A/N: Howdy all! I really hate taking so long to update, but I can't really help it when I have so much dang schoolwork!
I hope you'll all bear with me as I continue to do my best to get these chapters out as soon as I can!
Chapter 10 - Take Me Out
"Harry," Hermione said oddly, her arms around his neck as they swayed to the music.
"Yeah?" he asked, looking down at her to find her trying her hardest to concentrate on his face.
She grinned. "You're really really cute, y'know," she said, her words somewhat slurred, then half-hugged him as they continued to dance.
And a thought hit Harry.
She's drunk.
He didn't know how it had happened, but Hermione had managed to get drunk at his parents' Halloween party.
Hermione hiccuped and laughed, then her eyes widened. She looked up at Harry with oddly focused eyes and said, "I'm drunk," with dead seriousness. Then she laughed again and twirled, almost falling to the ground as she did so. "I'm drunk!" she said jubilantly.
Harry laughed weakly as he continued to dance with her half-heartedly, somewhat taken back by this side of Hermione. He knew she would never get drunk of her own accord, and wondered if this situation was salvageable in any way. The only upside he could think of was that she probably wouldn't remember the blatant use of magic going on around her. Then again, if she wasn't drunk enough...suffice to say, the whole 'muggle' theme of the party wasn't being pulled off too well, the various witches and wizards attending the party using magic for tricks, fun, and even menial tasks, such as levitating their drink to follow them around.
Harry looked back down at Hermione to find her staring at him with fascinated interest. He frowned and she said, "Harry, your eyes...they're so green."
Harry smiled weakly, seriously worried at this point. He said, "Thank you. It's getting pretty late. You ready to head out yet?"
Hermione shook her head resolutely. "I'm having fun," she slurred as she tried to get Harry to dance.
He smiled at her, though, as one would smile at a child, and said, "I would be really happy if we could get you in bed, Hermione. It's getting pretty late."
She pouted, finally giving up and crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine," she said. "Just let me grab my keys."
She fumbled for her keys in her pockets for a few minutes, almost losing her balance a couple times in the process. When she finally found them and held them up triumphantly, Harry quickly snatched them out of her hands. "Hey!" she said, trying to focus on his face angrily.
Harry laughed, trying to make light of a very serious situation. She seriously had no idea how drunk she was. He said, "It's a pretty warm night. How about I walk you home?"
"What a gentleman," she said, latching onto his arm. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to the cafe," said Harry. "I'm sure Mary's worried about you."
Hermione nodded. "We should say goodnight to Mary. She deserves a good night."
"Alright then," said Harry, who turned on the spot, squeezing Hermione tighter to him as the feeling of apparation ripped through him, pushing the breath out of his lungs until they appeared at their destination.
Hermione stumbled alongside Harry as the two of them walked from the alley Harry had apparated them to until they got to the cafe, where Harry held the door open for Hermione just so she could trip on the small lip of the door and go crashing onto the floor. She was giggling as she stood up, which Harry helped her do as he looked up to find what he was dreading most: Mary with a look that definitely wasn't approving of the situation.
"Mary, I...Hermione..." he said as Hermione started falling again, almost pulling Harry down with her. He struggled to remain upright and said, "She somehow ended up drunk at my parents' party. I'm sorry. I take complete responsibility for this."
Mary sighed. "Well, at least you did the gentlemanly thing and brought her back here," she said, opening the back door leading upstairs. She smiled at Harry. "I'm too old to help a wasted eighteen-year-old up the stairs. Do you mind?"
Harry nodded and Hermione tried to detach herself from him to go stumbling in some unknown direction, but he quickly caught her and forced her towards the stairs. After several minutes and a lot of hard work the two finally managed to make it to the top, Mary silent behind them the entire time.
The stairs, it turned out, led directly to the middle of a hallway in which there were two doors at either end and one directly in front of their faces. Mary gestured to the left and Harry helped Hermione along, their progress much easier now that Hermione could use the walls to help with her lack of balance.
When he opened the door, he was faced with what was undoubtedly Hermione's room. The walls were light blue and along one wall was a giant bookcase, though it only had a handful of books on it. On the bedside table was the 'Lord of the Rings' book Harry and Mary had purchased for her birthday along with a small lamp and a small television. Other than those three pieces of furniture, the small amount of space remaining was immaculate.
