Hufflepuff, Year 1- Short
WC: 1766 per Mword
Prompt: [Object] Mason jar
AN: Obviously AU since Harmony isn't canon. Also, using a little bit of apocrypha/fanon here since we don't know a lot about bluebell flames. Using mostly the HP Wiki as my source.
AN2: Don't get too excited. I just added some lines that didn't transfer over from GoogleDocs.
"Ron!" Hermione cried, running after the sound of Apparition echoing through the trees. She stopped jerkily, staring hard at the spot Ron had disappeared from. After a long moment, she hung her head and slowly trudged back inside.
Harry moved from his observation point in the open door of the tent to let her through as she now rushed toward the bedroom. He quietly settled into a ratty arm chair with a book and a sigh.
Hermione emerged a couple of hours later red-faced, puffy-eyed, and pretending nothing was wrong, so Harry quietly followed her lead. He walked on eggshells all night, trying not to set Hermione crying again; he hated it when she cried.
The next morning after a meager breakfast, Harry began dispelling the wards and packing up the campsite when he heard Hermione shriek, "No!"
He turned to face her with a questioning look.
"We can't leave," she trembled, tears threatening in her eyes. "What if… Maybe… Ron might still decide to come back."
Harry sagged a bit but began putting the protections back to rights. "'Mione, you know as well as I do that he's not coming back."
Tears streaming down her cheeks, she whispered, "But I keep hoping we're wrong."
Three days after Ron left, Harry and Hermione had to leave their semi-warm area of Cornwall – they'd already stayed in one place far longer than was safe for them. When they landed unsteadily on the coast of Northern Wales, Hermione wandered away, trying rub at her eyes surreptitiously.
Harry's gaze followed her, and he wished he knew how to comfort her. Instead, he did the only thing he could and started erecting the new wards.
Northern Wales in autumn wasn't the most hospitable environment. The weather was already chilly, and a freezing rain had begun to fall steadily around dusk; in short, it was a miserable place to be. Harry was already regretting Hermione's choice in camping spots. He'd never traveled anywhere in the Muggle world, so she was the one who had to direct their every move, and up until now she'd done a fabulous job. But as much as Harry wanted to blame her for their current climate of misery, he couldn't bring himself to do it. She was taking Ron's abandonment harder than he was; he would just have to step up and take care of her until she could get back to doing it herself.
From his spot at the kitchen table, he could hear Hermione's teeth chattering all the way in the bedroom. Deciding that the time for action was always now, Harry rose, strode into the bedroom, and began rummaging around in Hermione's beaded bag.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Hermione groused, sitting up to watch her friend.
"I'm looking for – sod it, 'Accio mason jar' – Aha!" Harry exclaimed, deftly catching the jar as it flew out of the bag. "I knew you'd have one. Come on, grab our blankets and meet me in the living area," he finished as he dashed out the door.
With a reluctant sigh, Hermione followed his directions. She found Harry rearranging all the chairs into a square with the seats facing out.
"I've always wanted to do this!" Harry explained, pushing the last ones into place. "Hey, can you use a few Doubling Charms on those really quick?" he asked, gesturing toward the blankets in her arms.
Hermione complied, unsure of where this was headed, and made a dozen copies of the quilts.
"Great," Harry said, finishing up his own Doubling Charms on the mason jars. "I think now we're ready to start."
"And what exactly are we doing?" Hermione asked huffily. "You've dragged me out of my nice warm – okay, so my less cold – bed and haven't given me any explanation as to why." Harry had to bite back his own smart retort, which seemed to make Hermione a little ashamed of her outburst.
"I've always wanted to try this, and I figured you might have a little fun with it too. We're making a blanket fort!" he said, trying to keep up the enthusiasm.
It was all worth it to see Hermione's face light up. "A blanket fort! I haven't done this in years! But what are the mason jars for?"
"Well, I know we can't have a fire because the smoke might attract either some Muggles or some Snatchers, but I was thinking maybe we could just use a bunch of those bluebell flames you're so good at. They're not as warm as regular fire, but I figured with a whole bunch of them, they might –"
He was cut off by a crushing hug from Hermione. "Thank you, Harry. I know I've been miserable these past few days, and I don't deserve such a wonderful friend. This is just what I needed."
Harry was thankful she couldn't see him blush at her comments.
