Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 6 - Secrets
It was now four days after Hermione's talk with the Headmaster, and she was in Hogsmeade. After some persuasion, Hermione had agreed that Harry should sneak to the village under his invisibility cloak so that they could have their first real date. He took his cloak out of his trunk and covered himself with it. He then quietly snuck past Neville, who was sitting in the common room. When he opened the door, Neville looked in that direction and called out, "Who's there?" eventually walking to the door, looking outside, and shutting it.
When Harry arrived near the one-eyed-witch passage, he noticed Snape standing near it so he waited as quietly as possible for about ten minutes until the greasy git left. After that, he had no problem getting into the passage and then on to Honeydukes. Upon coming upstairs (still under the cloak), he found Hermione browsing the sweets looking rather bored. He figured she had been waiting for a while. He snuck up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She turned around and didn't see anyone. She then put her hands forward to feel him. When she felt his chest, she whispered, "Harry, what took you so long?"
He whispered back, "Snape was standing guard at the passage, so I had to wait for him to leave."
"Do you want to buy anything in here?"
"Yes, let's go to a quiet corner so I can get my money out."
After he'd given her his wallet, figuring it was easier than constantly handing her money, he instructed her to get what he wanted, along with something extra for herself for looking so pretty. She blushed at this but did as she instructed, purchasing a box of sugar quills for herself. They then visited several shops, with Harry whispering instructions to her. After about two hours of this, he had her give him his wallet. He then instructed her to go to the Three Broomsticks in a half hour, order two butterbeers, and get a secluded table. As he was walking away, he heard her whisper, "Does this have something to do with Valentine's Day?"
When Harry, now holding a small bag that contained a wrapped item, entered the pub under his cloak, he quickly scanned the room, quickly spotting his girlfriend, who was sitting in a corner table looking around the room impatiently. He quickly made his way to the seat next to her and whispered, "Sorry I'm late, the shop keeper took a longer time to wrap your gift than I expected." The anger dissolved from her face, being replaced by a smile. She whispered, "May I join you under the cloak?"
When they were through at the Three Broomsticks, they made their way to the Shrieking Shack, both of them under the cloak. When they saw Malfoy and his goons, Harry led them to a nearby spot that was hidden and whispered, "Stay here, Hermione," as he pulled the cloak away from her so that it was just covering him.
"But, you'll get caught," she said, wasting her breath as he was too far away to hear her.
He splattered all three of them with mud that seemed to come from nowhere. Malfoy screamed, "Who's there?" just before his pants fell down, causing him to bend over quickly to pull them back up. Crabbe then fell onto Goyle, and they both rolled into Malfoy, who fell with them. Unfortunately, when Malfoy fell, Harry's cloak got caught just enough to reveal Harry's face. Malfoy looked terrified as he exclaimed, "Potter?" just as mud from a completely different direction hit him square in the back of the head, causing the three Slytherins to run away. Once they were gone, Hermione, whose hands were suspiciously full of mud, came out of her hiding space with a worried look on her face. "Harry, you've got to hurry back to the castle before Malfoy finds a teacher!"
Harry pulled his cloak back over his head and ran as fast as he could back to the castle. He left his cloak in the passage and came out, only to be caught by Snape moments later. After being told led to the dungeon and told Malfoy's story, Harry was told to empty his pockets. This revealed a `spare piece of parchment' that proceeded to insult Snape when he tried to read it. Snape then called Lupin, who took the map and lectured Harry on how irresponsible he had been, causing Harry to feel worse than Snape ever could make him feel. After he'd spoken to Hermione about it, she agreed with Lupin that they had been foolish. He maintained that he needed to go to Hogsmeade, but his prank on Malfoy was a foolish, unnecessary risk, and it had cost him the Marauders' Map. She didn't entirely agree with his reasoning, but decided to retrieve his cloak anyway.
A few days later, it was Valentine's Day. Harry woke up, got ready, and went to the common room as fast as he could. He got down the stairs just in time to see Hermione sit in one of the chairs. He quickly joined her, wishing her a "Happy Valentine's Day" before kissing her. He then told her, "I love you."
