A/N: I know it's been forever since I updated, sorry. This is part 1 and I promise part 2 will be posted in a timely fashion. I kinda rushed this because I wanted to get it posted fast.
"Hermione, I don't think you'll be needing Centaurs, Thestrals, Trolls, Oh My! at Beauxbatons." Harry said picking up the heinously large volume from her stack of books to take. She snatched it from his hand, giving him a dirty look.
"It's just for some pleasure reading." She said placing it back in the trunk. Hermione was at her flat packing for France and Harry had come over to keep her company.
"But you said all those were for pleasure reading." He said, flourishing his hand to another large stack of books on her bed. Hermione sighed as if Harry should clearly understand her thinking.
"Yes, but I never know what kind of mood I'll be in. Maybe I'll want to read up on Runes or Spells or Mythical Creatures or …" Harry held up his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, point proven. Just make sure you have room for your clothes." Hermione shot him another dirty look before looking guiltily into her trunk and then at her closet. She opened her closet doors and started taking various items off their hangers. She turned back to her trunk and started folding each item neatly before placing them in the trunk. Harry stood next to her, watching as she focused intensely at the simple task at hand. He loved how she could get so wrapped up in simple tasks. Her obsessive need to have everything meticulously folded was kind of endearing.
"Do you think I'll need something fancy? Just in case?" She asked absentmindedly while she folded a nice set of deep green robes. Harry made his way to the closet, silently taking note of Hermione's simple but classic wardrobe. He spotted his favorite sweater of hers and lightly ran his fingers across the soft, white fabric.
"Couldn't hurt, I guess." He saw that Hermione had a few nice dresses and he started to examine each one. He had seen her in a few of them. He ran his hand down a silk, cream dress and remembered how lovely she had looked when she wore it to dinner with him and Ron for some celebration dinner. Maybe it was for when he graduated from auror training.
His hand stopped on a small black dress. It was shorter than her other dresses and looked like it would fit tighter than almost anything else she owned.
"Ginny talked me into that one a few months ago. Haven't really worn it though. It doesn't really seem like me." Hermione's voice came from just behind his left shoulder, he could nearly feel her behind him, looking at the same dress as he was.
"It's nice." He said looking closely at the detail.
"It's short."
"I'm sure you'd look lovely in it." He said, taking the risk and turning his face towards her. Her eyes flicked away from the dress to him. "You should take it." He said, regretful that he wouldn't see her in the lovely dress.
"It's definitely not appropriate for any school related function." She said as her hand brushed his shoulder. She reached for a dark blue dress instead which she had worn to Fleur's second baby shower. The movement brought her right up against his back as her hand grasped the hanger. Harry stood rigid, knowing he should move, that it would be the courteous thing to do, but the selfish side of him was too busy enjoying the feel of her against him.
Hermione too, seemed to sense that they were a bit closer than friends should be; however, instead of moving, she stood in the same place, holding the dress awkwardly in front of them. This always seemed to happen when they got too close. It was as if once they had passed within a few inches of each other, they couldn't move away. Usually with Harry and Hermione it was a dance of well placed steps and touches, so they could avoid situations like these.
"Then again," Harry began, his voice slightly hoarse, "you look lovely in everything." The look in Hermione's eyes was apprehensive, a mixture of longing, regret, and fear.
"Harry-" she tentatively called softly. She cut herself off and let the words hang between them like a statement. Maybe she was stopping him; maybe she was calling for him. Harry looked down at her, weighing his options as his eyes flicked quickly from her eyes to her lips. Then there was a whoosh of wings and the caw of an owl. It flew through the window and dropped something on Hermione's bed.
Harry turned his head towards the bird, but kept his body close to Hermione's.
"That'd be the morning post." He heard her whisper softly near his ear. He couldn't tell if her voice carried regret or relief, perhaps a mixture of both. She was the first to move, tucking the dress safely into her trunk before walking over to her bed and picking up her copy of The Daily Prophet. Harry slipped some coins to the owl and it took off flying.
"Anything good?" he asked, coming to stand next to her, but this time, keeping his distance. Hermione unfolded the paper and let out a surprised breath.
"Yeah, you, on a date." She said as she looked at the picture of a surprised Harry and a gorgeous looking witch.
"What?" He said snatching the paper from her hands and examining it. "Isn't this usually stuff that Witch's Weekly publishes?" He said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Is that Adrienne?" Hermione asked leaning over the paper to get a closer look at the picture.
"Yeah, I don't know why this is front page news though. I should owl The Prophet about this." He said tossing the paper back onto her bed. She could see the paper had really upset him.
"Oh come on, Harry. They always do this. You know that. You can't help it if people care about what you're doing."
"There's got to be boundaries though, Hermione. I don't need everyone in the whole bloody wizarding world to know that I'm dating." Hermione walked over towards him, paper in hand.
"They do this to all of us Harry. It's just a matter of whether it's placed on the front page or page six." She said handing him page six, which had a big picture of Ron out with his team in Amsterdam.
"It's just now there's going to be all these questions from everyone. You know, like 'who is she?' 'is it smart to be dating someone from work?' and my least favorite of all 'is it serious?'" He said as he left her room and headed for the kitchen. Hermione followed. She desperately wanted to ask him those same questions but let the words die on her lips. He took a big gulp of water he had poured himself. "You know I just wish I could keep my personal life, personal." She nodded, not knowing what else she could say. He looked at the clock.
