A/N: Day 16 - A piece from your life as fanfiction for the '31 days of fanfiction.' Not beta'd.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
That Time Hermione Granger Tries To Be A Gardener
Hermione sat back on her heels, surveying the small plot of land that she was currently weeding. While most of the weeds had been cleared, there was still a few, annoying weeds remaining. With a quiet huff, she vowed that she would finish her impromptu garden before evening.
"What are you doing?"
She turned, smiling brightly at George, her boyfriend of two years. "Planting a garden," she answered cheerfully. "Nearly done weeding."
"Right here against the house?"
"I think it'll look nice under the windows," Hermione explained.
"I didn't know you were into gardening," George commented, an amused look on his face. "You have a secret green thumb that I don't know about?" he teased.
Hermione blushed. "Er, no, but I've always wanted a flower garden." She turned to him, smiling coyly. "Want to help me weed?"
"No," George said, shaking his head. "But have fun with that." He blew Hermione a kiss before dashing back inside the house before she could protest.
Hermione returned her attention to the garden, determined to weed those final annoying little buggers!
"Still going at it?" George asked, coming out a few hours after checking on Hermione originally. He was surprised to see that she already had a few flowers planted. "Where did you get those?"
"Neville," Hermione answered. "He had a few seedlings that he thinks will be easy for me to care for."
"I didn't even hear you leave," George murmured, taking a seat in the dirt next to her. "But I'll help."
"Now that the hard part is over?" Hermione teased.
George laughed. "You know me so well, love. But come on, tell me what's next."
"You can dig a hole here and here," she gestured with her finger, "and then we can put the blue flowers there." She smiled. "It's going to rain tomorrow, so we don't need to give the plants too much water tonight."
"Yes ma'am," George said, picking up the small shovel. He began to dig, watching Hermione from the corner of his eye. She seemed so happy, that he decided maybe gardening would be something they could get into.
Hermione and George stepped back and took in the view of their finished product. Hermione smiled excitedly, proud of the work that she accomplished.
"It looks great," George said, putting his hand around her waist and pulling her close. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Good job."
"Thanks for your help," Hermione said, turning to kiss him fully. "It looks good, though, doesn't it?" She beamed with pride.
"Maybe we should consider planting a garden?" George suggested.
She wrapped her arms around George and embraced him tightly. "We'll see, love, but I think that's a great idea." She kissed him. "Let me get my camera so that I can take a picture for my parents. They won't believe it!"
George laughed. "Good thinking, we'll need proof."
Hermione stood in the pouring rain, gripping the handle of her umbrella tightly. She looked at what was her beautiful garden and frowned. She sniffled, all of her hard work gone.
"I'm sorry, love," George said, coming up next to her and placing his hand on the shoulder. "We couldn't have known this would happen."
"I know, it just… It's frustrating," she said with a sigh. "They've drowned. I didn't even know flowers could drown."
After getting heavy rain for all of the morning and afternoon, and it still continuing to rain, Hermione had gone to check on her flowers. To her horror and disappointment, the flowers were all crushed from the force of the water running off the roof of their home.
"Well, now we know not to place flowers that close to the house, and that we should probably look into a rain gutter system," George said, rubbing her shoulder. "We can try again, though."
"I suppose," Hermione said with a sigh. "I just wish I had realised this would happen."
"Well, we never really paid attention to how the water drained off the roof," George countered. "But now we know."
"I suppose," Hermione said sadly.
"Come on, let's go in and dry off. Maybe some of the flowers will survive the storm?" George offered hopefully.
Hermione appreciated George's attempt to stay optimistic. "Let's go in." As they walked inside, Hermione contemplated just where she and George would plant their second attempt at a flower garden.