Another New Year's Eve
An: I know this is late, sorry. Warning un-betaed. please point out all errors as I am still looking for a beta for my stories.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter that honour goes to JKR.
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Hermione stood in front of her full length mirror. It had been a whole year since she last stood here and prepared for Harry's annual New Year's Eve party held at Godric's Hollow. The first New Year's Eve after Harry had defeated Voldemort, he had decided to hold a party for his closest friends to celebrate the start of a new year without Voldemort. The party had since become a popular item on the Wizarding social scene and many people did their best to get an invitation to the exclusive party.
Harry hated the popularity of his party and struggled each year to keep it to just friends and every year he failed miserably at it. Despite the fact that the party was by invitation only, many people miraculously ended up with invitations. One year Harry marked each invitation with a specific number and wrote down next to it who was given the invitation and when. By his ledger he invited 50 people, but in his ball room on New Year's Eve, there were a 150 witches and wizards all of whom presented invitations at the door.
The Daily Prophet had been very successful in the past at obtaining pictures from the event. Harry placed
the strongest wards he knew around Godric's Hollow but the Prophet successfully got pictures every year. It drove
Harry mad on New Year's Day to see that his party made the front headlines of the Prophet. Hermione offered to help
but Harry said it was his battle to fight the Prophet and this was one battle he could survive alone. Hermione would
laugh at his struggle and leave him be. It was much nicer to worry about what the Daily Prophet wrote about
you than which Death Eater was waiting in your home to kill you.
This would be the fifth party Hermione would be attending and the first one without a date. Somehow she had always managed to find a date in time for Harry's party but this year was a rather dull year in her romantic life. She was almost considering not going. She didn't think anyone would notice her absence. Ron was happily married to Luna and he usually spent most of the party snogging in Harry's broom closet. Harry was currently dating Sarah, his girlfriend of three months, and he spent a lot of his time with her. He wouldn't notice her absence either. That left her with most of their other Hogwarts friends and Hermione didn't feel like socializing.
Maybe she could just sleep through the night. She didn't really have anything to look forward to in the New Year. She had a big meeting the next day and she really needed the sleep. But she had already put on her make up and spent the last 30 minutes with the flat iron on her hair. She really liked the flat iron. She hated putting anything in her hair and the flat iron usually lasted long enough for her to appear presentable.
Hermione walked over to her closet and wondered what to wear. Last year she had gone straight from work and was still in her work robes when the clock hit mid-night. Ginny had warned her this year to dress nicely and she really didn't want to mess with Ginny. She was 8 months pregnant and tended have very abrupt mood swings. Not only was she afraid of Ginny, but also Ginny's husband Draco, who could be very annoying when people upset his wife.
There was another reason Hermione didn't want to go to this party. She couldn't bear to watch Harry with his girlfriends. Hermione had discovered two and a half years ago that she was in love with Harry. Well it wasn't really a discovery it was actually one of Harry's girlfriends that pointed it out to her. Her name was Catherine and Hermione hated her. They never got along and always fought about what Harry's needs were. Harry never really knew the conflict because Hermione did her best to hide it from him. She never wanted Harry to break up with a girlfriend because of her. If he were happy with his girlfriend, Hermione would suck it up and make the best effort to get a long with her.
Catherine was very threatened by Hermione and cornered her one day in the garden at the Burrow. She told Hermione that she knew her games and that she knew she was madly in love with Harry but that Hermione would never take Harry away from her. Hermione of course, like a total fool, completely disagreed with the non-sensical notion that she was in love with Harry Potter. Before the girls could continue their argument Harry joined them in the garden and Hermione faked excuses and left them alone. Later that night, Hermione couldn't sleep and pondered over the notion that all of Harry's girlfriends thought she was in love with Harry. It was then in the early hours of the morning that she realised the horrific truth, she was in love with Harry.
Hermione was completely confused after that. She refused to break Harry and Catherine up and watched their relationship runs it course in the background. When he eventually did break up with Catherine Hermione decided she would give him some time before she did anything about it. Hermione waited too long and Harry was soon dating Kate and Hermione had to reign in her feelings again.
