Author's Note: I apologize for the huge delay in posting-this chapter was difficult to write. On the bright side, it's the longest yet. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: nothing has changed-I still don't own the rights to Harry Potter. I'm just playing with the characters.
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Chapter 7: Singled Out- `Coupled Out?'
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Didn't I find you when I knew you were hiding out?
Didn't I see you when you thought you'd never stand out?
Didn't I find you? Didn't I find you?
-Copeland, "When You Thought You'd Never Stand
Out"
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The week of the April Hogsmeade visit proved to be unexpectedly nice-the sun had decided to grace the area with its presence, and it was actually warm enough to abandon heavy coats in favor of sweaters and jackets. Consistent with the weather change, there was a pervasive mood of content and more than a little laughter amongst the students of Hogwarts. Those who were third year and above seemed especially cheerful as the impending weekend trip drew closer-and even the teachers were apt to let classes go a little early that Friday.
Flitwick was more than happy to let his seventh years out early, too-they had been patiently compliant in spite of the sunshine pouring through the windows. So, with a reminder that their essays were due the next class, he dismissed them with a broad smile, and watched them practically race out of his classroom. He didn't take it too personally though; he knew his students liked him, but nothing could keep them perfectly attentive on a Friday afternoon.
Every now and then, it was refreshing to see how resilient his students had been after all the brutality of last year. Most of the students had lost their haunted expressions, and they seemed intent on making this year the best they could remember. Quidditch was more competitive than ever - in a good way - and McGonagall had done her best to promote inter-house unity since resuming her role as Headmistress.
But the biggest surprise had been Neville. He'd suspected the boy had been carrying out a few heroic operations the past year, but the drive and confidence he'd gained was simply astounding. Whatever his love of Herbology had started in him, having to lead and instruct other students the past year had vastly improved upon it. Of all his students, Flitwick had a feeling Neville would have no trouble with his N.E.W.T.S.
"Professor?"
Flitwick started, and turned away from the window. One of his first years was standing in front of him, looking extremely nervous. Offering his most comforting smile, Flitwick resumed his favorite aspect of teaching-helping the new students.
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Passing by Ron's room, Hermione was forced to suppress a giggle-the redhead was anxiously ruffling his hair, attempting to make it do something, anything other than lie perfectly flat. It was ironic, really, since Harry was doing everything in his power to flatten his own. Telling either of them that their hair was just fine how it was only resulted in embarrassment for her boys, so Hermione let it go and curled up against the corner of the couch, settling down to read until they were ready.
"Honestly, they're bigger girls than I am," she muttered, as she turned to the bookmarked page.
She made it about as far as `however, the properties of…' before her mind drifted. She knew Ron was just trying to look nice for Luna, but why was Harry fighting with his hair? Harry only did so when trying to make a good impression on someone, but he'd been quite adamant about not wanting Ginny back. Hermione didn't have a whole lot of time to think much further than that (and those thoughts all steadily zoomed nowhere) before Harry and Ron appeared.
"Ready, then?" She asked briskly, practically brushing away her distraction as she took out a pinch of Floo Powder.
"We'll all meet at the Three Broomsticks when it's time to go, all right?" She instructed in her usual tone, and Ron rolled his eyes while she Floo'd away.
"You'd think we were five, huh?" Ron remarked as the flames turned a brilliant green for his trip. Harry shrugged, looking slightly nervous, and once Ron was gone, followed the same procedure.
He wasn't particularly fond of travel by Floo, but Harry thought he was improving a little-after all, he didn't come stumbling out into the wrong place this time. Hermione and Ron had already grabbed a table, and Madam Rosmerta waved cheerfully at him as he moved to join them. Apparently, Hermione had already taken the liberty of ordering for them, as three Butterbeers were sitting on the table, and she was already scolding Ron,
"Honestly, you cannot drink firewhisky before meeting Luna!"
"You're not my Mum!"
"Right, well, I hope you're done arguing, since Luna's just walked in," Harry remarked calmly as he took his seat, and gave Hermione an appreciative look as he got his drink. Ron turned pale under his freckles, and smiled nervously as the blonde Ravenclaw approached. Hermione grinned into her butterbeer, preparing herself for what could only be an interesting interaction with Luna.
"Hello, Harry, Hermione, Ronald," Luna remarked dreamily, sinking down into the booth next to Ron. She was humming something that distinctly reminded Harry of "Weasley is Our King," and Ron looked completely unsure of himself, but managed to order her a butterbeer without any mishaps.
