Hey, darlings. Look at me and my updating self - only five days after the last one! I'm rather proud. *sniffs* My baby's growing up!
*cough*
A Touching Romance
Chapter 12 ~ Fluff and Fleur
OOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO
Harry awoke the next morning with a sense of great foreboding in his stomach. It took him a little while to remember where he was, and then one of Ron's great, shuddering snores filled his ears, and he came back to reality.
He groaned. He and Hermione had decided that the day after their arrival was as good a time as any for Harry to break off his relationship with Ginny. This is going to be hell, he thought as he clambered up out of bed.
He dressed quickly and quietly so as to not wake Ron up, then crept through the door and down the hall to the room Hermione shared with Ginny.
He pressed his ear to the door, then, after hearing no sound from within, called softly, "Hermione? Are you in there?"
"What do you think you're doing?" hissed Hermione's voice from behind him. He turned around swiftly to find an extremely angry Hermione standing in the drawing room door.
"Morning, Hermione," he said weakly.
Hermione glared at him. "Idiot," she hissed. "You're going to wake up the whole bloody house, you are." Harry winced. Hermione was not much of a morning person, he'd come to find out in all his years with her at school.
"Sorry, sweetheart," he said consolingly. "I just wanted to see you." He smiled what he hoped was a pitiful sort of smile.
She huffed and rolled her eyes. "You're being ridiculous," she said, but she was smiling. "Come on in here, then, Harry." She beckoned him toward the drawing room. "We can talk in here without any interruptions."
Harry entered the drawing room and shut the door quietly behind him, taking a look around. It was a small room with several comfortable looking chairs grouped around a cheery fire; Mrs. Weasley had obviously been up for quite a while, and had all the fireplaces in the house roaring to fend off the cold.
Harry took one of the armchairs closest to the fire, and Hermione plopped down in the one next to him. "You look a right mess," she told him, gazing fondly at his unkempt hair and wrinkled pajamas.
"Yes, well, you don't look so hot yourself," Harry replied loftily.
Hermione laughed. "At least I don't look as if something has attacked my head and made a nest of it," she said. When he raised an eyebrow, she waggled her finger at him. "There will be no jokes about my hair," she said sternly. "You know just as bloody well as I do that they have a mind of their own, the little blighters." She stared down at the frizzy curls as if they might be mocking her silently.
"Your hair is perfect," Harry said kindly. "I really do think it is."
Hermione smiled and shook her head. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."
"Obviously," he said cheekily. Hermione laughed and threw a pillow at him. Without warning, he leapt up from his chair and pounced upon her, whacking her with a pillow from his chair. Hermione shrieked, half laughing, and Harry clamped his hands over her mouth.
"Be quiet, Hermione," he whispered. Then he smirked. "You're going to wake up the whole bloody house, you are."
Hermione's eyes narrowed over his hands, and she said something Harry thought he would have found quite inappropriate and offensive had his hand not been muffling the sound. "I'm rubbing off on you," he told her. She rolled her eyes.
After making her promise that she wouldn't shriek again, Harry lifted his hands and sat back in the chair, wiggling around until he could comfortably enfold Hermione in his arms. She let her head fall into the crook of his neck and snuggled into his shoulder, saying, "This is nice."
Harry sighed contentedly and buried his nose in her hair. "Yes, it is," he said. "But we won't be able to do this much longer. The rest of the house will be waking up soon."
"I know," said Hermione sadly. "I wish we could just let this out in the open. All this sneaking around and trying to make sure nobody touches you is so exhausting. You should have heard Ginny last night, going on and on about all the plans she has for you. A terrible lot of them involved the second floor broom cupboard, just so you're forewarned."
"You can trust that there will be no snogging of Ginny in the second floor broom cupboard," Harry assured her. "And as soon as the Weasleys know what Ginny did, we should be able to come out about being together. They really can't object if the evidence is staring them in the face, can they?"
"I guess not." Hermione found Harry's hand and gave it a squeeze. "We can do this together, I know we can."
Harry smiled down at her, but shook his head. "I think that I should be alone when I talk to Ginny, actually." He pressed a finger to her lips before she could protest. "Do you really think it's going to make matters better if you're standing right there when I break up with Ginny? She's probably going to start throwing things, Hermione. That's the way she is."
Hermione let out a defeated sigh. "I suppose you're right," she said halfheartedly. "I just wish I could see the look on her face."
Harry laughed. "Now you're just being mean," he said. "I'm not entirely sure I like having a vicious girlfriend."
"Oh, girlfriend now, is it?" Hermione queried with a smirk on her face. "And here I was thinking we were just friends with benefits."
"Pff, I'm game if you are," he retorted. Hermione chuckled and poked him in the chest.
"Now you really are being ridiculous," she said.
Harry scoffed. "I, you will find, am never ridiculous. It's more of an absurd outlandishness, really." Hermione giggled girlishly, and Harry felt a wonderful happiness settle over him at the thought that he could make her laugh like that.
"'Love you, Harry," Hermione said after a moment's silence.
Harry resettled her in his arms and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Glad to know it," he said cheerily. She peered up at him and coughed significantly. "Oh, did you want me to say it back?" he asked, feigning surprise. "Well, then, I suppose I love you, too."
Hermione beamed and buried her face in his neck again. Harry smiled lovingly down on her and rested his chin upon the top of her head, closing his eyes in contentment.
"Good morning, `Arry, `Ermione," said a quiet voice. Harry's eyes flew open and Hermione wrenched herself from his embrace.
"It's not what it seems," they both stammered immediately. The both stood, staring, at Fleur Delacour-Weasley, her long, silvery hair glinting in the early morning sun.
"I believe eet ees very much what eet seems," she said, surveying them both with a critical eye.
Harry's heart beat rapidly in his chest. "Look, Fleur," he began. "Hermione and I, we're just -"
"You were just trying to get warmer in zis freezing house," she said softly. Hermione looked baffled. "I completely understand. Eet ees ridiculously cold in here." She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered theatrically.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a confused glance. "Fleur, I don't know what you think," Hermione said slowly. "But Harry and I -"
"Are merely friends," Fleur finished firmly. She gave them both significant glances. "What ze two of you do ees completely none of my business. Your relationship ees private, and I realize eet ees probably also secret."
Harry heaved a sigh of relief. Fleur wasn't angry. "We're planning on telling everyone," he assured her. "Today in fact - that's when we're telling Ginny and, uh, Ron?" he looked to Hermione to confirmation. She nodded. "Yeah, we're telling Ron today, too."
Fleur nodded. "That ees very good," she said, smiling. She turned to leave. Just as she was about to exit, she turned back slightly. "I haf become very fond of my new sister-in-law, `Arry. Please do not hurt her, eef you can `elp it?"
"I won't," Harry said, slipping an arm around Hermione's shoulders. Fleur nodded, then left, closing the door behind her.
Harry and Hermione immediately fell back into the chair, leaning against each other for support. "That was something," Hermione breathed.
"I can't believe she just accepted it like that," Harry said, eyes wide. "Didn't even blink."
"Well, let's just hope the rest of the Weasleys are that understanding," said Hermione, looking up at Harry with a twinkle in her eye.
Harry smirked. "What's the betting for that?" he asked, mock-serious. "I'm thinking three million to one."
Hermione laughed and shook her head at him. "Sounds about right to me."
OOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO
Entirely too much OOC fluff for my taste. Blech. Sorries.
*cries* Only one more chapter! That's really very sad. And kind of cool. I get to move on to something else after this. And there will be something else, I assure you. This is not the last from Violet Kefira, you may presume.
Anyways, review, my loves!
~ Violet Kefira
-->