Two boys walked up the drive in step, a tall redhead and a dark-
haired boy, just walking as though they had not a care in the world.
Well, okay, they were more strutting than walking, but who could blame them? It wasn't every day that . . .
Before the narrator could finish her thought, a curly haired somebody burst out of the lopsided house before them, charging full throttle down the lane.
"Hmm, y'think we should move?" Harry Potter murmured, still walking forward. He nudged his best friend, Ronald Weasely, and nodded at the oncoming whirlwind.
Ron grinned widely, his eyes fully focused on the welcoming committee. "Naw, if she doesn't crash into one of us, surely she'll hurt herself. Newton's Law and all that . . ." His voice trailed off.
Harry smirked a bit at that, sure that Ron wasn't quite thinking of physics at the moment. "Riiight, mate. I'll just make sure it's you she hits, shall I?" Harry asked slyly. Ron's ears immediately reddened, and he stopped in his tracks to turn to Harry.
It was a bad, bad move---
"And just what might you be insin-OOF!"
--- mostly because it required him taking his eyes off of a girl barreling down a sloping lane, going so fast that she couldn't stop. Hermione Granger, the stampeding herd of one, hit him full on in the chest.
Ron staggered, instinctively grabbing onto the human missile that had struck him so forcefully. The two pair wobbled about like drunken ballroom dancers for a minute while Harry nearly toppled over laughing. The dazed pair didn't fall over, but it was a near thing.
Harry stood off to the side, managing to quiet his loud chuckles to small snickers as his two best friends still stood stock-still, one clutching the other's shirt for balance and panting from exertion, the other blinking away stars and smiling bemusedly down at the flyaway brown curls that were covering his second-best-friend's face. He tried to brush them out of her eyes as she tilted her head up to look at him. She smiled in a very pixie-ish fashion, peering up at him from her place snug on his shirt.
Then, in typical Hermione fashion, she straightened abruptly, nearly bashing his chin with her head. Taking one last deep breath, she gasped out, "Sooooo?!?!"
She looked up at Ron (he was still much taller than she, even when she was standing straight) with shining eyes and flushed cheeks and small hands clinging to his shirt as though he was about to tell her the secret to life.
And Ron just stood there, grinning like an idiot.
Harry sighed. Once again, it was Harry that had to do something, if only to save Ron from noticing that he was so very close to Hermione and then, consequently, saying something stupid, as Ron was apt to do.
"And a good afternoon to you too, 'Mione." Harry teased, drawing her attention away from the spaced-out redhead.
Hermione turned her bright-eyed gaze away from said redhead to smile sheepishly at Harry. He noticed, however, that she made no move to extricate herself from Ron's arms, which were still holding her against his chest. She even started to say hello before she realized she had been expertly deterred from her original line of questioning. Her expression hardened and her eyes narrowed. Hermione Granger was NOT one to be put off for long.
"So? How did it go?" she demanded. "I've been waiting for hours and hours and hours!" She stepped away from Ron at this point (who looked slightly disappointed to see her move) to wave her arms about wildly as though to prove the wait had gotten to her. "Did you get them or not?!?"
Ron stepped up beside Harry, pulling at an imaginary beard as he pondered outloud, "Oh, I don't know, Harry . . . Should we tell her?" He winked openly at his best friend, who caught on to the game fast.
Harry clasped his hands behind him and leaned slightly towards Hermione, tilting his head innocently to the side. "No. No, Ron, I don't think we should. She doesn't look . . . excited enough."
Hermione's face was slowly changing colors. First it was pink. Then it was red. It was fast approaching purple . . .
The boys had time for one quick laugh (making it all the way to purple in less than five minutes? New record!) before two small and extremely quick hands shot out and grabbed their collars, yanking them forward so fast that their heads banged together.
Hermione gave them the full-strength glare, all the more imposing because she was inches from their faces. "Tell. Me. Now." She gritted, her brown eyes flicking from one amused face to the other and back.