Harry gently deposited Hermione on her bed, where she lay still, her energy seeming to have worn out. She giggled, and Mary said, "You help her get ready for bed, Harry, I'm going to go grab a bucket for her in case she needs to hurl later on."
Harry nodded as he pulled Hermione's shoes off. He frowned at her and said, "Well, I hope you don't mind too much if that dress gets a little wrinkled."
It was more to himself than anything, but Hermione nodded as she pushed the covers down. "I'm tired, Harry," she said. "Tuck me in like mum used to."
Harry felt a lump rise in his throat and did as he was told, tenderly bringing the comforter up to her shoulders and tucking it in a bit at the sides. Hermione was smiling, her eyes already closed, and Harry couldn't help but kiss her forehead.
"Love you," Hermione mumbled, making Harry's throat tighten and his heart soar simultaneously (an odd feeling, to say the least). This 'love you' may have been meant for her mother, said in a drunken stupor, or was actually genuine; the fact of the matter was that she said it, and at Harry. He could only imagine how good it would feel when she said it to him with conviction (and when she was lucid and sober).
"I love you too," he said softly and her smile grew the tiniest bit, her breathing evening out as she fell asleep.
Harry got up and turned off her light, then left the room only to come face to face with Mary, who was waiting patiently. "So you want to take responsibility for Hermione being in this condition, Harry?"
Harry hesitated, then slowly nodded his agreement. "Yes," he said.
Mary seemed satisfied and said, "Then you're going to be staying the night so you can take care of Hermione tomorrow morning." Despite the fact that Harry had no intention of protesting - he would gladly care for Hermione - Mary added, "And I'm not letting you walk home at this time of night anyway."
"Sounds good to me," he said. "Where am I going to sleep?"
Mary motioned for him to wait a moment, then went to one of the doors in the hallway, opened it, and took out a sleeping bag and a pillow. "Here you go," she said. "You'll be sleeping in Hermione's room."
Harry gave her a surprised look and she waved her hand at him. "It's fine," she said. "She might need something tonight and will be too sick to do anything about it. Plus, I know you aren't going to try anything on her while she's drunk."
She gave Harry the most menacing look, as if to say, Don't you dare prove me wrong.
Harry nodded, bade Mary goodnight, and headed into Hermione's room, setting up on the floor quietly. He sighed, took off his shirt because it was weird to sleep in one, slipped in the sleeping bag, and slowly fell asleep to the sound of Hermione's soft breathing above him.
"Harry."
"Haaaaaaaaarry," a voice said softly in his ear.
Harry groggily woke up, confused as to where he was, and opened his mouth to yawn...except he took in a mouthful of hair. His eyes shot open and he came face to face with the top of Hermione's head. She must have rolled out of her bed at some point, because she was still asleep, her head on his chest and her arm wrapped around him, her blankets twisted around her. She seemed to be muttering his name in her sleep and nestled a bit closer to him when he shifted, her arm tightening around him.
"Hermione," Harry whispered, lightly shaking her. "Hermione, wake up."
Hermione groaned and tightened her hold on him, but despite how cute she was being, Harry had to wake her up. So her shook her a bit again and she slowly opened her eyes to come face to face with him in confusion. "Harry?" she asked, slowly.
Before she could register what was going on, though, she heaved once and started coughing. Harry helped her up and led her to the bathroom, where she immediately fell to her knees in front of the toilet and vomited, Harry holding her hair back while she emptied the contents of her stomach.
After what seemed to be forever but was probably only two minutes, Hermione's puking turned into dry heaves, and her arms, which were still clutching the toilet, were shaking a little.
"What happened last night?" she groaned. "I don't remember anything."
"Anything?" Harry asked, unable to help himself. So she wouldn't remember him apparating her...
Hermione gave him a weird look and slowly lowered herself so she was sitting down with her back against the wall. "So what happened?" she asked, rubbing her head.
Harry grinned at her. "You seemed to have grabbed the wrong drink last night," he said.
"I don't think I'd get this drunk from just one drink, Harry," Hermione said.
"Ah," he replied. The glasses had refilled on their own; he would have to improvise. "Ah...er...you might have picked up the wrong drink multiple times then." Hermione looked at him skeptically. "There were a lot of people there, you know."
