Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!
A/N: Thank you to everyone that has read my first chapter! I was going to update LCCE then, HTSAL, then this, but so far this one has been the most popular and this is only the second chapter, so I decided, hey why not work on this one first? Also thank you to hhrforever for pointing out my mistakes with the posters, I was just too caught up with my writing to stop and google people from that time. Also thank you to starboy454 for reviewing!
Hermione and Harry stood at the door of the Granger's residence.
"Are you sure that this is okay? I mean your parents might not. . . ." Harry trailed off.
"It'll be fine Harry, your just a friend and my parents know that. Plus I'm of age, and Mum and Dad used to let me invite Eric over when I was fifteen during the summer," Hermione said reassuringly before opening the door and walking in.
"Who's Eric?" Harry asked, following her.
"A muggle boy, he used to live down the road, moved away in the middle of our sixth year," Hermione replied, setting her bag down on the coffee table in the sitting room before heading into the kitchen.
"My parents must be in their room. Would you like something to eat? Tea? Biscuits? Oh, Mum made excellent chocolate chip cookies last night!" Hermione asked, not waiting fro Harry to reply before bustling around the kitchen to put the kettle on the stove and take platters of cookies and biscuits out of the refrigerator. "What?" she asked when she caught him staring at her.
"Hermione, are you okay?" he asked, "You're kind of acting like Mrs. Weasley," he added with a grin.
"I spent way to much time with her. . . ." Hermione trailed off, remembering how she and Mrs. Weasley would bake assortments of treats together while the other Weasley's were out playing Quidditch.
"I'm sorry 'Mione," Harry murmured. Hermione shook her head.
"Don't worry about it," she said, placing the platters on the table before hurrying back over to the stove to take the tea kettle off. Then she grabbed some plates and two tea cups, set them down on the table then sat down beside Harry.
"Hermione! Mrs. Weasley's on the phone for you!" Helen called from upstairs. Hermione sighed and stood up, brushing cookie crumbs from her shirt and onto the white tiled floors.
"I'll be right back," she said before running over to and up the stairs. When she got to her parents door she pushed it open and walked in. Her mother was standing by the wall phone, holding it out in front of her, waiting for her daughter to take it from her, while Ross sat on the bed, scowling in the direction of the phone. Hermione swallowed hard before walking over to the phone and picking it up.
"Mrs. Weasley?" she asked nervously, not sure of what to expect. She was assuming that Mrs. Weasley was using her husband's muggle phone.
"Hermione, we were wondering if you have heard from Harry? He was supposed to be here hours ago, and Ron wants to talk-"
"Oh, yes, he's here, so don't worry. Good-bye," Hermione said quickly, cutting Mrs. Weasley off before slamming the phone back onto the wall. She didn't think that she was ready to talk to Ron again.
"Is everything okay sweetheart?" Ross asked. Hermione nodded, sitting down on the bed in between her parents and resting her head on her Mum's shoulder, breathing in the scents of toothpaste and cookies. An odd combination really. That was when a huge crash sounded from downstairs
"Bloody hell! What the fuck was that!" Ross exclaimed. Hermione just shook her head in amusement as she heard the small clinks of reparo in action.
"That, is the sound of Harry Potter," Hermione said with a grin.
"What?" Helen asked staring at her daughter in confusion.
"I should have told you earlier, but I I ran into Harry in Diagon Alley, and I invited him over to spend the night. . .I just don't think that I an be alone tonight," Hermione said. Her mother nodded, with a soft smile, but her father stiffened.
"You invited a boy over to stay the night?" her father demanded.
"Dad, Harry's just a friend, my best friend, really. You don't have to worry about anything," Hermione said, though she was getting nervous that her father was going to go downstairs and punch Harry in the face. She also knew that Harry would never fight back. "I'm serious Dad, you guys can go downstairs and meet him right now, he was the one that saved the world! You could be dead right now if it wasn't for him," she added.
"Fine, then let's meet him," Ross said tightly before standing up and heading out the door and down the stairs. Hermione quickly rose to her feet and raced after her father. Helen following behind.
Hermione walked into the kitchen seconds after her father, who was glaring coldly at Harry.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Granger," Harry said nervously, placing his tea cup back on the table. Hermione amused exchanged glances with her mother/
"You must be Harry, Hermione's told us so much about you and how you defeated that awful Voldywart-"
"Voldemort Mum," Hermione interrupted with a sigh, you would think that they would remember the name of the wizard that wanted to kill them. Harry just grinned at Hermione.