The most painful experience of her life happened during Harry's relationship with Kate. It had been last Christmas and Harry had dragged Hermione with him to Diagon Alley to buy Kate a Christmas gift. He stated he wanted to buy her jewellery but wasn't sure exactly what to get her. They were in the jewellery store looking around when Harry stopped at the engagement ring section. Hermione could swear her heart stopped beating. He called her over and asked her which one she liked. She answered Harry honestly and the jeweller showed it to them. He asked her to try it on. He claimed he wanted to see how it would look on her hand. After that he thanked the jeweller for allowing them to look at the ring and bought Kate a beautiful diamond necklace.
A few days later Hermione was in Daigon Alley and out of sheer curiosity she entered the jewellery store. She looked around and noticed that the ring was gone. She inquired about it and the jeweller told her that Mr. Potter had bought the ring. Hermione faked a smile and exited. She skipped Christmas that year claiming she had work and was hoping to avoid Harry's party but Ginny had forced her to leave work and attend. Hermione stayed till a bit after midnight. Every time she saw Kate she couldn't help but look at her left middle finger fearing the presence of a beautiful diamond ring. Hermione dreaded hearing the engagement announcement but it never came. Instead, six months ago, Harry informed her that they had broken up. Hermione's mind was in such a state of confusion she never asked about the ring. She wondered if Kate turned him down but who would be foolish enough to refuse to marry Harry? A few months later Harry met Sarah and he moved on. She pondered over how he could move on so quickly.
Hermione looked in the mirror and realised that during her daydream she had somehow managed to dress herself. She had subconsciously chosen a gorgeous black cocktail dress, which stopped at her mid thigh. The hem of the dress had a Latin cut to it and it would be perfect for her Latin dancing. She hoped Harry played some Salsa tonight. Hermione loved it. She had taken up dancing with her mother a few years ago and she enjoyed it very much. She decided to go with her black high heels, which had a cute little bow tie at the back. It would look great if she did the tango. She realised she was all dressed and ready to go and she wondered if she was really ready to attend the party.
The doorbell rang and Hermione wondered who was at the door. She picked up her coat and headed to the door. She opened it and the site she saw completely took her breath away. There, leaning casually against the doorframe, with his suit jacked in his hand, was none other than the subject of Hermione's recent thoughts, Harry. His green eyes twinkled as he looked at her.
"So you're ready?" Harry asked casually.
Hermione frowned in confusion. "Ready for what Harry?" She asked as she discreetly tried to check him out. He had on black dress pants and a crisp white top with a green tie. His hair was slightly ruffled and his eyes held it's usual sparkle. Hermione wanted to jump straight into his arms right there.
"And they call you the brightest witch of our generation!" Harry declared with a laugh.
Hermione threw him a warning glare.
"My party of course." Harry said as he straightened himself and offered her a hand.
"Harry?" Hermione questioned.
"Don't you want my company?" Harry said with a slight pout to his lips.
"Harry, you know I always welcome your company but aren't you going to the party with Sarah." Hermione questioned.
"Sarah?" Harry said looking confused.
"Your girlfriend." Hermione added seriously.
"You mean ex-girlfriend. Why would I go to my Christmas Party with my ex-girlfriend. You yourself said that I always go with the most beautiful girl and I am here to pick you up?" Harry said charmingly.
"Forgetting the inaccurate beautiful comment, when did you break up with Sarah?" Hermione questioned as she racked her brain for the last time she spoke to Harry. She remembered speaking to him last week and she distinctly remembered bearing her cross and kindly asking how Sarah was doing. Harry's response was that she was fine.
"A month ago and you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Now lets get going. I can't be late for my own party Hermione." Harry said as he pulled her through the doorway, locked her door securely and apparated them to Godric's Hollow.
Hermione felt the momentary discomfort of apparition before she appeared in a room with a large four-poster bed, a few candles and soft music playing in the background. Hermione faintly recognized the song as her favourite, Unchained Melody.
"Opps, wrong room?" Harry said a bit embarrassed as he scratched his head trying to figure out how he ended up in his bedroom.
"Looks like someone has big plans for tonight?" Hermione said with an arched eyebrow.
"Ah, it's part of my New Years resolution." Harry said as he grabbed Hermione's hand and lead her out of his bedroom as quickly as possible.
"What's with the rush Harry?" Hermione questioned.
