Chapter Two
The HairCut
The house elf in his bright white towel pushed the poker noisily around the fire grate. The dim kitchen gradually became more illuminated as he added wood and built the fire up until the figure sitting at the table behind him called out.
"That's fine Kreacher, thanks."
Kreacher turned to his master and bowed.
"Can I get you more Firewhisky Master?"
Harry shook his head. "No thanks, I really don't think I need anymore."
He put his arms behind his head and leaned back, rocking his chair by pushing with his legs from their position on the table.
"Uh actually, on second thought, one more thanks Kreacher" he said, staring into the fire.
Kreacher bowed. "Yes sire, Kreacher will be right back."
The house elf walked off happily humming to himself. Harry smiled thinking of the huge change in Kreacher since he'd first met him at his godfather's house. The old elf seemed to like nothing more than cooking and cleaning for Harry, and he had even shown remarkable tolerance to Teddy when the young boy had come to live with Harry when he was 6 years old.
Teddy really was living between the two homes of Andromeda his grandmother and Grimmauld place because Harry was so often away with Quidditch or on missions with Charlie but Teddy didn't seem to mind, he loved both his houses.
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black had changed much in appearance thanks to both Kreacher and Teddy as one had kept the place spotless and the other had filled it with life and colour.
The curtains were now open most of the time to let in the light, and some of Ron's friends in the Magical Reversal Squad had finally managed to reverse the sticking charm behind Sirus' mother's portrait; it was now in some room in the Department of Mysteries to Harry's knowledge but he really didn't care where it was as long as it wasn't here.
Kreacher surprised Harry by not being offended at her removal at all; in fact he was happy to see her go as she continued to scare Teddy when she'd start up again every time the boy made any noise near the hall.
Harry suspected that the elf's approval of the boy was partly because Kreacher was a little awed about Teddy's werewolf geneology - Kreacher did still find fascination in Dark subjects. But Teddy was unaware of this and really the only indication of his werewolf blood so far was his super heightened sense of smell, which so far had only come in handy for him in sniffing out Cockroach Clusters when Harry bought them home.
In fact Kreacher had modified his behavior to all of Harry's friends; he'd even stopped calling Hermione, or anyone for that matter, a Mudblood.
Hermione.
Harry took his feet off the table and rested his elbows on his knees, rubbing his face with his hands.
God it had been so uncomfortable the other night at The Burrow with her and Ron, he'd just wanted to get out of there as quickly as he could. After all these years, she could still read him like a book.
It was why he was keeping away, she could see right through him every time.
But she could never see everything, Harry thought ruefully. And even if she could, if he couldn't work himself out then how could anyone else possibly expect to.
Kreacher shuffled forward with a glass in his hand.
"Master."
"Thanks Kreacher" said Harry
"You have a visitor."
"What?" Harry jerked his head to the clock, it was nearly nine thirty pm. "Who is it?"
Harry could've sworn he saw Kreacher suppress a smile as he turned to the walk to the hallway.
"Miss Granger" Harry heard from his departing back.
"Wait, Kreacher?" Harry stood up but the door to the hall swung shut behind the elf and he heard him moving down the long hall to the front door. Harry looked around the kitchen, wiping his hands on his jeans. He wasn't sure what he was looking for until his eyes happened on the photo of Hermione from the Daily Prophet resting on the kitchen table by his glass. He snatched it up quickly and stuffed it in his back pocket just as the kitchen door swung open again.
"Miss Granger" said Kreacher as he shuffled past Harry.
"Hi" she said still standing at the door looking a little windswept but smiling as she smoothed her hair.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked
"Everything's fine, why?" She froze "Are you… have I interrupted something? I thought… Kreacher said…"
Harry felt a guilty pang looking at her crestfallen face; he had no real reason to be so stand offish to her. He gathered himself.
"Oh no, nothing like that… look sorry, here sit down" He spun a chair around for her to sit on. "Where's Ron?"
"Well" said Hermione, sitting down and taking her traveling cloak off "I don't really know." She smiled a slightly wobbly smile at Harry. "I very rarely do lately."
"Oh" was all Harry could manage.
She noticed his face fall and pasted on a brighter smile "But you know, that comes with the job…and I'm fine…" she added.
Harry noticed Kreacher bringing back some supper and drinks of his own accord and moved away to let him place it on the table using the opportunity to look at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She had a desperately sad look about her and he resolved to put his own worries aside to help her with whatever she needed.
