harry a quick, grateful look, before continuing, "No, it's just… how did she know Viktor asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him?"
Hermione blushed as she said this and carefully avoided Harry's eyes that were now riveted on Hermione to the detriment of the beetles he was supposed to be crushing.
"What?" Harry asked in a whisper that tried to sound nonchalant but failed rather miserably.
"He asked me after he introduced me to his father," Hermione muttered. "After they'd announced the scores and I'd talked a little bit with his father, he sort of pulled me away so no one else could hear and said, if I wasn't already going with anyone, would I want to--"
"And what did you say?" Harry interrupted, unable to help himself, absently beginning to grind his pestle on the desk instead of inside the bowl like he was supposed to.
"And he did say he'd never felt the same way about anyone else," Hermione continued quickly, blushing even redder than before and still carefully avoiding Harry's gaze and continuing to study her crushed scarab beetles as if they were the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. "But how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn't there… or was she? Maybe she has got an Invisibility Cloak, maybe she sneaked into the grounds to watch the second task…"
"What did you say?" Ron asked this time, before Harry could, and Harry threw Ron a grateful look.
"Oh, I was too distracted making sure Harry was OK and told him I'd tell him later--"
"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," said an icy voice they all knew far too well, from behind them, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."
Snape proceeded to make the rest of the class as hellish as he could for the three of them, effectively taking Harry's mind off of what Hermione had said, as he gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the laughter of the Slytherins at Snape's oily voice reading the article aloud with ample pauses to allow for sniggering and his characteristic sarcastic comments.
And as separating the three of them wasn't nearly enough cruelty, Snape continued his torment on Harry alone for the next few minutes while Harry tried to practice selective hearing.
He suppressed a shudder at Snape's threatening him with Veritaserum. For himself, he didn't care much; he doubted any secret he told could make Snape hate him more, given how much Snape already hated him. But it would get Dobby in trouble for having stolen the Gillyweed, and Hermione for the boomslang skin in 2nd year… And everyone would find out how he felt about Hermione… He felt his stomach twist oddly at the thought.
He left the dungeons with more relief than he had ever felt in his life, mentally cursing both Karkaroff and Snape-Karkaroff for coming in so suspiciously and thereby ensuring that Harry would want to linger a little and Snape for being, well, Snape.
He, Ron and Hermione spent the rest of the evening discussing Karkaroff and Snape's little conversation which Harry had overheard, connecting it to what he and Hermione had heard the night of the Yule Ball, and speculating what was the "it" that was scaring Karkaroff so much.
It wasn't until later when Ron was luckily distracted by one of Fred and George's experiments that he managed to get Hermione alone.
"Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Harry asked in a whisper, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. He felt like he might burst if he had to go another hour without talking to Hermione and finding out what she had meant earlier, whether she'd be going to Hogsmeade the next day with Krum or not.
Hermione had managed to push the Rita Skeeter article to the back of her mind while she puzzled over Karkaroff and Snape but it came rushing back at the sight of Harry's face and the uncertainty she could see clearly in his eyes. For a fleeting moment, she wished she could avoid Harry, suddenly nervous of how to face him after such an article. Surely he hadn't taken the Skeeter article seriously… Surely he didn't think anything of Skeeter's accusations that she had used him at the Yule Ball… He wouldn't- he couldn't…
Of course he didn't, her rational mind asserted briskly. Harry wouldn't think such things and he knew better than to believe a word Rita Skeeter wrote.
But what about the small grain of truth, another part of her mind asked slyly, and Hermione faltered. Because it was true that, in some small, secret part of her, unacknowledged and certainly unintentionally, she had hoped that Harry's knowing that Krum fancied her would help him to see her in another light, as a real girl… And Harry had been so- sweet- at the Yule Ball and afterwards… And then the second task… She had really begun to hope that Harry might care about her as more than just a friend…
She managed a smile that she hoped looked normal as she answered, "Sure, Harry."
She followed Harry out of the Common Room and out into the corridor where he turned a corner so as to be out of sight from even the Fat Lady's portrait, before he turned to face her.
He looked- uncertain, vulnerable, Hermione saw with a pang of sympathy.
"I hope you don't believe anything that Rita Skeeter wrote," she blurted out. "It's not true."