She blushed lightly. "I love you too, Harry. Happy Valentine's Day!"
"Would you do me the honor of joining me after dinner for a walk to a place where we can exchange gifts in private?"
She looked at him skeptically, but said, "All right, Harry. But for now, I think it's time for breakfast."
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The day went by smoothly, unlike the previous year when a dwarf had jumped him to make him listen to a singing Valentine, which Malfoy accused Ginny Weasley of sending. Somehow he thought she'd had more on her mind than singing valentines with Tom Riddle's diary and all but he didn't know, and honestly didn't care if she did or didn't. Hermione and he spent most of the day in class together, except when he was in Divination, which she had dropped upon Dumbledore's suggestion. He wondered how she still had class at that time even though she'd dropped the subject she had been taking, but whenever he brought it up, she changed the subject immediately. He decided that if she wanted him to know, she'd have told him, so he backed off.
After supper, they went back to the tower to grab his cloak and their gifts. They then snuck to a room Hermione had never been to before. It had a comfortable couch in it, and that was just about it. "What is this room?" she asked as he closed the door behind them.
"It's the room that used to hold the Mirror of Erised. It's also where I had my first conversation with Dumbledore."
"Really?" asked Hermione. "I'd have thought he'd want to speak with you as soon as you got to Hogwarts, possibly before." She sighed. "Did he ask you how the Dursley's treated you?"
"No. He told me the mirror showed me with a family because that's what I wanted most. Then he told me not to dwell on dreams."
"That was pretty rude of him!" said Hermione indignantly. "He didn't even want you to dream about having a family that loves you!"
Harry sighed. "Hermione, let's not talk about that now. We're here to celebrate our love, not our problems."
She looked down. "I'm sorry Harry. You're right. Why don't we exchange gifts?"
"Great idea!" said Harry, pulling the small wrapped box out of his pocket. He handed it to her as she handed him a thin rectangular package.
"You first," Hermione insisted.
Harry complied, tearing off the wrapping paper to find an eight by ten muggle photo of Hermione, wearing a light blue dress. The frame was wooden, stained a light shade of brown. On the bottom of the frame was a small gold rectangle with the inscription, "Harry, I love you, now and always. Love, Hermione." Harry hugged her, burying his face in her hair. When they separated, she saw him trying to hide the fact that he was wiping tears from his eyes.
"Did I ever tell you that you're the only person to ever say you love me?" asked Harry.
"Not precisely, but when you said you'd never told anyone you loved them, I assumed as much."
"I just want you to know how much you mean to me, Hermione. That wrapped box in your hands doesn't begin to express how I feel…"
"I know, love. I feel the same way. These are just tokens of our love, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you got me," she said as she tore off the paper, revealing a clear plastic case that contained a gold necklace with a locket in the shape of a heart with the words `I love you' engraved at the front. She opened it to see one side had a wizard photo of himself with a wizard photo of herself on the other side. The pictures were blowing kisses at each other, which caused her to chuckle while her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, Harry. It's beautiful! Can you put it on me? I'll never take it off."
"All right," he said, as he took the necklace from her. While he was fastening it behind her neck, he noticed another chain. Before she could protest, he'd pulled that extremely long chain out from under her robes. He saw a tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it. He went to touch it and she slapped his hand. She then started stuffing it back under her robes as quickly as possible.
"Ouch! That hurt," said Harry, rubbing the hand she had slapped.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I just can't let you touch that."
"It's alright Hermione, but why? What is it?"
She looked desperate. "Please don't ask me. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."
He could see that she was pleading with him. "I won't force you to tell what it is, but, er, it's not dangerous, is it."
"Er, it can be, but it's not. It's not harming me. Please, don't ask me anything else."
"All right. On one condition," said Harry with an evil look in his face.
"What's that?" said Hermione, her voice sounding a bit shaky.
"You give me a kiss."
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