Chapter 7: D'you fancy a walk?

An: Hello, my pets. Hope you're having a lovely day! So, first chapter of third year, who's excited?! I am. From this point on, all books will have a sight more chapters, as Harry and Hermione are older, and have more "moments". Thanks to everyone who favorites and reviewed and followed, and a HUGE shout-out to ElizabethAnneSoph and EllaLewis, my fab regular reviewers! I appreciate it! Enjoy!

Continuez mes amis.

Harry stretched, his arms reaching to his headboard. When he heard his back crack satisfyingly, he eased them back to rub his head, as he sat up. He glanced blearily around, his vision fuzzy, until, fumbling, he found his glasses. He propped them on the bridge of his nose, and his vision became clear. He found himself in the bedroom at the Leaky Cauldron. He looked over at Ron's bed. It was empty. Yawning, Harry slid out of bed, and pulled on his clothes, before padding off to the door.

He found Ron sitting on the top step of the stairs looking gloomy.

"Hey, mate, what's up?"

Ron turned to look at him sulkily. "Mum said I couldn't go out with you and Hermione because I haven't finished packing. But it's going to take ages. And she said I have to help Percy look for his stupid badge and clean his stupid picture of Penelope."

Harry said, rather half-heartedly, "I could help you…"

Ron got up, his ears red. "No, it's fine." He hurried off.

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Harry tromped down the stairs, and ran into Hermione. She almost toppled down the stairs, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her upright, ignoring the strange flip in his stomach, a flip he had been having every time he saw Hermione, a flip that had occurred ever since he had seen her the first time on Diagon Alley this year. He couldn't understand why his stomach flipped, it just did. He always just chose to ignore it.

He took a good look at her as he helped upright. Her hair was longer than last year, the curls somewhat more tamed. She had started wearing a touch of makeup, and it suited her.

She let go of his arm, and smiled at him. "Oh, thanks, Harry. Where's Ron?"

Harry shrugged. "His mum said he couldn't be with us today, not until he packed and helped Percy."

Hermione shook her head and tutted. "If he would just do it quickly, he wouldn't have to worry about his mum making him pack when he could be with us."

Harry shrugged again, before asking, "So….d'you fancy a walk? I imagine it'll take Ron a while…"

Hermione frowned very slightly. "Just the two of us?"

Harry felt his face burn, feeling rather stupid. "Well…yes. Unless you want to ask Ginny, or…."

"No, no, It's quite alright, I think it would be fun, just us."

Harry furiously hoped that the fact his stomach was flipping was not noticeable to Hermione. "Yeah…yeah okay. C'mon."

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They strolled through the street, six hours later, enjoying large chocolate strawberry ice-creams. They had entered many shops, at first talking rather awkwardly, as it was odd being there without Ron, even though they were best friends, but the awkwardness had melted quickly, and they were now quite happy, having laughed a lot, trying on ridiculous oversize hats featuring things like a fluffy trim and toad skin fabric before being yelled at to exit the store, snickered over the pranks sold in the joke shop, and just generally bantered. It was good fun to the two thirteen year old.

Hermione smiled and nudged Harry with her shoulder. He nudged her back, grinning. They meandered over to a bench and sat down, throwing the remains of their ice creams in the rubbish bin. Hermione leaned against Harry, and he wrapped an arm around her. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, which were pulled up to her chest. Their eyes were closed in tiredness of walking up and down the street, their bellies full of ice cream. This time, Harry felt no flip in his stomach. Why would he? Their pose was so natural feeling and right.

"Harry," Hermione whispered in her ear. "Harry, I…."

Suddenly, Ron trotted into view. "Hey, you lot! I'm finished, thank Merlin! C'mon, let's go play exploding snap or something…"

Both Harry and Hermione jumped apart, and hurried after Ron, but Harry couldn't help but wonder….what was it that Hermione had tried to say? He wanted to know, but he figured now was not the best time. The only thing he was worried about was if Hermione would ever want to tell him.

Fin.