Harry blinked. "Of course I know it's not true!" he assured her quickly. "I know you better than that, even if I didn't already know that Rita Skeeter writes lies."
Hermione smiled, seeming relieved. "Oh, good, then."
"What did you tell Krum about Hogsmeade? Are you going with him?" Harry asked quickly, before he could lose his nerve.
"What? Of course not! I want to hear what Sirius has to tell you as much as you do."
"Oh, right," Harry muttered, his heart dropping a little and irrationally, simultaneously wishing that Sirius hadn't insisted on meeting them tomorrow and feeling immensely grateful that Sirius had. "Is- is it only because of Sirius?" he heard himself say and then mentally cringed at the question and at the tinge of wistfulness in his tone.
Hermione flushed a little. "No, I- I told Viktor I couldn't go to Hogsmeade with him even before we got Sirius' note."
"So you- you don't fancy Krum?" Harry asked, looking anywhere but at Hermione as he blurted out the revealing question, feeling his cheeks burn and his heart clattering in his chest.
"No, I don't." Her answer was so soft he could hardly hear it but it was enough to send a jolt of hope through his body.
He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry, and finally dared to look at Hermione, the look in her eyes making his heart beat even faster. "I- you see- er- the thing is," he began awkwardly, "though I know that Skeeter article is trash, I- er- there's one thing she kinda- um- got right." He paused and then continued, stammering, "I- erm- I like you and, well, I- uh- wouldn't mind if you really were my girlfriend." He finished in a rush, the last eight words running together until they were just barely intelligible.
There was a beat of silence during which Harry stared at his feet and tried to squash his sudden, cowardly urge to turn tail and run.
And then she spoke. "Oh, Harry," was all she said but there was something in her tone that made him look up at her just in time to glimpse her bright smile before she threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek, again, just as she had after the second task.
And again Harry felt the same flare of warmth in his chest and stomach as he closed his arms around her automatically-but this time, the hug lingered and he allowed himself to enjoy the warmth of her against him, the feeling of her in his arms…
She drew back, blushing, but Harry, on an impulse he couldn't control, bent his head and did what he'd wanted to do for what felt like months now: he kissed her, his lips brushing against hers in a fleeting touch.
For one moment, they both stared at each other, eyes wide, before her eyes fluttered closed and he bent his head once more, kissing her again, a little more confidently this time.
The kiss was soft, innocent-and over all too soon as they broke apart on hearing footsteps followed by Ron's voice calling, "Harry? Hermione? Where are you guys?" A moment later, Ron turned the corner and saw them, stopping short as he paused to study their tell-tale flushed cheeks and their positions, standing so close to each other.
For a few seconds, conflicting expressions ranging from shock to dismay to resignation flickered across his face until he finally said, with an attempt at his normal tone, "Come on; you two don't want to miss this; Fred and George have come up with a spell and a candy that makes a person's hair change color every minute."
"We'll be right there," Hermione answered, regaining her composure quicker than Harry.
Ron glanced between them one last time before turning to return to the Common Room, as Harry and Hermione glanced at each other.
"I- er- I guess we should go," Harry finally found his voice to say.
She smiled at him, a warm smile that made her eyes shine and her expression soften with an emotion he didn't think he'd ever seen before but which made his heart lift. "We should," she said softly.
Neither of them said anything more as they walked back to the Common Room but at the last second, just before they stepped inside, Hermione slipped her hand into Harry's in a brief, surreptitious caress.
They stepped inside to the sound of laughter and the sight of Fred and George, wearing mischievously triumphant grins, while Fred's hair was a shockingly bright pink and George's an equally shocking bright blue. Moments later, as both struck dramatic poses, Fred's hair turned a bright yellow while George's became silver.
Harry and Hermione laughed with the others as they sat down beside Ron, easily falling in with the calls of encouragement to Fred and George and commentary on the colors.
But every once in a while, Harry felt Hermione's hand or arm brush against his a little too lingeringly to be accidental and their eyes would meet as they shared a quick, secret smile-and for just one fleeting second, all the noise in the Common Room and every other person in it, faded away.
And Harry thought to himself with a small, secret grin, that at least one good thing had happened because of Rita Skeeter and her mendacious quill.
To be continued with 2 Epilogues and then this fic will be done…