A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating "Everything Will Be Alright". We're sort of at a writer's block. So, CheshireCat85 is hoping to find inspiration, while I was to come up with something to humor you fellow H/Hr shippers. I'm truly sorry! Also, please enjoy this (hopefully) cute one-shot! It took me a while to make it, maybe three or two hours. Also, please review!
First Dates & Sprained Ankles
It's a date.
Hermione grinned as Harry's words earlier that night echoed throughout her head. She was lying in bed, thinking about her conversation with Harry earlier in the library. She had been reading up for her Transfiguration essay when Harry bounded over and sat down with her, talking idly for a while.
She had brought up the Hogsmeade trip happening the very next day, asking him whom he was going with. Somehow, he had managed to switch the conversation around without giving her an answer. Hermione had said how she wasn't going to Hogsmeade.
"I'm not even going to bother going to Hogsmeade tomorrow," said she nonchalantly with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "There's too much homework that needs to be done. Besides, I've no one to go with."
Harry raised a curious eyebrow. "Why not? Why wouldn't anyone go with you?"
Hermione sighed impatiently. "Honestly, Harry! How many times do I have to go over this? I'm not exactly the type of girl guys look at twice. Not even once."
"How would you know that? There're many blokes out there who would fancy you."
Now it was Hermione's turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah? Name one."
Harry started to fidget in his seat. "There's this one bloke—"
Hermione snorted. Loudly. "Right, Harry."
Of course, it didn't take Hermione long to figure out who fancied her, since he told her anyway. Although, she would've never figured out it was him. They had shared a sweet kiss in the library. It wasn't very long, but it was tender and straight to the point. Right after that, Harry had asked her to Hogsmeade, while dropping down on one knee.
"Honestly," she had retorted, blushing as people gawked at them, "you'd think we'd been together longer than three minutes."
Harry was quite intent, though, on asking her that way, and remained in that position---down on one knee and holding one of her hands---until she had said yes. When she had, Harry finally sat back down, his knee aching a bit.
Hermione smiled as she remembered him squirming in his position for a while. And with a laugh, she'd said yes.
I've wanted to tell you that for a long time.
Hermione grinned again. Goodness, she'd not even known how long he'd fancied her. But it was all right. He loved her, and right now that was all that had mattered.
~*~*~
"I'm sorry. Oh, Harry, I'm so, so sorry."
"It's fine," Harry replied tetchily. "I just love waiting out in the cold for two and half hours for my best friend."
Hermione tried to stave off her quickly rising tears. She didn't miss how he'd called her his best friend and not his girlfriend. Hermione quickly admonished herself. She and Harry had not even been together for a day. "I had no idea I'd oversleep today. I'm sorry."
"What were you doing up so late anyway?" Harry asked, fighting impatience while they walked towards the carriages.
Hermione blushed and looked away. "Just thinking about some things," she mumbled.
Harry's terse personality softened at the sight of the tears in her eyes. He sighed and took her hand in his. "It's alright. I'm sorry. It's not your fault."
She looked at him, her tears threatening to fall down as she felt how cold his bare hand was. It was much worse than he'd ever let on. "Oh, Harry! I really am sorry!"
He grinned at her, tugging her closer to him. He gave her quick kiss on the cheek. Hermione felt her tears nearly fall as his cold lips touched her flushed cheeks. "I already said it was alright. Come here," he quickly pulled her until she was flush against him. "You make me feel warm."
Hermione blushed as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "You're being ridiculous."
Harry, however, paid no heed to her. He helped her into the carriage. The ride was slow, and after a short, playful banter, they lapsed into a comfortable silence.
Hermione hoped everything would turn out all right. She suddenly remembered how she was going to have to pay her share of today's date. She quickly groped around for her wallet but felt nothing. With a pang, she vaguely recalled leaving it in all her rush to meet up with Harry.
"Oh no," she moaned aloud.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked, concerned.
Hermione hesitated a bit before saying, "I've left my wallet at my dormitory. I was in such a rush---"
"You mean you've no money at all?" Harry asked and Hermione could see the impatience in his face.
"I'm sorry. I was in such a rush to meet with you---"
"It's fine," he interrupted brusquely. "It'll be my treat today."
Hermione felt depressed. Although she was sitting quite closely to him, she couldn't have felt more far away from him than ever.
When the carriage stopped, Harry jumped off, not even bothering to help her off. Hermione had tried to follow him, but only lead to her spraining her ankle. Harry hadn't even noticed, but Hermione didn't want to bother him even more.
She put on a brave face and ran after him, despite how painful her foot felt with every step. She finally caught up to him.
"I figured we could stop by Honeyduke's first, and then maybe the Quidditch shop." He informed her and without waiting for her agreement, he led them in the direction of the sweets shop.
Hermione lagged behind a bit, trying to compose herself. After Harry had bought his sweets (he didn't bother asking Hermione, since she preferred sugar-free snacks, but she wouldn't have minded it if he had asked), he led them over to the Quidditch shop where Hermione had accidentally knocked down a basket full of Quaffles. Harry waited impatiently for her to retrieve all of them.
By the time Hermione had finished, her palms were cold and scratched, her knees ached from crawling on the hard floor, and her ankle ached more than ever. But still she didn't say anything.
In silence, they walked over to Three Broomsticks.
"Harry, mate," Dean exclaimed as they entered the slightly crowded pub, "why don't you pull up a chair? Hermione, you could join us too." He was sitting with Neville and Seamus.
Hermione said nothing, not exactly wanting to say she was on the most pathetic date in history.