"Hi, Luna," Harry offered, as Ron handed Luna her drink and Hermione shifted around towards him to make more room for Luna.
"Hello, Harry. Ronald tells me you've been playing Quidditch. I do hope you're watching out for the Rinkledriz-they like to disguise themselves as stray Bludgers."
"Umm…yeah…" Harry mumbled, elbowing Hermione before she could start laughing. Ron was starting to flush with embarrassment, unnoticed by Luna.
Harry couldn't help but wonder what exactly those two talked about enough to have a relationship, but as Ron gradually became more comfortable, those thoughts slid from his head. He didn't observe much beyond the fact they were happy around each other.
Hermione was much more specific with her observations. Ron made Luna laugh (and therefore made her feel less different and more included); Luna admired him, which gave him a stronger sense of importance than anyone else had ever given him in his whole life. In spite of Luna's strange ideas and Ron's thick-headedness, they made each other happy, and Hermione felt a little twinge over how oddly adorable they were.
She instinctively looped her arm through Harry's while the four of them talked-the afternoon felt comfortable. Sure, Luna didn't quite have the connection the other three had, but she had always been oddly perceptive about those things, and knew how to contribute to their conversation better than Hermione had expected. She was so caught up in these thoughts and the present conversation (the pros and cons of the House competition) that she didn't once notice Harry glancing at her occasionally with a strange look on his face.
Madam Rosmerta noticed, however, and when she came to bring the bill, casually asked,
"Two checks, then?"
After an awkward pause, but before Hermione could reply, Harry nodded, "Yeah," and shrugged it off when the others stared at him (Luna with a dreamy smile on her face).
"What? If you're so bothered, Hermione, you can pay me back later. I just didn't want to cause her any trouble."
She frowned, obviously confused, but didn't say a word about it. Ron and Harry paid for the drinks, and Luna was soon insisting Ron show her the new Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Mouthing an apology, Ron followed after her, leaving Harry and Hermione behind.
She scanned the room, and questioned,
"Where is everyone else, anyways? I figured we would have seen everyone by now."
"I dunno," Harry replied, glancing around as well.
"Well, do you want to take a walk?" He added, rising from the table.
"All right. Maybe they went to one of the other stores…" Hermione trailed off, and Harry found it strange that she was so anxious to find other people-normally Hermione was perfectly content to be left alone, or with the three of them.
Shrugging it off, Harry handed Hermione her jacket, and they wandered out into the streets of Hogsmeade. The streets were packed with Hogwarts students and weekend-visitors, enjoying the sunlight and the new shops. The two of them joined in the throng, aimlessly stopping by Scrivenshaft's (Hermione bought a new quill, though Harry didn't see what made it special enough to cost 6 Galleons), and poking their heads into Gladrags (Harry became quiet when he saw the colorful socks, one pair of which was identical the ones they bought for Dobby). They passed by George's new shop, which had replaced the Zonko's, but didn't recognize anyone inside.
The only place left worth visiting was Honeyduke's. Chatting amiably about some of the changes in Hogsmeade, and sharing a few memories about their days at Hogwarts (had they really been finished with Hogwarts for almost two years?), Harry and Hermione entered the sweet shop, arm in arm and laughing about something or other.
Naturally, this easily misinterpreted entrance would be witnessed by not only the average Hogwarts student, but also by every friend they had in Hogsmeade. Ron and Luna were there, and Ron had been in the middle of telling Seamus and Dean a joke, before stopping short. Neville waved amiably, and Harry suspected the other redhead, unaware of the awkward moment, was Ginny.
Smiling, Harry, approached the friendliest face - Neville - and Hermione greeted him with a hug.
"Neville, how are you? How's Hogwarts? Are you learning a lot?"
"Give him a chance to answer, Hermione," Harry interrupted, amused, and Neville gave him a grateful look. Whatever lingering strangeness in the room evaporated as Harry wandered over to Ron, and some way or another was caught up in a Bertie Botts fight (nothing too crazy, just a little wandwork to make the particularly nasty flavors chase after people until you ate them).
After being forced to swallow a pickled cockroach flavor, Harry made his escape back over to Hermione, Neville, and a few others. Hermione looked halfway amused, halfway disgusted, at this new game, and Neville expressed his sympathies. Harry looked around the store for Ginny - he had been sure he saw her - and finally spotted her near the sherbets.
