All Hallows Eve
When Hermione Granger falls ill with a bad cold on Halloween, she forgets all about the fact that it's Halloween. But Harry Potter hasn't, and he's convinced to make this Halloween her most memorable yet.
**
Of all the possible times to get a cold!
Hermione was rarely sick, but when she was, it came strong. Right now, her usually neat flat was completely covered with tissues, her head was pounding, she could barely breathe, and soon she would have to change her last name to "frog" with how her voice sounded. She would have gone to work as usual and worked past it (after all, she had an absurd amount of work to do! Hermione couldn't be taking vacations now!) but her boss had insisted. Well, more threatened than insisted.
"Hermione, for the love of Merlin, go home! Get some rest, drink hot soup, do what every normal person does when they're sick!"
"But you know how people get near the holidays! Chaos everywhere, what with everyone getting careless around the muggles! You need me to keep an eye on everything and possibly do a memory charm if needed," Hermione had insisted.
"If you don't go home, I'll make sure you get a month vacation! I can't afford to get other people sick!"
"Fine." she reluctantly grumbled. After all, a few days off was loads better than two months. Plus, Hermione had to admit, it wasn't too bad. She'd much rather be working, but you can't always get what you want.
Hermione was about to take a much-needed nap when there was a loud knock on her door.
"Go away!" she croaked out as loud as she possibly could, which wasn't very loud. The knocking continued.
"If you make me get up from this couch, I will kill whoever you are! I can do it too, I was the smartest witch of my year at Hogwarts!" Shouting was making her voice even more hoarse, and she had a coughing fit.
"Hermione, it's me! Open up!" Harry's voice came through the door. Sighing deeply, she got up and opened the door.
"What do you want?" she grumbled at him, not noticing the large paper bag he held in his hands.
"Nice hair. I expect the birds to be moving in any time now."
She started to close the door, but he put his foot in the way to keep it from completely closing.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, I'll be nice! Besides, I brought you some things." Reluctantly she moved out of the way to let him in.
"How'd you know I'd be at home?" she asked. Hermione was rarely at home this time of day.
"I tried you at work but your boss said you'd left early being sick and all. I thought I'd come over and be a good boyfriend and take care of you."
"I don't need to be taken care of!" she hissed, though deep down she was touched.
"Everyone needs to be taken care of at some point or another. Besides, no one deserves to be alone on Halloween."
Was it really Halloween already? Hermione knew it was coming up, of course, but she'd been so busy preparing for Halloween that it actually coming had caught her by surprise.
"What do you have in the bag?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I wondered when you would ask that," Harry grinned. He reached in the bag and took out a can of soup, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, a stack of movies, and some orange and black candles.
"Now why don't you go take a bath and I'll get everything ready?" Harry suggested. Hermione did have to admit a bath sounded nice. She made the water as hot as she could possibly take it, and got in, letting the warmth relax her and letting the steam relieve her stuffed up nose a bit. Usually she liked to read while she was in the bath, but this time she just closed her eyes and enjoyed it.
Fifteen minutes later, when the water had gone cold and her fingers were pruned, she finally got out. Hermione hesitated at putting back on her PJs, wondering if she should put something else on, before shrugging and resuming putting on her pajamas. Harry was her boyfriend after all, and if she could, as her mother would say, "veg out" in front of anyone, it was him.
"There you are. I was wondering if you had turned into a mermaid!" Harry told her.
The bath had restored her good mood, so instead of growling at him like she would have before, she smiled. His comment reminded her of when she was very little and she used to tell people she wanted to be a mermaid when she grew up. How disappointed Hermione had been when she found out she couldn't!
"Here's a bowl of soup for you," he said, handing her a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.
"Just out of curiosity, why is the pie homemade but the chicken soup came in a can? Not that I'm complaining or anything," she quickly rushed to reassure him.
"Oh, well I may have made the pie ahead of time. I was planning to surprise you at work with it."
"Harry! I needed to work! I had a lot of things to do."
"Well, it doesn't really matter now, does it? You're not at work. So why don't you pick out a movie for us to watch?"
He had brought over horror movies and parodies alike, having such movies as Young Frankenstein, Dracula, Plan Nine from Outer Space, and more. She decided on Young Frankenstein.
Hermione had seen this movie before when she was about four, but she hadn't enjoyed it very much. Hermione enjoyed seeing movies she never got when she was younger and going "OH" all the time. This time the movie was much more enjoyable, and Hermione found herself laughing a lot.
Unfortunately, she was also the sort who couldn't sit still for too long watching a movie, no matter how good it was, without feeling restless. Harry knew this, so after about half an hour he paused the movie.
"Pie break," he said, getting up so he could get the pie, two bowls, and some ice cream.
Hermione hated to ruin his fun, but she had to be honest with him. "I don't like pumpkin pie."
"Ahh, but that's normal pumpkin pie. I made my special pumpkin pie using the Evans special recipe!" Harry announced. His aunt had the recipe in her house, for it had been her grandmother's recipe. Harry had found it one day when the Dursley's had gone out for an outing and had left him alone in the house. He hadn't had the opportunity to make it before this, but now was the perfect chance. And who else to share it with than the most important person in his life?
Harry's lack of family was one of Hermione's weak spots, so at the mention of his mother's family, she lost all the will to fight him. "All right."
Harry cut her a large piece and smothered it with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, and handed it to her before cutting an equally large piece for himself.
Hermione was convinced to pretend to like it, for Harry's sake, even if she really didn't.
"This is good!" and much to her surprise, there was truth behind her words. It was good, though if it was the pie itself or everything covering the pie, Hermione wasn't sure.
"Told you. You may be the smartest witch of our year, but that doesn't mean I don't occasionally get something right."
Suddenly, Harry leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips.
"Mmm, Harry, I'm sick!"
"I don't care. You're taking care of me though, if I catch anything."
This time when he leaned over, she didn't protest. She had to admit, she was glad he came over.
"Harry?" she said when they broke apart.
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
He repeated something he'd said earlier, "No one deserves to be alone on Halloween."
A/N- I apologize for any badness! I was actually sick while writing this, and my writing isn't the best, but I wanted this up before Halloween and I wasn't sure how much time I'd have next week. Hope you enjoyed it!
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