Harry finally spoke. "Can't," said he in a monotone voice. "I'm on a date with Hermione."
Dean glanced at both of them and smiled a bit. "Not what it's cut out to be, isn't it?" He asked rather quietly but Hermione could still hear him.
Harry merely smiled grimly and led Hermione away to a private booth. He ordered two Butterbeers, and in an awkward silence, they drank their drinks.
Hermione felt another pang as Harry avoided looking at everything but her. Swallowing a sob, she felt a single tear slide down her cheek.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
She stiffened and wiped the tear away hastily. She wished he hadn't seen her, she would've rather suffered on her own. "Nothing. I'm just being silly."
Harry's cold personality melted all at once as another tear slipped down her cheek. She raised her hand to quickly wipe it away, but Harry's thumb beat her to it and he wiped it away with a soft touch. "I'm really sorry, Hermione. I don't mean to be so harsh. It's just that today, I expected everything to go perfectly—"
"Except I ruined it, didn't I?" Hermione moaned, letting her tears fall freely now.
"No!" Harry exclaimed, pulling her into a hug as she sobbed into his shoulder. "You didn't do anything. I really am sorry, Hermione. I'd never purposely hurt you, it's just—I don't exactly handle my emotions well—" he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "it's hard to explain."
"I understand," she said, her whisper muffled by his green jumper.
After finishing in Three Broomsticks, they left. Hermione, however, still felt incredibly guilty about ruining their first date. And so, Harry gave her the chance to make it up to her by buying him a few chocolate frogs (with his money, of course).
Hermione rushed to the candy shop, not wanting to keep Harry seated in the freezing cold on an already cold enough bench. She pushed through the crowds of students and grabbed a few handfuls of chocolate frogs. After paying, she left as quickly as she could with her sprained ankle (she refused to tell Harry for she was afraid he would get annoyed again).
She found him, still sitting on the park bench. But it was whom he was with that made her stop in her tracks.
Cho Chang was sitting beside him, her gloved hand enveloping his bare one. They were laughing and talking to one another. Hermione felt tears pool in her eyes as she caught the happiness twinkle in Harry's eyes. And with a large sniff, she fled from them, dropping the bag of chocolate frogs she'd gotten for Harry.
~*~*~
Harry quickly glanced around, hoping to catch Hermione. What was taking her so long? Worry flooded through him. Had something happened? She was all right, wasn't she? In fact, Harry was suddenly forcibly reminded, she had been limping a tad---
"Did you lose something?" Cho asked bemusedly.
He snapped his attention back to the black-haired girl beside her. He'd forgotten she was even there. "Oh, um, just looking for Hermione."
"That's right, today's your first date with her, right? It was all over the school this morning," Cho said thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Um, she sort of left about ten minutes ago, but I'm sure it shouldn't take her this long to buy a few sweets..." He trailed off, casting worried glances in all directions.
"Aren't those from Honeyduke's?" Cho asked, pointing to a clear plastic bag full of chocolate frogs lying on the ground 10 feet away from them.
Harry jumped from his seat and snatched them from the snow-covered ground. "I think these are hers," he said as Cho approached him. If Hermione had come back, why did she just leave the sweets behind? But if she had seen him and Cho together, he wouldn't have been surprised if she jumped to conclusions with the way he'd been acting towards her the whole day.
"I'm sorry, Cho, but I've to find her." He said, panicked. "But it was nice catching up with you."
"I understand," Cho said. "I've got to find Roger as well, I'm sure he's worried. Oh, and Harry, congratulations. I know how long you've fancied her."
Harry gave her a grateful smile and sped off in search for Hermione. He just hoped he could find her.
~*~*~
Hermione was running. She wasn't sure how long she'd been running, but as long as she was away from Harry and Cho, she'd be fine.
She was just about to turn into a corner, when her foot gave out and she fell onto the ground, the snow stinging her face and bare hands. The crowd around her stopped to stare, and people began to whisper.
She felt her cheeks turn scarlet and she wished she could have been whisked away at that moment. And adding to fuel the excitement around her and her dismay even more, Hermione began to cry. She wanted to move and hide away somewhere, but her foot wasn't going to allow her anytime soon. It was rather painful at the moment and Hermione was sure it was broken.
And then the crowd opened to reveal Harry, panting and sweaty. He looked tired, relieved and worried all at the same time. He shooed the crowd away before carrying her in his arms, going back towards the carriages. Once there, he carefully laid her on a seat. She was seated on his lap while her broken ankle was stretched out on the rest of the seat. Hermione had wrapped her arms around his neck and cried, all while squeezing him once every few moments. Harry felt quite lightheaded but let her hold onto him. (For once, Harry was quite relieved that the carriages were slow.)
Finally, Harry pulled her away and wiped at her damp eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.
Hermione nodded but the burst out, "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry! I've ruined everything."
"You did nothing of the sort," Harry argued, the stern tone evident in his voice, which left no room for contradiction. "Now, why didn't you tell me about your ankle?"
"I didn't want to bother you."
"You wouldn't have been bothering me at all! I wish you'd told me sooner. Your ankle would've been healed by now, if you had. And now it's even worse. It's broken and it's also got a few blisters. Why didn't you just wear your regular shoes?"
"Well, it was our first date! I wanted to look decent enough to be going out with you, not like some frump!"
"Hermione," Harry said firmly. "I wanted to go out with you because of who you are, not because of what you look like, not that you aren't beautiful."
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to bother you. I love you so much, you have to know that."
"I do, love. I know you do. I love you too, Hermione. And don't worry, you'll never be a bother to me."
And then she kissed him. And that didn't bother him either.
~*~*~