"I'm late." Harry said as he closed his bedroom door behind them.
"About time you two got around to shagging!" said a loud voice a door down from them.
Hermione spun to her side to come face to face with her other best friend, Ron Weasley and his wife, Luna. Hermione blushed slightly before lightly cuffing Ron on his arm.
"Ron, get your mind out of the gutter. Harry accidentally apparated us there." Hermione said innocently.
Ron shot an accusing look at Harry and Harry shrugged it off.
"Come on Hermione we're late." Harry said as he dragged her away from their friends.
"Wait but we didn't talk much with Ron." Hermione said
Harry stopped and looked at her. "Hermione, Ron is upstairs in front of my guest bedroom with Luna. Do you really think he wanted to talk to us?"
Hermione gave it some thought. "What happened to the broom closet?"
"They stopped using the broom closet when they got married. They decided that one of the guest bedrooms would do nicely." Harry said
"Oh. I guess you better make sure your room is locked." Hermione said thoughtfully.
"I have a permanent locking charm on my door." Harry said as they reached the top of the stairs.
Hermione looked at him strangely. "But Harry I have opened your door on many occasions?"
Harry turned to look at her. A slight blush was forming on his face. He mumbled something and Hermione asked him to repeat it. "You are the only person I let in."
"Oh." Hermione couldn't hold his gaze any longer after that revelation and she turned her attention to the doorway of the ballroom. She could tell most of the guests were already there and the party looked bigger than last year. She felt Harry squeeze her hand and she squeezed back reassuringly to him.
"Harry you really ought to work on that invitation scam." Hermione said matter of factly.
"I think next year, I'll send out all the invitations for here but tell my closest friends to meet me at Grimauld. This thing is getting way out of hand." Harry said as he let go of her hand to hook it through his and they both descended the grand staircase together.
Hermione had to admit that it felt great to be doing this with Harry. She saw all the envious witches looking at her and she revealed a bit at being the girl on Harry's arm. She also noticed that a few of the wizards were gazing approvingly at her and she blushed slightly at the attention they were giving her. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs Harry ignored the guests in this area and moved to the ballroom.
They entered the massive ballroom and were instantly bombarded by more guests wishing to speak with the famous Harry Potter. She tried to separate herself from him to give him some privacy but he placed his hand around her waist and kept her firmly by his side. Hermione couldn't help but the feel of his hand on her waist and her mind wondered what it would be like to have his hand on other parts of her body.
Harry slid his hand from her waist to the small of her back to move them over to the punch table and Hermione gingerly helped herself to some. She took the brief opportunity to survey who attended this year. She saw Sarah in the corner with a wizard she didn't recognize. She didn't seem to affected by the break up with Harry. She saw Neville with his latest girlfriend and he looked to be already a bit tipsy. There was still 2hours to go before midnight and most people were already intoxicated.
"Careful with the punch Hermione." Harry said "I hear the twins were there earlier."
Hermione immediately put her glass down. "That must explain all the drunk people."
Harry chuckled at her comment and moved them away from the punch bowl to the other side of the room. There they met Seamus and Dean going through the old debate about football versus Quidditch. Harry spoke with them briefly before they moved again.
"Harry why can't we stay in one spot?" Hermione questioned. They had already circled the ballroom three times already.
"Ah, it's part of my New Years resolution." Harry stated cryptically.
Hermione was about to demand a further explanation when Hector, a wizard that Hermione worked with, interrupted them.
"May I have this dance Ms. Granger?" He said as he bowed politely to her. There was a slow ballroom song playing and most couples on the floor were locked in close embraces.
"Sorry," Harry said. "She's having her first dance with me."
Hermione frowned at Harry and he dragged her in the opposite direction.
"Harry?" Hermione said.
He abruptly turned around and placed a finger on her lips. "Just follow me. Please." His eyes were begging her to follow him and Hermione knew she would follow him to the end of the earth.
He lead her through the crowd towards the kitchen area. As soon as she entered Dobby jumped up to greet her excitedly. Harry let her greet the elf before they moved on again. By now Hermione had guessed where they were headed. They were going to her favourite place, the little balcony that was connected to the library. Hermione and Harry spent a lot of time talking and laughing on this balcony. She was never there without him.
