Harry was sitting at the table where Kreacher served him dinner.
'Thanks Kreacher. It looks very good. If you want you can take a break, but if you'd rather clean I think the study could use some dusting."
Kreacher nodded his head and proudly said "Anything for the young master who is so kind to Kreacher"
Harry smiled and shook his head as Kreacher left the room. He was glad that they had finally became friends. As he tucked into his dinner, Hermione's voice came out of the floo.
"Harry…?" She sounded as if she'd been crying.
"Hermione? Is that you?" Harry put down his fork and got up from the table straitening the robes he found in Sirius's closet.
"Yeah," she paused for a second. "Umm… Can I come over for the night? I don't want to be he."
Harry smiled, but felt sympathy for one of his best friends. Life with Ron Weasley as your boyfriend was very stressful, and the two often had rows.
"Hermione, you know you're welcome here any time. You don't have to ask."
Harry could here arguing on the other side of the conversation, and finally Hermione replied, "Alright, I'll be there in 5 minutes." As soon as she was done, the flames turned back to orange and Harry turned on his heel and headed to the study to find Kreacher.
Opening the mahogany door, Harry spotted the house elf carefully wiping his possessions off.
"Excuse me, Kreacher. Could you please change the sheets on Hermione's bed? She's going to be staying over tonight."
The elf smiled with glee and bowed low to the ground. "Yes sir, I will prepare Mistress's room."
Harry thanked the elf and proceeded back to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. He waited for another two minutes when Hermione appeared in his fireplace and quickly stepped out of the magical flames. The brown haired witch cast a quick cleansing spell on herself and straightened her dark blue robes.
"Harry, sorry for being so bothersome. And I know I don't have to ask, but I just feel bad if I don't…And…" Her voice faltered off as she set her overnight bag on the chair. She turned away from Harry trying to hide the fact that she was blinking away tears. Fighting with Ron always put her in a crappy mood.
Suddenly, Hermione felt Harry's arms snake around her shoulders giving her a brief hug. She felt part of her discomfort fade away. He then proceeded to massage her shoulders while talking.
"Aww… 'Mione, what's wrong?" Harry didn't really have to ask but Hermione began to recount her most recent fight. The fights were becoming more frequent and about smaller, more comical things. The "romantic" relationship between his two friends was slowly crumbling apart and Hermione was starting to spend more and more time in her room across the hall from Harry's.
"And then I said, 'I'm not your maid Ronald!' and he stormed out only to come back while I was talking to you on the floo. He thought I was wrong!" Hermione's brow furrowed slightly when she recounted the accusation. She sighed and leaned her head against Harry's chest. It felt right, and she liked that.
Harry looked down at the brown curls beneath his chin then held her away from his chest for a second to brush the curls out of her eyes. He then continued the close hug. "I'm sure he just needs to calm down a but to realize what he said to you. You know he has, umm what did you say that one time? Oh yeah. The emotional range of a teaspoon. Would you like dinner or a coffee?"
Hermione shook her head no and pulled herself from Harry's arms, but stood close to him. He smelled like books as if he had spent all day in a library. "No. I think I'll just go on up to bed. Thanks Harry." Hermione stood on her tip toes and kissed her friend on the cheek, her lips momentarily lingering. Blushing, she headed upstairs.
As he heard her door softly shut, Harry cleared his throat and blushed as he straightened his robes. His fingers lingered to where her lips had touched his face. It certainly felt magical and Harry was beginning to feel the need to keep Hermione around more.