"Tut, tut, Miss Granger," Ron chided her with a smile. "Violence is never the answer!" He winked at Harry, whose face was still smashed up against his, and mouthed "one . . . two . . . three . . ."
And with a small, synchronized "pop", Hermione was left holding only empty air.
She whirled around quickly, her dusty robes getting dustier by the minute, until she spotted the two very smug looking boys standing about ten meters up the lane.
"Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . " Harry whispered to Ron, watching as Hermione's face went blank for a second. They knew it was coming; they just had to hold on for it. It wasn't a long wait.
Hermione screamed. Loudly. And then she began doing a crazy dance which involved a lot of foot stomping and hand waving and dust flying. "You did it! You did it!" And then she was barreling towards them again, this time crashing into both of them and bringing them down flat. Harry managed to grasp his glasses firmly before all three of them hit grass, otherwise he would have been flattened and blinded instead of just flattened.
"I'm so proud of you two, I could just kiss you!" Hermione screamed, squeezing them tightly around the necks as they fought to breathe. To be winded and then squashed and then strangled makes it quite hard to utilize full lung capacity, they were fast finding.
As suddenly as their air intake stopped, it began again, with Hermione sitting up. She glared down at the two of them. "And there you were, making me worry, making me think maybe you hadn't gotten gotten your Apparating licenses, not telling me anything . . . Don't you even think about doing that again! I'll strangle you both!" She stood up, still glaring, and shook off her dusty robes with a humph. "Now, c'mon, let's go see your family. They're dying to see you, too!" And then she was smiling again, so happy she was almost skipping.
Ron whispered to Harry, "Girls. They're completely nutters."
Harry nodded in agreement. "Hermione especially . . . who would ever have thought that quiet, sweet little bookish Hermione could be so . . . so . . ."
"Yeah. I know." Ron got that dreamy look on his face again. "But I'll tell you, mate, that was still one of the best 'hello's I have ever gotten." They laughed quietly, and Ron blushed. As soon as he had his cursed fair skin under control, they ran to catch up with Hermione, all walking towards the Burrow.
Well, okay, they were more strutting than walking, but who could blame them? It wasn't every day that . . .
Before the narrator could finish her thought, a curly haired somebody burst out of the lopsided house before them, charging full throttle down the lane.
"Hmm, y'think we should move?" Harry Potter murmured, still walking forward. He nudged his best friend, Ronald Weasely, and nodded at the oncoming whirlwind.
Ron grinned widely, his eyes fully focused on the welcoming committee. "Naw, if she doesn't crash into one of us, surely she'll hurt herself. Newton's Law and all that . . ." His voice trailed off.
Harry smirked a bit at that, sure that Ron wasn't quite thinking of physics at the moment. "Riiight, mate. I'll just make sure it's you she hits, shall I?" Harry asked slyly. Ron's ears immediately reddened, and he stopped in his tracks to turn to Harry.
It was a bad, bad move---
"And just what might you be insin-OOF!"
--- mostly because it required him taking his eyes off of a girl barreling down a sloping lane, going so fast that she couldn't stop. Hermione Granger, the stampeding herd of one, hit him full on in the chest.
Ron staggered, instinctively grabbing onto the human missile that had struck him so forcefully. The two pair wobbled about like drunken ballroom dancers for a minute while Harry nearly toppled over laughing. The dazed pair didn't fall over, but it was a near thing.
Harry stood off to the side, managing to quiet his loud chuckles to small snickers as his two best friends still stood stock-still, one clutching the other's shirt for balance and panting from exertion, the other blinking away stars and smiling bemusedly down at the flyaway brown curls that were covering his second-best-friend's face. He tried to brush them out of her eyes as she tilted her head up to look at him. She smiled in a very pixie-ish fashion, peering up at him from her place snug on his shirt.
Then, in typical Hermione fashion, she straightened abruptly, nearly bashing his chin with her head. Taking one last deep breath, she gasped out, "Sooooo?!?!"