As they broke their embrace, he gently lifted the horcrux from her neck. "And I think we should take a break from wearing this thing. It was hard enough… before… but with only two of us and the weather getting worse…"
Hermione nodded sadly. "I agree. Put it in my bag, and I'll start on getting the flames in these jars."
Harry stowed the locket, and he began arranging the jars around the interior edges of the fort and then in a small clump in the middle. Hermione followed, stooping over and placing her wand inside each jar before muttering the incantation.
When they were finished, the two friends stood back and admired their work.
"It's almost like having a little campfire right in the center," Harry grinned. "We're just missing the marshmallows."
"Maybe we can get some the next time we venture into the Muggle world," Hermione said enthusiastically. "But for now we can just swap some silly stories or – ooh! We could sing campfire songs!"
Harry groaned. "'Mione, I'm really glad you're feeling better, but I promise you that will all go away if you have to hear me sing."
Hermione put on her best pout. "Aww, Harry, it can't be that bad. Just a few songs!"
One look at her pitiful face and Harry was a goner. "Fine," he relented as he began tossing the dozen quilts over the chairs and joining them with Sticking Charms. "But just a few!" He knew he was going to sound like a fool, but if that's what it took to keep Hermione's spirits up… well, he'd been a fool for lesser things.
Three hours later, Harry and Hermione had sung every silly camp song they could think of as well as every silly tall tale and "scary" Muggle story they could remember, laughing all the while. As Hermione wiped the moisture from her face after one of his very bad Muggle boogeyman stories, Harry decided that he didn't mind making her cry happy or laughing tears.
"I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier," Hermione mused, looking around at their set up. "The flames only give off heat to the things above them and the individual flames are pretty small, so they're not really practical for a large scale fire. But with all these individual flames in the mason jars, clumped together and in an enclosed space, I'm pretty toasty!"
"I usually try to restrain my genius, but sometimes I can't help myself," Harry said dramatically, pretending to flick his non-existent hair over his shoulder.
"Prat," Hermione giggled as she swatted his arm.
Harry was starting to get addicted to making her laugh like that. "Maybe we could drag the cots under the blankets for the night. That way we don't freeze our bums off while we sleep."
"We could try," she reasoned. "I don't know how long the flames or the doubled jars and quilts will last, but I think it's worth a shot."
Bracing themselves, they exited their haven of warmth and quickly dragged their two cots into the living area. Thankfully, they were low to the ground and would easily fit under their blanket roof. Unfortunately, there was a much bigger problem.
"There's no way both of these beds will fit in here!" Harry said with dismay. "We'll be lucky that one fits inside diagonally."
"I guess we could take turns sleeping in the fort," Hermione started, furrowing her brow.
"No, you can just sleep in there!" Harry jumped in. "I don't mind sleeping out here. It's not that cold."
Hermione snorted. "Liar. Now, if you'd let me finish. We could take turns… or, we could be adults about this whole thing and just share a cot. It's plenty big enough for the both of us."
Harry swallowed. "O-okay. That… that works for me. I'll, uh, go get ready for bed then."
By the time he made it out of the old bedroom in his pajamas, Hermione had already changed and was brushing her teeth. She spit quickly and gave Harry his turn in the bathroom. Harry took his time with his nightly ablutions, but he couldn't put it off any longer.
With a sigh, he finished putting everything away, padded back into the living room, and slipped into the fort. Hermione was already under the covers with her back to him. He quietly slid into bed and lay on his back, trying not to move too much.
Instead, Hermione rolled over and looked up at him. "I really did mean it, Harry. I don't deserve someone as wonderful as you in my life."
It was Harry's turn to snort. "Bloody hell, 'Mione. If anyone doesn't deserve you, it's me," he said, rolling over to face her. "I would have died a hundred times over without you, and I would have failed even more than that. And I hate that I am putting you in danger with this stupid horcrux hunt, but I'm glad I've got you by my side just the same. I couldn't do anything without you, 'Mione."
They lay there in awkward silence for a few moments before Hermione broke it with a small fit of laughter. "Well what great saps we are!"
Harry chuckled along with her. "I suppose. But I think I'm learning that's not such a bad thing. Good night, Hermione," he said, dropping a kiss on her forehead with more bravery than he felt before flopping onto his back.
"Good night, Harry," she yawned, snuggling down a little too close for Harry's comfort. He held back a pained sigh. The things he would do for this girl… But he wouldn't have it any other way.