A/N: I apologize for taking so very long with writing and posting a new chapter. For the last week or so I have been pretty busy with reading the new book, and then recovering from the new book ;) Ah, thank goodness for the world of fan fiction though!! H/Hr lives on!!! But at last I have a new chapter finished. This chapter is a bit fluffy, but after DH I thought the world could use some H/Hr love. Hope you enjoy it! Please review, it makes me ever so happy. (And I apologize for errors, but I could not resist posting this after only a quick read thru, I will go back and edit).
Chapter 13 - Light in the Darkness
It had been several days since the run in with Malfoy. Hermione had had to beg Harry not to go after Malfoy in retaliation. Yes, she wouldn't have minded seeing Harry curse the heck out of the little rat, but it just made her and Harry looking guilty of knowing more than they were supposed to. Their Slytherin enemy's suspicions were high enough without having Harry add to them. Harry and Hermione had only told Ron about what happened. Hermione had wisely suggested not telling Ginny about the confrontation with Malfoy, at least yet.
The three friends feared that Ginny might not be having been able to resist taking action which would most likely blow their cover. If Malfoy thought her cold attitude towards him of late was suspicious, having Ginny curse him would make things even worse. Ron meanwhile, had managed to slip of the Twins' Nosebleed Nougats into Malfoy's food and the pale Slytherin had quite the mishap at breakfast that morning. Draco's features had appeared even more colorless than usual. Harry, however, was uncomfortably reminded of the time he had use Sectusempra on Malfoy, but laughed along with the rest of the Gryffindors as Malfoy ran out, flanked by his two apish friends Crabbe and Goyle. He had to admit that Malfoy certainly had it coming, and hoped Madame Pomfrey had enough blood replenishing potion on hand.
Later that evening, Hermione sat next to Harry on a couch in the common room reading through a book for Ancient Runes, but was getting very little reading done. It seemed to her that no matter how hard she concentrated her mind was too busy dwelling on other things for her to focus on schoolwork. This was unusual for her. School work had been a comfort at times, now it seemed strangely pointless.
Ron sat off to the side in a large chair, also studying. At the moment, however, he was angrily trying to get Crookshanks to leave him alone. Hermione's bushy ginger cat had found it amusing to bat his paw at Ron's face and had left a scratch or two on the red head's freckled checks. Desperately, Ron batted the cats paw away. Harry chuckled a little more loudly than he had intended to and was rewarded with a sour look from Ron. Hermione didn't look up at all, her face set in a firm mask of concentration. Her boyfriends smile twisted into a worried frown. He was betting that things that Draco had said the other day were still weighing heavily on her mind.
"Bloody cat!" Ron exclaimed rather loudly. He managed to startle a group of whispering second year girls huddled at a table in the corner. Hermione finally glanced up, but her expression remained solemn though Harry thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch as though she had been tempted to smile.
"Crookshanks get over here!" she reprimanded her feline friend sternly. He meowed in annoyance, but hopped off the chair and slunk over towards her.
"I swear that cat's possessed," Ron complained, looking relieved to be rid of his feline bully.
"Oh, you're being a baby. I think you could have taken him," Hermione responded irritably.
"Did you see my face though?" he asked crossly, pointing to the small scratch Crookshanks had given him. Harry rolled his eyes at the same time as Hermione.
"She's right you know, you are a baby," Harry informed him, smoothing out the roll of parchment his was writing his essay on.
Ron frowned and turned back to his work, mumbling unintelligibly, although Harry was certain he hear several some choice words for Crookshanks. He looked over at his girlfriend, who appeared to be deep in thought once again, though she seemed to be staring at the pages of her book rather than actually reading it. His stomach twisted slightly in guilt. Was she still concerned about what had happened with Malfoy, or was she upset by the fact that he had tried to break up with her?
"Hermione, could you help me with this essay for moment?" he said trying to get her attention focused on something other than the thoughts running through her head.
She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice in her ear. Collecting herself, she attempted to smile, her mouth refused to obey though. Slowly she held out her hand, "Of course, Harry. Let me see what you have so far."
She blinked in surprise to see that the whole thing was nearly done. Ron and Harry usually came to her for help expecting her to write nearly the whole essay for them, especially Ron. Harry leaned closer to her as she read through his essay.
"Are you getting enough sleep? Not still having bad dreams are you?" he whispered, his lips lightly brushing against her ear as he spoke. Hermione reached down and gently squeezed his hand.
Ron looked up, made a slightly grossed out face, and returned to his homework, hoping that his two best friends weren't feeling like having a nice snog.
"No, I just have a lot on my mind. N.E.W.T.s are getting closer, and I taking a really full class load. I'll be fine. I promise," she replied in a hushed voice. Harry frowned slightly, unsatisfied with her answer, but nodded.