In a matter of minutes they were out on the balcony and Hermione was greeted with the sight of a small table laid beautifully and a bottle of champagne waiting patiently on the side to be opened. Hermione was about to ask the meaning of this when Harry opened his mouth to explain that it was part of his New Year's Resolution.
"Harry, what is this New Year's Resolution you keep referring to?" Hermione asked a bit angrily.
"You'll find out at midnight."
"Midnight." Hermione said a bit tersely as she checked her watch. It was 11:00, one more hour to midnight. Hermione glanced back at the table.
"I thought we would have a little dinner. We haven't spent much time together recently. We used to spend a lot of time here." Harry said a bit sadly.
That was true. She had been avoiding him. She found it easier to live if she didn't have to see Harry with other women.
"The champagne?" Hermione questioned
"To celebrate of course." Harry said
"Celebrate what Harry. You are being really short on details here." Hermione said as she crossed her hands in front of her chest.
"You'll find out at midnight." Harry said as he pulled the seat back for Hermione to sit.
"Harry." Hermione said in a warning tone.
Harry pointed to the seat and gave her the best pleading look he could manage. Hermione caved and sat down. Part of her told her to just go with the flow. A romantic setting like this is what she always dreamed of doing with Harry. She couldn't help but picture herself as Harry's girlfriend and he had done all this for her. Her heart raced slightly at the thought.
There was hardly any conversation at the table as Hermione was revealing in fantasies about her and Harry. Harry was playing soft music in the background and Hermione recognized Quando Quando Quando and she couldn't help but imagine that it was Harry singing it to her. He served her a lovely meal, coincidentally all of her favourites and after the meal Harry changed the music to tango music. Hermione instantly agreed to a dance. They moved together flawlessly and Hermione enjoyed the feel of Harry's arms around her. She thought he was holding her a lot closer than usual but she chalked that up to the glass of Champagne she had at dinner. The music had finished and Hermione could see everyone outside in the courtyard for the midnight countdown. Hermione tried to walk over to the balcony but Harry held her in place.
"Hermione" Harry said very softly in her ear.
She looked up at him. Somewhere far off she could hear the countdown to midnight, 5 seconds. Was it her imagination or was Harry's face getting closer to hers. No she was probably imaging it but she still closed her eyes and parted her lips slightly. Her heart was racing again and she felt like their was a heard of elephants trampling around in her stomach. She was amazingly surprised when she felt soft lips tentatively touch hers as the first burst of Weasley's fire works went off somewhere very far off.
Hermione responded and soon she felt Harry's tongue brush her lips. Hermione excitedly responded by opening her mouth to him. The moment felt so surreal. She couldn't believe she was standing there kissing the object of her desire. Hermione's lungs eventually over ridded her heart when their demand for air became unbearable and Hermione reluctantly pulled away.
"What does this mean Harry?" Hermione asked, her eyes still closed as her heart screamed for another kiss.
"That I have started fulfilling my New Year's Resolution?" Harry said with a smile.
"Your New Year's Resolution was to kiss me?" Hermione questioned as her eyes flew open to look at him.
"No." Harry said as his eyes burned into hers.
Hermione was confused now.
Harry decided to elaborate. "It was tell the woman I love how I feel about her."
Hermione's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Did Harry just imply that he loved her? Harry humorously watched her as she searched for the right words. He took advantage of her wordlessness and kissed her again. Hermione moaned into the kiss. This was a dream come true. Harry broke the kiss this time and rested his forehead against hers.
"I love you, Hermione Jane Granger." He said huskily.
The words Hermione had longed to hear for the last two and a half years were just said and the only thing Hermione could think of was did she brush her teeth properly? She didn't want to scare Harry away with bad breath. Hermione brushed her nose against Harry's and he opened his eyes. She stared deep into those emarld eyes and she could see that he meant every word that he said. Hermione tip toed and kissed him properly.
Harry eagerly accepted Hermione's kiss and somehow manoeuvred them over to the half empty bottle of champagne. He grabbed it and apparated them to his bedroom. This time they had reached his intended destination and Harry steered her towards the bed. Hermione hadn't realised their change of venue until she found herself on the bed with Harry on top of her. Hermione panicked and pushed Harry off of her.