"Uh thanks, Mrs. Granger," Harry said awkwardly.
"Well that was a successful meeting, I will be going to my room now, are you coming, Harry?" Hermione asked, deciding to end her friend's misery.
"If you try anything I swear. . . ."
"Ignore him," Hermione muttered to Harry as they walked up the stairs and disappeared into her room.
xxx
Hermione sat on her bed, her head resting on Harry's shoulder, the wizarding chess board that they were playing rested across their laps. Hermione watched as her knight destroyed Harry's king, her winning the game (A/N: I think that's how it works.). Hermione smirked.
"Checkmate," she said, before picking up the board, placing it back in the box, then setting it on her night stand, while Harry muttered something about 'being bloody terrible at chess'.
"Those were a good five games, considering I won them all," Hermione remarked.
"It's not my fault that I suck!" Harry muttered.
"Yeah it is," Hermione said, laying down in the bed, and cuddling up beside Harry. It reminded her of when Ron left them on their hunt for the Horcruxes and on some of the colder nights they would sleep together, cuddled up on one of the cots. Though now of course they were not freezing, and cuddled up under her light green comforter.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Uh, huh," Harry said sleepily.
"Earlier, when I talked to Mrs. Weasley, she said that Ron wanted to talk to me. . . .and I sort of hung up," she admitted, knowing that hanging up wasn't going to help her and the Weasley's relationship at all.
"I'm sure that she'll understand. Everything will be fine 'Mione,"
"Good night, Harry,"
"Good night, Hermione," Harry said, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, neither of them expecting the shock of electricity that shot through both of their bodies at the kiss. Hermione blushed, Harry also turning slightly red. She quickly closed her eyes, and without saying anything snuggled in closer to Harry, and fell asleep, the kiss on her mind.
xxx
When Hermione awoke the next morning, Harry was sitting on the bed beside her, flipping through the Transfiguration book that she had bought the other day.
"Hey 'Mione,"
"Yeah," Hermione said with a sigh.
"I am now looking even less forward to our Transfiguration NEWTs," Harry said with a grin as Hermione slid out of the bed and grabbed her clothes for the day and headed into the bathroom to get dresses in the white button down shirt and black leggings and pulled her hair into a messy bun, before heading back into the bedroom and walking over to the door.
"C'mon Harry, we can go to Muggle London for breakfast, there's this great little restaurant," Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and practically dragged him out the door of her room and down the stairs. On her way through the kitchen she glanced at the clock, 9:30.
"My parents are at work already, so you won't have to listen to my mother going on and on about how thankful she is for you saving the world or endure my father's glares,"
"Well that will be nice," Harry said with a chuckle. Hermione picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder and grabbed Harry's hand, leading him out the front door and onto the side walk.
"Hold on," she said, before pulling out her wand and apparating them to a secluded street corner of Muggle London.
xxx
Hermione and Harry sat on the bench outside the diner that they had just came out of, both full and contented.
"I want to pick up a couple muggle books, do you want to come?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, just don't go overboard, because I can only endure so many hours of book shopping," Harry said, giving her his lopsided grin. Hermione just smiled and leaned into his shoulder.
"You know Harry, you wouldn't think book shopping was nearly as boring if you ever bothered to read the books that you bought," Hermione said.
"That's your job 'Mione. If I need to know something I just ask you, you're like my own personal talking library. Plus I read Snape's potions book!"
"Yes, only so that you could impress old Sluggy, and receive better marks than me," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that you wanted Slughorn to ask you out or something," she joked and giggled at the revolted expression that crossed Harry's face, as she forced herself not to think about Harry and Slughorn 'doing it', in fear that her lunch would decide to make a reappearance on the sidewalk.
"I think that if anyone wanted Slughorn it was Malfoy," Harry said once he recovered and Hermione laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, it's book shopping time!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing Harry's hand and dragging him off down the sidewalk towards the nearest bookstore.
A/N: Thank you all for reading this! It's my most recent story and is already the most popular, I guess now I know that Harry/Hermione stories are big, and also that my writing is much better on this one, at least that's what I think. The fifth chapter of Love Can Change Everything will be posted as soon as I finish it, and the first real chapter of How To Save A Life will be too, so keep an eye out for them and Review! ! ! ! (-=