"…so anyway I just thought I'd come and see you, y'know see how you're doing"
He smiled as he made himself a sandwich from the food Kreacher had just laid out.
"Or to check up on me some more?"
She had the courtesy to laugh "No Harry… I didn't mean… the other night…"
Harry waved her off "No I know - you're just 'worried about me'. He grinned and sank his teeth into his sandwich. "Food?" he said with his mouth full, gesturing to the spread.
"Actually… have you got any more of that Firewhisky?"
Harry nearly choked. He tried to recover, and appear nonchalant. "You don't… I didn't think you really drank."
"Who said?" she bristled indignantly "I've never said that"
"Ok, ok" he said holding his hands up before pouring her a glass. "It's just that I've hardly ever seen you drink… well not…" He trailed off and grabbed the bottle from Kreacher, filling a glass over ice for Hermione.
"Oh god." She shook her head, laughing. "Don't say it. Since George and Hannah's wedding…" She cringed behind her hands. "Don't remind me!!"
He was watching her closely, then he tried to smile. "No it wasn't - you weren't…"
"Oh come on" She looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "I'm pretty sure I was dancing after the band had packed up"
Harry looked at his feet and his smile widened slightly. "Yeah you were."
"And they told me you had to carry me to bed - god I still cringe when I think about that night…"
He rubbed his face, looking at the ground. "Hey you were great that night, Hannah said you were amazing for the whole thing, planning it all…" he trailed off.
"Yeah well, I guess I just celebrated a little too much at the end." She laughed and accepted the drink Harry had poured. "So just one" she said raising her glass.
They settled back, chatting by the fire, Hermione talking about cases she'd been working on lately; Harry regaling her with stories of Charlie and his latest exploits to track various dragons in Australia and New Zealand. Hermione was absolutely fascinated at Harry's description of creatures she knew so much about but hadn't actually seen.
"So a real Antipodean Opaleye" said Hermione, her eyes wide. "Oh was she amazing?"
Harry laughed and pushed her arm playfully "You sound like Hagrid you know."
She smiled and he stood up and shuffled through some photos on the mantle over the fire.
"Yeah she was - the most beautiful I've seen. Here." He sat back down and pulled out a photo from the bunch "Look there she is - you can't really see how her scales truly glow though, they have this pearly sheen with every colour you can think of in them."
He held the photo for her to take but she just leaned in and peered at it closely by the firelight. "Oh she's beautiful" she breathed.
Their foreheads almost touched and Harry thought it might've been the Firewhisky that made him turn and look at the side of her face.
"Beautiful" he said.
She turned and looked at him so close, unashamedly studying him. She wasn't sure if it was a trick of the firelight but the green of his eyes was so intense they were luminescent. And he did look so different without his glasses now. She felt her gaze slip to his lips, just inches from hers. Shaking her head minutely she broke her gaze and looked down then back up at him grinning.
"Your hair Harry."
"What?" he blinked.
"Your hair is really terrible" she replied laughing
He looked shocked for a moment then grinned running his hand thru his hair self consciously "Well thanks a lot" he said in a mock offended tone
"Oh no, it's just that it needs a cut!" She pushed her fingers into his hair and held it up to see the length. "Come on, I'm going to cut it for you."
Harry pulled back with his hands up "No really Hermione, it's fine…"
But she was already standing "I'm not taking no for an answer Harry, you know you can't remember when you had it cut last." He was looking up at her apparently looking for some defense but finding nothing. "Come on, I promise it'll just be a tidy up - no Molly Weasley 'all off' specials" she grinned.
"Okay" murmured Harry as she set up a chair closer to the fire. He felt tired, too tired to argue, too tired to be defensive anymore, and she was right - his hair was sticking up so much even Teddy was giving him stick.
"Over here" she said, a little of the bossy tone he knew so well in her voice. He got up and walked to the chair sitting down in front of her.
"You should take this off" she pulled at his tshirt.
Harry felt his stomach churn. "Oh no, it'll be fine, don't…."
His pleas fell on deaf ears as she yanked at the bottom of his shirt pulling it halfway over his head before he moved his arms to help. As she started to run her wand through his hair, he studied his hands braced on his thighs. How the hell did I get into this he thought.
He felt her hand move to his jaw from behind him to pull his head up level then continue to run her wand from the front of his temple to the nape of his neck.