"Careful, they sometimes forget to sweeten the lemon ones."
"Honeydukes doesn't mess up," Ginny replied calmly, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned to speak with him. Harry vaguely noticed that she was as pretty as ever, but no emotions followed this particular observation.
"Well, you never know." Harry ran a hand through his hair.
"How's your boyfriend?" He added, unsure what the protocol for talking to Ginny really was. As far as he knew, she was over him, and he was over her, and he wanted to be friends, but guessing by the awkward glances cast their way every now and then, maybe it was too soon.
"Oh, he's great," Ginny replied, and Harry nodded.
"When did you start seeing Hermione?" she added before the conversation died out completely.
"We're not seeing each other. Ron and Luna wanted to go to see the new shop, so it was just Hermione and I today. That's all."
"Well, that happens a lot-you and Hermione."
"I guess…" Harry admitted, and eagerly changed the subject, "So you never told me which one you're dating these days. Not Dean again?"
"No, not Dean," Ginny echoed, and then added quietly, "it's Neville."
"Really?" Harry managed to ask, though his brain wasn't quite working. Of all the people Ginny could have dated, would have wanted to date-Neville hadn't been his first guess. He liked Neville, of course, but it just seemed unlikely that Ginny would see him in that light.
"You're not mad, are you?" Ginny was asking, though it was clear that his opinion wouldn't really matter that much if negative.
"Of course not! In fact, you should let me go congratulate him now," Harry replied, attempting to sound reassuring.
Ginny looked relieved to be free of conversing one-on-one with Harry, and they joined Hermione and Neville.
"Neville was just telling me that he was dating Ginny," Hermione remarked immediately, and Harry nodded,
"I know. Ginny told me. Be careful Neville, or Ron will take your head off," said Harry, grinning at his friend, who didn't seem convinced of this, as he continued to hold Ginny's hand. Hermione simply rolled her eyes at Harry, and the group made plans to return to Three Broomsticks after they made their purchases (enchanted jelly beans and all).
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The boys thoroughly enjoyed the rest of their afternoon. Seamus probably couldn't see straight afterwards, and Ron was a little tipsy, but it was more than nice to simply spend a day laughing instead of working (be it at a job or Hogwarts) and feeling the aftermath of the war.
Even Hermione felt unusually lighthearted. When she'd watched Harry make a beeline for Ginny at Honeydukes, she'd felt pangs of jealousy and a little bit of sadness, even as Neville shyly admitted he was dating Ginny now. What if he'd been wrong about not liking her anymore? What if Ginny was only using poor Neville? These and plenty of other worries flew through her head, but as she watched them stumble over a conversation, she grew increasingly relaxed, though she still couldn't help but blurt out `Neville's dating Ginny' when Harry joined them-just in case. When she realized Harry was genuinely okay with the whole thing, she felt even more at ease.
After all, they had spent the day together, and she'd thoroughly enjoyed it. Hermione wasn't totally thrilled that her boys had both indulged in a little Firewhisky, but she would deal with that later. There would be plenty of things to do when she arrived back home, she realized, and the amount of work awaiting her alone was enough to take a notch off the day's pleasantries.
She tried to avoid these depressing thoughts as they walked everyone else back to Hogwarts' gates, but to little avail. Dean and Seamus were quickly gone too, though Ron lingered to say good bye to Luna. She distractedly motioned that Harry should follow her to give Ron a little privacy, and they trudged back in silence. Had she been a little less preoccupied, Hermione might have noticed that Harry was acting a little nervous.
"Hey Hermione?"
"Hmm?"
"I had fun today."
"Me too. It was nice to see everyone."
"Well, yeah, but not just that. I mean, maybe we should do something next weekend too."
"Sure. I don't know what Ron's schedule is like, but I'm sure we can-"
"No, without Ron. Just us." Harry wasn't sure why he was suddenly suggesting this, but once he'd started with the idea, he found his mouth simply wouldn't shut up. Apparently Firewhisky made him a little braver and definitely more impulsive.
"You mean, like a date?" Hermione asked, finally paying attention, and looking at him with a strange expression.
"I guess so, that is if you don't, or rather, I mean….yes."
"No, Harry."
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End note: Yes, that was really mean, and I'm a teensy bit sorry. I will do my very best to update sooner this time! Remember, reviews make me happy!
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