"Hmmm," she said, rubbing her head with more vigor. "I'll have to take your word on it for that one, I guess. My head hurts too much to think."
Harry let out a mental sigh of relief, then helped Hermione stand back up. He walked her back to her room and sat her up in her bed, where she grabbed the puke bowl Mary had grabbed for her and set it on her lap.
Harry stood there staring at her for a second until she said, "So...what are we gonna do?"
Harry shrugged. "Watch a movie?" he asked, eyeing the VCR player her television was resting on.
"I only have, like, three movies," she said. "The librarian was going to throw them away so I decided to keep them."
Harry shrugged. "That's fine. You just need to chill," he said. "That's going to be the best way for you to get better."
Hermione nodded. "Alright then. Drag my nightstand out to the other end of the room and we'll watch."
Harry did just that and put on the Lion King, one of literal three movies Hermione owned. He sat on the bed with her, and, besides the few puking incidents Hermione had, it was pretty peaceful, with Hermione resting her head on his shoulder and all. They watched Hermione's other two movies, which also happened to be children movies, and by the end of the third one, Hermione was asleep again with her head on his shoulder.
Harry felt himself dozing off after the third film, and right when he was about to fall asleep, Hermione shot awake, her eyes wide open. "I remember," she said in horror.
Harry immediately felt his heart sink. "I...I remember," Hermione repeated, slightly disturbed.
"And what exactly do you remember, Hermione?" Harry asked, hoping against all hope that she didn't remember what he was afraid she would remember.
"You pulled me in close and then...and then...we were suddenly right here," she said, her eyes not leaving his. "And I know I'm not missing any part of that since there's no way in heck I drove and I know I didn't ride in your parents' car."
Harry swallowed. Hard.
"How did I get back here, Harry?" Hermione asked. "How did you get us back here?"
Harry's heart was pounding in his chest as he tried to think of any sort of lie that seemed in halfway plausible so he could fool Hermione. His hand even twitched toward his wand, which was in his magically expanded back pocket, so he could erase her memory of last night. And then he realized that doing either of these things would get him and their relationship nowhere. All he would be doing was putting off the inevitable.
"Alright," Harry said slowly, not meeting her eyes. "I'm about to tell you the secret you want to know." He looked up. "Are you ready for it?"
Hermione hesitated only the slightest bit, then nodded emphatically.
Harry smiled weakly. "Well, I'm a wizard."
Hermione blanched. "Er...what?" she said. So she clearly hadn't been expecting that.
"I can do magic," he explained. "I can make things happen with magic."
Hermione chuckled weakly. "Don't be silly, Harry. If magic existed the entire world would surely know about it," she said. "There's no way something that big could be kept a secret."
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "That's what you'd like to think," he said. "The other big secret is...well...that you're my best friend of eight years."
Now Hermione was looking at him like he was crazy. Harry sighed, frustrated with himself. This wasn't exactly going how he wanted it to. "Listen, Hermione, I'm going to tell you my life story and I'd like for you to not interrupt," he said. "Do I have your word?"
Hermione nodded.
And so Harry began, starting with the death of his parents and going all the way up until the moment he met her again and how he had loved her all along in this universe and that he was glad he had found her. At the end, he stopped and smiled weakly, noticing with a start that it was already completely dark out. "So...uh...that's it," he said, noticing how dry his throat was. "That's my life up until this point."
Hermione stared at him for a long while, making him incredibly nervous. She licked her lips, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it to reconsider. "I...I don't even know what to say, Harry. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this."
"I don't know what you should say, Hermione," Harry confessed. "I know this is a lot of information to take in at once."
Hermione shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can you...can you just leave the room for a little? I have to think."
Harry frowned, though Hermione didn't see it. At least she hadn't freaked out on him. But he wanted to say something that would make her see him in the best possible light.
"Hermione...I..." he said, grasping at thin air.
"Leave, Harry," she said, her voice getting colder. "Just...I need to be alone for a minute."
Harry let his eyes shut and reluctantly stood up, taking his time as he left the room and shut the door behind him before leaning back on it. How had this happened? Just earlier that day she had fallen asleep in his arms with her head on his shoulder and they were crying as Scar threw Mufasa into the stampede. Now Hermione was angry at him, or afraid, or...