"Your essay looks fine by the way, but I'd try to write so sort of conclusion to tie things up," she said in a normal voice. She handed him back the roll of parchment.
"Thanks," he said, turning his attention to scribbling down a short conclusion, deciding to wait until they were alone to press her further. The three friends worked for about an hour in silence before Ron stretched and yawned rather loudly. The common room had emptied out; the lone person left was Neville, who sitting in the corner hunched over what seemed to be a Potions book. Harry made a mental not to ask Hermione to help out Neville at some point before N.E.W.T.s.
"You come up Harry?" Ron asked sleepily, as he stood up and gathered his stuff up. Harry shook his head.
"Yeah, but go on ahead without me," Harry replied, glancing over at Hermione. Ron shrugged and headed up, stopping for moment to chat with Neville, who informed him that he was heading up also having given up on Potions for the night.
Finally it was just Harry and Hermione.
Harry reached over and gentled pulled the book in Hermione's lap away which effectively got him to look up him.
"Harry, you really can go up to bed. I told you, I am just getting stressed out over getting all this work and studying done," she told him when she saw the expression on his face as he looked at her.
She hastily snatched her book back. Harry leaned in and heartily kissed her lips as she did. He hadn't really noticed until that moment just how pretty she looked when she was annoyed, and he couldn't resist the urge to kiss her at that moment. He had expected her to push him away in annoyance, but to his surprise she eagerly returned the kiss. After a few minutes the two breathlessly pulled apart.
Hermione smiled at Harry, her cheeks stained slightly pink. Harry grinned back, looking a little confused but happy.
"Thanks, Hermione," he said unabashedly.
"No, I should be thanking you Harry. I am really glad we're together you know. Now matter what happens we always help each other through the worst. You always know what to do to make things seem better," she replied, her eyes darkening with emotion.
Harry's face flushed slightly. "I can see now why you've really always been the one, Hermione." He tenderly kissed her on the forehead. Hermione felt her eyes fill with tears as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Now, you'd better be getting to bed," he admonished her, gathering up some of her books which were scattered all around her.
"Yeah, I suppose," she said reluctantly, a yawn escaping as she spoke.
"Tomorrows the weekend you know. You'll have plenty of time to work yourself like crazy and have no fun," Harry told her in a joking tone. She rolled her eyes and pretended to look annoyed. Harry smiled at her again in a way that made her blush.
"What?" she asked nervously as she grabbed a book from the floor.
"Hermione, I was just realizing that we've never even had a proper date, and it's a Hogsmeade weekend. Do you think you'd be able to take a little break from studying?" he asked, looking adorably nervous as he spoke. Hermione tried not to giggle as she watched him shift nervously on the couch next to her. Putting him out of his misery she threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.
"Is that a yes?" he asked with a laugh.
"Of course!" she said, sounding a lot like she did when answering a question in class that she felt everyone should have known.
"Love you," he whispered, getting up from the couch and planting a kiss on her cheek.
"I'll see you tomorrow in the common room before breakfast." Hermione nodded, smiling in a rather Luna-like dreamy manner at Harry as he walked up the stairs to the boys' dorms. She squealed softly to herself in excitement and then ran upstairs to her own room to get some sleep herself. She had been feeling emotionally exhausted by everything that had been going on lately, but for once she felt that she going to get a good night's sleep. Besides the sooner she fell asleep the sooner the wonderful weekend would come.
***
Hermione awoke the next morning ready for the day to begin. Lavender looked on rather sourly as Hermione bustled cheerfully around getting ready and left rather early for breakfast, whispering heatedly to Pavarti as they headed down to breakfast together. Hermione chose to ignore, relishing a little in their jealousy.
Since they weren't required to wear their robes to Hogsmeade, but it made getting ready a little harder than usual. After consulting Ginny, she decided on a jeans and a pretty red jumper. It was still cold, as spring had not yet arrived, so she grabbed her scarf and coat. Her hair was being a little less uncontrollable than usual today and for that she was thankful. She managed to tie part of it up and smooth most of the frizz.
She quickly headed down to the common room, where Ron and Harry were already there waiting for her. The scene that greeted her was rather amusing. She said nothing, as their conversation was too amusing to interrupt just yet.
Ron seemed to be consulting Harry on his appearance.
"You know, you really should've worn something with some green in it mate, would've done wonders you know, brought out your eyes and all that rubbish," Ron informed, as scrutinized his best friends appearance. Harry frowned and futilely attempted to flatten bits of his unruly black hair. Hermione quite approved of the dark gray shirt he was wearing.
"What do you know about dating girls Ron? All you and Lavender ever did was snog," Harry told him, his nerves making him rather irritable.
