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Rewriting History by akscully
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Rewriting History

akscully

OotP, ch. 19, pg. 404, US Hardcover ed.

"Good luck, Ron," said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. "And you, Harry--"

Harry immediately turned red enough to rival Ron's hair, although why he did, he couldn't understand. He had been kissed by her before and she had done the exact same thing to Ron, for goodness sakes…

Hermione was looking at him curiously. "Are you alright, Harry?" she asked as Ron wandered away still looking slightly ill.

Harry nodded quickly. "Er, yeah, just nerves, I guess." He groaned silently. Nerves? Turning red because of nerves?

Hermione gave him a knowing smile. "Well, one more for your nerves, then," she murmured and stood up on tiptoe again. Harry could only blink in shock as she pressed another soft kiss onto his cheek. He looked at her as she grinned and walked away, his eyes automatically, it seemed, tracking the soft sway of her hips.

OotP, ch 25, pg. 558, US Hardcover ed.

"Cute, isn't it?" said Cho happily.

"Er…yeah," said Harry untruthfully. All he could think was that if he were with Hermione, she would never take him to a place like this. They would probably stay in Flourish and Blotts the entire time, true, but Hermione would never make him feel this uncomfortable on a date.

He decided to ignore the voice in his head (that sounded curiously like Ron) that was wondering why he was thinking about a date with Hermione in the first place and that furthermore, Flourish and Blotts wasn't that bad of a spot on account of all those bookshelves and hidden nooks and crannies, and being there with Hermione might be more fun than he thought than he originally figured.

OotP, ch. 28, pg 634, US Hardcover ed.

"Now you mention it," said Hermione happily, "d'you know…I think I'm feeling a bit…rebellious."

Harry stared at her in shock, his mind replaying her words. It seemed to be particularly stuck on 'rebellious' and the way she had positively purred that word. He felt a jolt low in his stomach as he remembered again, seeing her lips form the sounds and hearing her voice become smooth and throaty…

He came to his senses to see Hermione looking at him with a glint in her eye. He grinned suddenly at her and leaned forward. "Just how rebellious are you feeling?" he asked in a low voice.

She arched an eyebrow. "Just try me, Mr. Potter," she whispered, grinning back.

pg. 165

For some reason, Harry found that he did not want to look at Hermione. He turned to his bed, picked up the pile of clean robes Mrs. Weasley had laid upon it, and crossed the room to his trunk.

"Harry?" said Hermione tentatively.

"It's all right, Hermione," Harry said quietly. "You and Ron will make good prefects. You're a good match."

Hermione gave him a doubtful look. "Ron and I a good match? Not very likely." She paused for a moment. "I wish it had been you," she said in a soft voice.

Harry looked at her, startled, and felt a warm glow seeing her shining eyes. "We would have had fun."

She smiled at him. "We would have made a good team."

Harry gave her a genuine smile in return. "We make a good team now."

The look Hermione gave him warmed him even more and he felt a jolt when he saw that Hermione was blushing. He opened his mouth to speak-

"Oi! Mum's getting me a new broom!" Ron had returned.

pg. 222-223

"No," said Hermione calmly, "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down Ron's and my throats, Harry, because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side."

There was a short pause.

"Oh, forget it," Hermione said, disgust evident in her voice. She stalked ahead, clearly trying to put as much distance between her and Harry as possible. Harry gave Ron an agonized look before running after her.

"Hermione! Hermione, wait!" he called, catching up to her and putting a restraining hand on her arm. She stopped, but refused to look at him. "I'm really sorry, Hermione."

She heaved a sigh and nodded once curtly. "Fine."

Harry made a frustrated noise. He was doing this all wrong. He reached up and touched her cheek and gently turned her head to face him. "I'm sorry," he repeated quietly.

She looked at him for a moment before nodding. He felt her smooth skin move beneath his fingertips. "I do support you, you know."

Harry gave her a contrite look. "I know, it's just that…"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "You prefer to act like Ron?"

His lips twitched. "Heaven forbid…"

Hermione gave him a gentle smile and reached to touch his face, mirroring his position. "I don't want to lose you, Harry. I rather like you the way you are."

They heard a throat clear near them and they turned to see Ron gazing at them with a curiously neutral look on his face. "All made up, then?"

pg. 339

"How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" [Terry Boot] demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So does that mean we're using the Galleons?"

There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forward to collect one from the basket. Harry looked sideways at Hermione.

"You're the smartest person I've ever know," he said wonderingly.

Hermione flushed a deep read at the compliment but regained her composure. "Oh, no, what about Professor McGonagall or Professor Lupin or Professor Snape or good heavens, Professor Dumbledore! I think he's one of the smartest people on the planet.

"I think you could give Professor Dumbledore a run for his money," he told her firmly. "I've never seen anyone quite like you, Hermione."

"I should imagine not, Harry, as we're all unique individuals," Hermione said lightly. "It would be quite boring if we were all the same."

Harry shook his head. "That's not what I meant--"

Hermione placed a hand on his. "I know what you meant, Harry." She smiled. "Thank you," she said softly.

Harry turned his hand over and squeezed hers. "Smartest witch in the world."

pg. 503

On their way downstairs they met Hermione. "Thanks for the book, Harry!" she said happily. "I've been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! And that perfume is really unusual, Ron."

Harry looked sharply at Ron. He had gotten her perfume? Suddenly his present didn't seem quite enough. Hermione said that she had wanted the book, but perfume seemed like a much more appropriate gift now…

Hermione saw his pensive look and stopped. "What's wrong, Harry?" Ron stopped as well, but Hermione waved him on, and after a moment, Ron decided to go along into the kitchen.

Harry watched him go and stared at the doorway. "I just realized that I should have gotten you a better present. A book doesn't…it's not enough. It's just a book. I should have gotten you something nicer."

Hermione sighed. "Harry, here's a little advice. Never buy a woman perfume if you don't know exactly what she wears. We tend to be very particular about what we like and dislike. I didn't want to say this, and if you tell Ron, I'll deny it until I'm blue in the face, but the reason I said the perfume was unusual was because it smelled terrible. It smells awful in the bottle and even worse on me. Chemistry is a funny thing, Harry. You can't force it. You just have to accept it."

Harry gave her a bewildered look. "Chemistry? What does that have to do with anything?"

"How the perfume reacts with the skin, Harry. The oils in the perfume are affected by each person's specific body chemis-never mind. Just don't buy a woman perfume, Harry. It's a very personal experience and others rarely get it right."

"I still should have gotten you a better present."

Hermione put a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, what you got me is wonderful. That book is something I've wanted for a long time. It's me. It's who I am."

Harry grinned at her. "You're a book?"

She grinned back. "Something like that. You knew what I wanted and gave a gift that reflected that. You didn't force a gift from something you thought I would like or what you thought I should like and that means so much to me. Your gift is precious to me."

"Chemistry," Harry murmured.

"Hmmm?" Hermione asked. "What about it?"

Harry reached up and grabbed her hand. He looked down at their fingers tangled together. "I didn't force anything. I accepted it. Chemistry." He looked back at her, his green eyes bright.

She sucked in a breath then gave him a beautiful smile. "Chemistry."