She looked up at Ron (he was still much taller than she, even when she was standing straight) with shining eyes and flushed cheeks and small hands clinging to his shirt as though he was about to tell her the secret to life.
And Ron just stood there, grinning like an idiot.
Harry sighed. Once again, it was Harry that had to do something, if only to save Ron from noticing that he was so very close to Hermione and then, consequently, saying something stupid, as Ron was apt to do.
"And a good afternoon to you too, 'Mione." Harry teased, drawing her attention away from the spaced-out redhead.
Hermione turned her bright-eyed gaze away from said redhead to smile sheepishly at Harry. He noticed, however, that she made no move to extricate herself from Ron's arms, which were still holding her against his chest. She even started to say hello before she realized she had been expertly deterred from her original line of questioning. Her expression hardened and her eyes narrowed. Hermione Granger was NOT one to be put off for long.
"So? How did it go?" she demanded. "I've been waiting for hours and hours and hours!" She stepped away from Ron at this point (who looked slightly disappointed to see her move) to wave her arms about wildly as though to prove the wait had gotten to her. "Did you get them or not?!?"
Ron stepped up beside Harry, pulling at an imaginary beard as he pondered outloud, "Oh, I don't know, Harry . . . Should we tell her?" He winked openly at his best friend, who caught on to the game fast.
Harry clasped his hands behind him and leaned slightly towards Hermione, tilting his head innocently to the side. "No. No, Ron, I don't think we should. She doesn't look . . . excited enough."
Hermione's face was slowly changing colors. First it was pink. Then it was red. It was fast approaching purple . . .
The boys had time for one quick laugh (making it all the way to purple in less than five minutes? New record!) before two small and extremely quick hands shot out and grabbed their collars, yanking them forward so fast that their heads banged together.
Hermione gave them the full-strength glare, all the more imposing because she was inches from their faces. "Tell. Me. Now." She gritted, her brown eyes flicking from one amused face to the other and back.
"Tut, tut, Miss Granger," Ron chided her with a smile. "Violence is never the answer!" He winked at Harry, whose face was still smashed up against his, and mouthed "one . . . two . . . three . . ."
And with a small, synchronized "pop", Hermione was left holding only empty air.
She whirled around quickly, her dusty robes getting dustier by the minute, until she spotted the two very smug looking boys standing about ten meters up the lane.
"Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . " Harry whispered to Ron, watching as Hermione's face went blank for a second. They knew it was coming; they just had to hold on for it. It wasn't a long wait.
Hermione screamed. Loudly. And then she began doing a crazy dance which involved a lot of foot stomping and hand waving and dust flying. "You did it! You did it!" And then she was barreling towards them again, this time crashing into both of them and bringing them down flat. Harry managed to grasp his glasses firmly before all three of them hit grass, otherwise he would have been flattened and blinded instead of just flattened.
"I'm so proud of you two, I could just kiss you!" Hermione screamed, squeezing them tightly around the necks as they fought to breathe. To be winded and then squashed and then strangled makes it quite hard to utilize full lung capacity, they were fast finding.
As suddenly as their air intake stopped, it began again, with Hermione sitting up. She glared down at the two of them. "And there you were, making me worry, making me think maybe you hadn't gotten gotten your Apparating licenses, not telling me anything . . . Don't you even think about doing that again! I'll strangle you both!" She stood up, still glaring, and shook off her dusty robes with a humph. "Now, c'mon, let's go see your family. They're dying to see you, too!" And then she was smiling again, so happy she was almost skipping.
Ron whispered to Harry, "Girls. They're completely nutters."
Harry nodded in agreement. "Hermione especially . . . who would ever have thought that quiet, sweet little bookish Hermione could be so . . . so . . ."
"Yeah. I know." Ron got that dreamy look on his face again. "But I'll tell you, mate, that was still one of the best 'hello's I have ever gotten." They laughed quietly, and Ron blushed. As soon as he had his cursed fair skin under control, they ran to catch up with Hermione, all walking towards the Burrow.