"Wait." Hermione said as she sat up on the bed and briefly looked around.
He turned on his side and propped his head on his hand as he looked at her.
"You know you're gorgeous." Harry said in a deep voice.
Hermione blushed. "Compliments aren't an explanation."
"What do you want to know?" Harry asked innocently.
"Everything." Hermione said.
Harry indicated for her to come closer and she did. He pulled her into a tight embrace and moved himself to rest his back against the headboard while she rested against his chest. He idly let his fingers run through her hair.
"The short story is that Sarah finally made me realise that I could never find a replica of you and the best thing was to actually date the original." Harry said.
"Original?" Hermione said as she tried to look up at him.
"What I mean Mione is that every woman I dated was because they reminded me of you in some way." Harry said as he started planted kisses along her jaw line.
"Even Catherine?" Hermione asked as she enjoyed the attention Harry was giving her.
"She had similar eyes to you." Harry said non-chalantly as he paid some attention to nibbling at her ear lobe.
"You dated her because her eyes reminded you of me." Hermione said disbelievingly.
"Yeah. I dated Carolyn cause her hair was a bit like yours, Sarah worked in a library, which always reminds me of you and Kate always corrected me the way you do."
"Speaking of Kate," Hermione said as she was trying to resist the urge to forget the explanation and jump Harry.
"The ring wasn't for her." Harry said as he moved down to her neck.
"How did you know what I was going to ask?" Hermione said with a slight frown. She hated it when Harry could read her mind.
"I was in that jewellery shop looking for a gift for Sarah's Birthday and he mentioned that you asked about the ring. I guess that explains why you were so strange around her." Harry said with a chuckle against her collar bone.
Hermione punched him on his arm.
"It's not funny." Hermione said seriously.
"I can't believe you actually thought I would propose to her." Harry said as he turned her slightly to face him.
"Then why did you buy the ring?" Hermione asked sadly.
"Because of you?" Harry said without breaking eye contact with her.
"Me."
Harry moved Hermione off of him to the side gently and got up from the bed and retrieved his wand from his bedside table. Hermione instantly missed the warmth of Harry's body. He waved his wand against the wall and a safe appeared. He reached into it and pulled out a small box. He headed over to the bed and gave it to her.
"I brought it for you." Harry said.
Hermione opened the box and found the same ring she had tried on last year.
"I guess back then I somehow knew how I felt about you and at that instant I knew I had to buy the ring for you." Harry said as he sat back down on the bed and pulled Hermione back into his arms.
Harry took the box from her and pulled the ring out of the box. He held her right hand in his hand and placed it on her right ring finger. Hermione looked up at him in confusion.
"When we do decide to get married I can't propose to you with this ring. I need to find a new one. Until then, I want you to wear it so that you know that you are never far from my thoughts." Harry said sincerely.
Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes and he gently brushed it away with his thumb.
"I can't believe you planned all this for me." Hermione said
"Yes it was very hard trying to keep this from you but it was worth it." Harry said
"How did you know I would be dateless?" Hermione questioned.
Harry gave her a guilty look. "I sort of had Ginny and Luna make sure you were dateless."
"How could they make sure I was dateless?" Hermione asked
"Any guy you mentioned, I sort of scared them away."
Hermione stared at him incredulously.
"You said I deserved to be happy." Harry said as his defence for his actions. Harry decided they had talked long enough and it was time to show her how much he loved her. He closed the distance between them and kissed her passionately.
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Hermione wondered into the kitchen the next morning at Godric's Hollow.
"Hello Ms. Hermione. Did you enjoy your night?" Dobby asked
"Yes Dobby I did." She said as she took a seat at the kitchen table.
"Good. Master Harry will finally be happy." Dobby said happily.
"Yes he's very happy. He'll be down shortly. In the mean time can I see the Prophet?" Hermione asked.
Dobby looked around a bit fearfully before he handed Hermione a copy of the Daily Prophet.
Hermione took the daily newspaper and was greeted with a large moving picture of Harry kissing her at midnight. The headline read "Did Hermione Granger finally steal Harry Potter from an unsuspecting girlfriend" written by Catherine Burgen.
"Harry James Potter! Get down here this instant." Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs.
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