Harry didn't know exactly what it was, but Hermione had strong, negative feelings toward him at the moment.
Just as he was about to break down and angrily punch the wall, Mary poked her head out from the stairwell. "Ah, Harry," she said. "What are you doing out here?"
Harry looked over at her, hot tears in his eyes. He couldn't get anything past the lump in his throat. Why was he becoming so emotional? Hermione hadn't even said anything yet!
Mary's smile turned into a frown. She took a deep breath, then indicated that he should follow her before going downstairs to the kitchen.
Harry followed, pulling a chair out in the diner as Mary fiddled around in the kitchen. She came out a few minutes later with two steaming cups of hot chocolate in her hands, setting one in front of Harry before taking her seat across from him.
They were silent for a long while as tension grew between them and they sipped at their drinks, both waiting for the other to break the silence first. Harry was thankful that it ended up being Mary, but what she said certainly surprised him. "So you finally told her, eh?"
Harry's head snapped back to her in surprise. "You know?" he said.
Mary laughed. "Of course I know," she said. "You're a Potter. Everyone in the magical world knows the Potters. Heck, I even have one of your brooms up in my room. Fine racing brooms, if you ask me."
Harry was completely speechless. He would have never expected this from Mary. "How...you're...you're a witch?" he managed.
Mary raised an eyebrow at him. "I just confessed to as much, didn't I?" She sighed. "Yes, I'm a witch, but I haven't done magic since my husband passed." She fell silent, and when she spoke again her voice was a whisper. "I don't even know if I can do magic anymore, to be honest."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, unsure of how to handle this situation.
Mary waved him off. "My husband was an idiot," she said lovingly. "But he was a brave idiot. And he died saving an entire town from a maniacal werewolf. He even managed to take the werewolf with him."
"Wow," Harry said. "That's amazing. Do you think I've heard of him?"
Mary laughed, though Harry could see tears sparkling in her eyes in the dim light cast by the moon. "I don't really know if anyone's heard of him. He went around the world doing good things for good people and I travelled along with him, always by his side. He had planned to eventually turn his exploits into a series of books, and I must say the titles he came up with were quite humorous. That was something I had told myself I needed to talk to him about and help him with."
"If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the names?" Harry asked. Although this conversation was a bit depressing, Mary seemed to be so happy talking about this with him. Who was he to take this moment away from her?
Mary laughed again. "The thing about my husband was that he was absolutely obsessed with alliterations, you see. So some of the titles were...oh, I don't know...'Break with a Banshee' or 'Year with the Yeti.' Silly things like that."
Now Harry was really surprised. It wasn't even possible. Never. Not in a million years. But Harry had to make sure. "Were you...Were you married to Gilderoy Lockhart?" he asked, absolutely astounded. How had someone like Gilderoy Lockhart netted such a nice, pretty woman in this universe? And she said she was with him every step of the way, which means...did he actually do those things in this universe?
"You've heard of my husband?" Mary asked, just as shocked as Harry. "How?"
Harry shook his head. This was getting weirder and weirder. He had thought Ron being an enemy was weird...but Gilderoy Lockhart being brave and loved by a woman Harry knew would never marry the half-wit Gilderoy Lockhart Harry knew...now thatwas just plain weird.
The door from the kitchen opened at that moment, and both Harry and Mary looked over to find Hermione standing in the doorway, the light shining from behind her casting her long shadow across the length of the floor.
She was looking at Mary, shocked. "You...you're the same as Harry?" she asked incredulously. Harry and Mary's silence answered for her. "How could you two keep this a secret from me?"
And the situation just went from bad to worse, Harry couldn't help but think. "Hermione, I didn't even know she was a witch. Honestly."
Mary nodded. "Hermione, honey, I just told Harry here that I'm magical. I haven't even done magic since the passing of my husband."
Yet Hermione stood there looking devastated.
"Hermione," Harry said. "Mary has taken care of you for the past several months and you've known me this entire time. Are we really that different just because we can do magic?"
"No," Hermione said angrily. "You're different because you didn't even trust me enough to let me know!"
Well, she certainly seemed to be over the fact that they could do magic. Always a quick learner and never surprised.
"Hermione," Harry implored. "You have to understand the seriousness of this."
"You have to understand the seriousness of this, Harry!" Hermione said back. "You've known me for eight years already!"