The sensation felt like lukewarm air blowing over his scalp and this, followed by her fingers running through after it, sent shivers down his spine that he tried hard to ignore.
He felt a little giddy and realized that he hadn't had someone touch him so intimately in a while now. Her light touch on his bare shoulders as she moved around him to cut the sides seemed to almost burn his skin. He wished she would say something because he couldn't think of a thing.
Then she spoke, pressing both her hands on his shoulders.
"Relax, Harry."
He closed his eyes. Ok, he reasoned, it's just Hermione. It's just my mate's girlfriend, doing me a favour, giving me some comfort because she knows something's up with me. He tried to breathe out and relax as she'd said, his eyes still closed. He had to admit, he was truly enjoying her ministrations, and her deft touch as she moved around him was comforting in the least. He laughed when she muttered under her breath, struggling to flatten the unruly tuft at the front; he knew that was one battle she wouldn't win.
"There" she said, her voice close in his ears and he opened his eyes, surprised to find her directly in front of him, standing between his legs. She was holding his hair up on end with her fingers, her head tilted to the side looking at her effort with a critical eye.
"That's much better." She put her wand in her pocket and pushed both hands through his newly shorter hair, tilting her head both ways to examine the effect.
Harry looked up at her, enjoying watching her face as she scrutinized her work. Her own hair hung down in front of her shoulders, level with Harry's eyes and he could smell the light perfume of the thick waves so close to his face.
He was still observing her as she moved her hands down to his shoulders to brush off the cut hair that had fallen there. Horrified, he suddenly realized with a jolt that her eyes were full of tears.
"Hermione?" he asked, noting the tears were beginning to brim over. He reached up and encircled her wrists with his fingers "What? What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, I really…" She was avoiding his gaze. "It's silly."
"No no, come on, what's wrong?" He released one of her hands so she could wipe her eyes then he found himself reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. He wasn't actually sure he wanted to hear more but his concern got the better of him. "You can tell me."
She finally looked down into his eyes.
"Harry, what's happened between us?"
He froze. That wasn't what he'd expected. His mouth felt very dry and with difficulty he eventually replied.
"What do you mean?"
Her hands started brushing absently at his shoulder again. "It's like, it's like you're mad at me, Harry and I can't stand it anymore." Her voice was quiet and he hated to hear the hurt in it.
"Oh no, no I'm not mad at you." She still stood in front of him, but looking down at her feet now. "Hey" he said and she returned his gaze. "I'm not mad at you."
"Then what? I've done something I know! Because I know you're avoiding me. You try everything to keep away from me, ever since…. Ever since the wedding…"
She trailed off and he looked around the room trying to plot his next move. This was bad, very bad, he had to get her out of here. He grabbed her wrist again and led her to a chair, sitting her down and pulling one up beside her.
"Listen, Hermione" he began, then reached for his t shirt and stalled for more time putting it on. What was he going to say? What to tell her?
"You can tell me, I swear I can handle it." She looked at him earnestly.
And strangely, he could feel himself getting irritated. What did she know, how could she put him on the spot like this?
"I'm not mad with you okay, I… it's nothing like that."
She frowned at him and he jumped up.
"Look, there are just some things that I want to keep to myself okay? You don't have to always know everything - I'm entitled to a little privacy aren't I?" He heard his tone and knew it was too harsh but he couldn't stop himself, anger was the easiest emotion right now.
"Well it's just that I…"
"It's just that you always need to be in my business but I don't need that anymore."
He walked to the table and started abruptly clearing the supper things up.
"I don't get all caught up in yours and Ron's lives, why can't you just leave me alone for a change?"
That had done it. Hermione stood, staring at him as if she didn't recognize him.
"We were,. you were my best friend" she said quietly.
"Well, obviously that should be Ron now shouldn't it" he snapped.
Immediately he knew he'd gone too far. He put the plates down on the table again and made to step towards her.
"Oh shit… Hermione…"
"No, no you're right." She backed away from him towards the door. "I'm always interfering, that's what it is, I'm… I'm really sorry, Harry." She turned swiftly and was at the door opening it just as Harry moved towards her.
"Hemione, wait…" He reached the door and wrenched it open again but he'd already heard the tell tale pop that meant she'd gone. His hands came up to his forehead, his head falling back as he cursed loudly then turned to kick the kitchen door putting a hole in it. He crouched down with his arms on his knees staring at the floor.
"I didn't mean it" he said to the silence.