"Look, it's late and I've got to go in and do some paper work. I'll see you tomorrow though for your goodbye dinner." He said placing the cup in her sink and disapparating without a goodbye.
Hermione looked down once more at the picture of the beautiful witch on Harry's arm and licked her lips. So this was it, staring at Adrienne made her real. It had been a long time since one of Harry's girls had seemed significant enough to be put in The Prophet. Usually they never made it out of Witch's Weekly before the relationship ended.
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"Ron? Ron, come on what's taking you? Harry's probably been waiting for us for ten minutes already." Hermione called to Ron as he came from his room straightening his tie.
"Calm down, Hermione, I'm coming. Anyway, we can be as late as we want, it is your going away dinner." He said putting his shoes on. She tapped her foot impatiently.
"Well, I don't want to be late. It's rude." Ron rolled his eyes and stood up. He looked at her for the first time since she had changed. He let out a low whistle.
"I've never seen that dress on you before." He said appreciatively. Hermione fussed with the hem, pulling it down nervously.
"It's too tight." She said apprehensively.
"No, no, I like it." Ron said eyeing her hungrily. Hermione squirmed, uncomfortable with the attention.
"Now I know it's too tight!" She cried. Ron came over and held both of her arms.
"You look fantastic, now let's go before Harry thinks we forgot." With that Ron brought her on a side-along apparation. Hermione landed on wobbly legs with her high heels.
"Warn me next time, Ron!" She called out angrily and was met with a wave laughter. Hermione suddenly noticed the warm light and the soft piano playing in the background. They were at her favorite restaurant and all her friends were there.
"Surprise!" Hermione jumped as the group called out to her. Then realization dawned on her and she smiled widely.
"Oh my gosh, you guys!" Hermione said as she began hugging her close friends. Neville, Ginny, Fred and George, Luna, Colin, Dean, and Seamus all gathered around her to give her their congratulations. Ron snaked his arm around her waist as her eyes scanned the crowd. Just when she was about to voice her question, Harry burst through the crowd of their friends and enveloped her in a tight hug.
"I told you you'd look lovely in it." He whispered in her ear as he pulled away. She looked up at him and they smiled silently to each other, but the silent moment between the two was quickly broken.
"You must be, Hermione!" a tall witch with long dark brown hair said extending her hand. She pulled herself close to Harry as Hermione took her hand. "I've heard so much about you." She said, gently jabbing Harry in the ribs as if it were a private joke. Harry blushed deeply and looked up at Hermione.
"Hermione, this is Adrienne. Sorry we're late-" Harry began before Adrienne cut him off.
"It was my fault, you know us girls, never quite happy with the way we look." She said with a laugh. Hermione's eyes sized up Adrienne and she found herself inwardly scowling when she found not one flaw. She looked back at Harry and found his eyes slowly drifting up to hers. They both looked away shyly.
"Well you look great, and it's great to meet you." Hermione said, finding it difficult to force out a big enough smile for it to be believable. They all sat down at the table and once Hermione was seated she looked around herself more.
"You guys, we're the only ones here." Hermione said looking around the empty restaurant, save for a couple of waiters.
"Yeah, well Harry thought it would be best if we kept this as a 'private affair'" Ron began to explain, "So he bought out the whole restaurant." Hermione looked delightfully surprised as she turned to Harry and he scratched the back of his head in the cute way that he always does when he is embarrassed.
"Harry, you shouldn't have!" She began to protest.
"Well, I already did so there's no use in giving me some speech, Hermione. I just wanted you to enjoy the night." Hermione beamed brightly at him while Adrienne reached for his arm.
"Oh Harry, you're so sweet." Adrienne said with a kind smile to him. He returned the warm smile and placed his hand over hers. She then turned to Hermione. "So I hear you've been selected to travel to my alma mater tomorrow. I absolutely loved it there. Harry told me how much you love books, and Beauxbatons has the most wonderful library. I spent nearly all my time there. I'm a bit of a bookworm myself." She said shyly as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder.
"Really?" Hermione asked, hardly believing that a girl who looked like Adrienne would spend all her time in a library.
"Yeah, I got made fun of all the time because I was the top in my class. Harry told me that you were top of your class too. Isn't that funny?" Hermione found her alpha female senses kicking in. So she was top of her class too? Hermione let out a feeble laugh and took a big gulp of wine. Watching Adrienne and Harry interact across from her, she barely felt Ron's hand cover her own. This was going to be a long night.
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"You're sure you can't come?" Hermione pleaded with Neville as he sadly shook his head.
"Sorry, I promised my grandmum that I'd meet her for an early breakfast tomorrow, but congratulations once again, Hermione. That's great news." Neville smiled.
"Alright, well I guess I'll see you when we get back to Hogwarts." Hermione said smiling as she hugged Hogwarts' professor of Herbology. She turned to face the three remaining people. Adrienne gave her a bright smile and laced her fingers through Harry's. Ron came over giving her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled at him.
"Ready to go?" he asked her, taking her hand. She nodded and the last thing she saw before she apparated was Harry looking at her accusingly.
A/N: Please review, it really is my best form of motivation