"I dated one or two other girls after her you know," Ron retorted, his ears turning a bit pink. Harry looked suddenly uncomfortable, remembering that Ron and Hermione had been together for a time. He hated the thought that she hadn't always been with him.
"Well, besides lacking a bloody shirt that brings out my stunning green eyes down I look a mess or not?" Harry asked quickly bringing some levity back to the conversation.
"You don't look too awful, I guess," Ron said with a shrug. Hermione cleared her throat, catching the attention of both of them. Harry looked up at her and smiled brightly, his mouth hanging open a little. She felt herself blush a little.
"You two ladies ready for breakfast," she said, a giggle escaping as she spoke. Ron and Harry both looked slightly mortified that they had been overheard.
"You just don't understand blokes Hermione," Ron told her defensively. She rolled her eyes.
"And you understand females so well Ronald," she replied coolly. She intertwined her fingers in Harry's as they stepped out of the portrait hole.
The Great Hall was bustling as everyone was eager to head out to Hogsmeade. It seemed that quiet a few students were running low on the Weasley twins' wares and candy from Honeydukes.
Harry and Hermione were both rather nervous and so didn't eat much, and Ron willing ate enough to make up for the both of them.
"It will be great to get away from school for a while," he said through a mouthful of eggs, "I feel like all I've done is study and write essays for ever single professor in the school."
Harry smiled as he watched an expression of displeasure creep across Hermione's features. No matter how much it stressed her out, it wasn't capable to convince her that schoolwork wasn't enjoyable. She bit her lip, clearly holding back on whatever retort to Ron's comment had popped into her head. Saying nothing though wasn't possible.
"That work is important you know. The professors assign for a good reason. After all, you don't want to get all Trolls on your N.E.W.T.s do you?" she said matter-of-factly, a toned down version of what she had been tempted to say.
Ron just shrugged and shoved some more food into his mouth. Finally the three finished eating and headed over to wait with the rest of the crowd that was gathering to head out to Hogsmeade. After about ten minutes, they all set off for town.
Harry and Hermione split away from Ron, promising to rejoin him latter at his brother's shop. They watched him walked off with Neville and Luna. The couple was left nervously standing together.
"So, um, where you like to go? I know Madame Puddlefoot's is kind of popular, though I can't see why," Harry said, while nervously fiddling with the fringe on his scarf. Hermione laughed, remembering his car wreck of date with Cho. She smiled remembering that Cho had been angered because Harry had talked about her too much.
"No, actually I was thinking the Three Broomsticks would be good," she replied.
"Really?" he said, looking rather relieved. "It's not very romantic, and a bit noisy. Are you sure?" He looked at her, cheeks red from the cold and wondered why he had ever bothered to deal with girls like Cho in the first place.
Hermione grabbed his gloved hand in her own and began to head towards place. "I'm sure Harry." He grinned and squeezed her hand.
They walked in and were pleasantly surprised to see that the place was a little less crowded than usual. Pushing through the room they managed to find a cozy booth way in the back for two. Harry rushed off to buy them butterbeers and returned with them and a pretty white lily. Hermione gasped appreciatively.
"Harry, where did you get this?" she asked, as she sniffed the perfect flower.
"Oh, I was carrying it in my coat. I had to do a bit of a repairing charm on it, but it doesn't look too bad considering," he told her, as he slid back in the booth. She kissed him warmly on the cheek and cuddled up against him.
"'Who said this place isn't romantic?" she laughed.
It turned it was. They spent several hours talking and laughing without really noticing anyone else in the place. Reluctantly they decided it was time to go meet Ron as they had promised before they had to head back to school.
As they neared the Weasley Twins' shop, Harry pulled her into an alley and kissed her warmly. Hermione snuck her arms inside his open coat, sliding her arms around his waist. There kiss, however, was interrupted far too soon.
"Oi! Get a room you too!" they heard the familiar voice of their redheaded best friend yell. Apparently he had been rather late arriving himself. They cozy couple begrudgingly pulled apart.
"Great timing as always Weasley," Harry said grumpily as he and Hermione joined Ron who was still accompanied by Neville and Luna.
"Hi, guys!" Hermione said warmly to their two friends and former DA members. Luna blinked dreamily and Neville smiled awkwardly, the same as ever.
"I really need some Nosebleed Nougats," Ron announced dramatically. "I don't think I can make it all the way through another one of Snape's classes."
"You know that will never work with Professor Snape," Hermione snapped matter-of-factly, brushing an errant frizzy curl behind her ear.
Harry smiled at his arguing best friends, a warm feeling filling him. Despite the bad things that had been going on lately, some things about this year had been brilliant. Being with Hermione and old friends was like something out of a wonderful dream.
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