Mary looked over at Harry with a confused look on her face, to which he just gestured that he'd tell her later.
"How does that change anything?" Harry asked. "I wanted to make sure you were ready for the news. If I had told you straight off you would have thought I was crazy."
Hermione glared at him. "No, instead you led me on for several months only to drop that ridiculous bombshell on me out of nowhere. It's my right to know that I've known you for eight years."
Harry slapped his forehead and rubbed it. He was getting a headache.
Definitely not going well.
Then Mary did something that would terrify Harry until the day he died. "Hermione Granger," she snapped, surprising the two teens. "You have to accept the fact right now that there are things at work in this world that are greater than your ego and any sense of truth and justice you hold. Now grow up and face the fact that you weren't ready to know about this yet. You're smarter than this. I've had enough of this nonsense." When she was finished, Harry swore she was towering over both of them despite being shorter than them.
Mary's eyes immediately widened, and Hermione gave one offended look before running up the stairs, slamming the door behind her. Mary groaned and sank into her chair as Harry looked at her in awe. She had been seriously scary when she did that. "Wow," he muttered.
"I can't believe I just did that," Mary mumbled into her arms. "That was a bit of an overreaction."
Harry patted her on the shoulder for moral support. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll set things right."
He went upstairs after Hermione and knocked on her door, only to receive no answer. "Come on, Hermione," he said loud enough for her to hear. "I know you're in there."
After he knocked again and still got no answer, Harry pulled out his wand and prepared to magically unlock the door. Hermione opened it before it came to that, though, and glared icily at him. "Come to lie to me some more?" she asked.
Harry snorted. "Really?" he said. "Can you drop it already? You're smart enough to know why we didn't tell you."
"Are you patronizing me?" Hermione asked, her face growing the tiniest bit pink out of embarrassment. "How dare-?"
Harry shut her up with a wave of his wand. "You seriously need to stop talking for just a minute and admit to yourself how you feel about this, Hermione." He grinned at her. She really wasn't that angry at him. He could have a little fun. He twirled his wand in his fingers and said, "I can patronize you all I want with this bad boy."
Hermione glared at him and shut her mouth after realizing that no sound was coming out.
Harry sighed as Hermione glared up at him. He smiled lazily at her. "You know what, Hermione. I really love you." Her eyes widened, her angry glare gone. "Even when you're angry. Even when you're being illogical, which is weird for me to even be saying. Even when you cry. I really love you even when you chastise me for not doing my homework to your standards. I love you when you fight right by my side." Hermione's face fell a little at those words, and Harry knew what she was thinking about. He tilted her chin up and said, "I know you aren't that same Hermione. But you know what? I love you all the same. I love the fact that you grew so indignant over the fact that you weren't in the know in regards to our magic. I love that you work at a small diner and have dreams of going to law school. I love that you're actually still the same Hermione I know, just in different circumstances. But most of all..." he paused for a moment to find Hermione blushing a deep red. "I really, really love it when you smile for me." He made her meet his eyes. "Can you smile for me, Hermione?"
Hermione stared back for a long moment, then the corners of her mouth lifted to form one of the most brilliant and breathtaking smiles Harry had ever seen.
"I love you, Hermione."
Hermione swallowed hard. "I don't know about love quite yet, but I really like you back," she confessed quietly.
That's enough for now, Harry thought to himself. This was going much better than he had planned. "Is it alright if I kiss you?" he asked.
Hermione bit her lip and said, "But I've been vomiting all day."
Harry laughed. "You really think I care about that?" he asked, then leaned in and pecked her on the lips, catching her by surprise.
"Hey! Not fair!" Hermione said, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck so she could pull him into a real kiss.
And they did kiss, and it was the best kiss of Harry's life until a flash went off, temporarily blinding him.
"Ha! Got it!" he heard Mary's voice say as he broke the kiss with Hermione.
"Mary!" Hermione said, embarrassed again as Harry laughed and Mary waved her camera around shouting, "I got it! I got it!"
And Harry knew Hermione was over it. The real question now was if they were going out or not.
That had definitely gone better than expected.
A/N: And I'm officially tired. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning so I could finally have this out for you guys! ^_^ Thanks so much for sticking with me and I hope you review for me! Once I finish my presentation on Thursday I should have much more time to write!