A/n: Uhhh… remember I said in the last chapter that I would want to make you cry, turns out, I'm not very good at that.

But I'm pretty sure this chapter would make you want to throw a brick at my face ヽ(ヅ)ノ

Anyway, on with the show.

XXX

Chapter 14

Her mind wasn't in the books, sure, her nose was in it, but she wasn't able to concentrate. It was hard to do just that when puny second and third years were filtering in and out of the common room, or at least that's what she told herself when after reading the same page over and over and not being able to understand a single damn thing. After an hour of mumbling the same words to herself, she got frustrated and finally decided to take Harry up on his offer.

She placed the books back in her dorm and changed into something better than jeans and into something… or precisely, a pair of shorts that she had no intentions to wear at Hogwarts but had just kept it for "emergency", for no reason at all. Why would you ask such a thing?

Putting on a forced smile on her glum face she went to the quidditch field. But after getting down on the grounds, she was contemplating changing into something warmer. But soon changed her mind when she saw Harry from a mile away, in mid-air on his broom, shouting instructions to his team. Just the sight of him, in the air, wearing a gold and red tank top, hair all over the place, replaced her expression with a real smile.

And now with a bounce in her step, she ascended the tall stairs to the commentary box.

XXX

Harry spotted Hermione waving at him from the corner of his eye, a smile replacing his hard expression as soon as he saw her waving at her with a from the commentary box.

With an unnecessary manoeuvre, he zoomed over to her, being extra sure to wink and blow a kiss to the four girls sitting in the next box staring at him, just to make sure that Hermione was watching. The result was just what he expected, the third-year girls squealed in delight, and he gave them one of his cheeky smiles, and went all the way to where Hermione was sitting, hovering just in her eye-line.

If Hermione was bothered by his little show, she didn't let anything on. She still greeted him with a bright face, "Trials going good?"

He shook his head with a sigh, "Not at all, these little buggers wouldn't know how to hang on to a broom if their life depended on it. McGonagall insists that we need a keeper, I'm just selecting Ron, he is way better than them."

Hermione just gave a light chuckle, "Well, it's not entirely their fault that they can't keep up with the youngest seeker of the century."

"Right, well I better be off, I can see Cece, I want her on my team. See you at lunch?"

"Sure, but I'd rather stay here and watch my favourite seeker play.", She knew she had said a bit much, it was a bold move, but she wasn't gonna back down now. She kept eye contact with all that she had in her, didn't even avert her gaze that she was so prone to. Harry's cheek splitting smile grew even wider, almost turning into a grin.

Well, well, well, if she's gonna stay, she's gonna get a show.

He flew back to where still some younger, and some older students were standing on the ground, ready to take off. He didn't let his gaze falter either, but finally, when his feet touch the ground, he looked back to the group of students to give them some sort of instructions. She could barely hear what he was saying, but some words were still booming across the pitch, she did catch his last sentence though which came out louder than other's, "Give me 30 laps. McLaggen, hoops, now!"

He flew to the hoops with Cormac, intentionally flying past Hermione with an overdramatic jump over her head as he let the broom fly from under her. Shaking her head, she fixed his gaze on the team's captain as, ball by ball, he was grinding McLaggen, the other boy not even able to catch a single throw.

He knew he shouldn't be hard on the new players, but he hated McLaggen and there were a lot of girls in the stands all cheering on him.

No, no one specific, why do you ask?

Every minute or so, Harry had an urge to show off a little manoeuvre, or two, and Hermione was soaking it all up. She was pretty sure he didn't even show off this much during matches.

Maybe she continuously missed it, but he kept stealing glances in her direction every minute or two.

Idiots. Both of them.

XXX

The whole evening, Hermione had been baking up scenarios as to what Harry might have planned for her sweet sixteen. After a rather, uhm, over-graphic scenario, Hermione didn't even realise but was smiling in her peas and toast. Cecilia looking at her for the past 3 minutes was just snickering, which suddenly got Hermione's attention.

Wiping the look off her face, she stared back down in her book that lay open and forgotten next to her plate.

"Oh now don't act to avoid it. You look like Potter proposed to you and asked your hand in marriage.", she let her bowl of cereal be forgotten as she pushed it away and swung her one leg over the bench to completely face Hermione, "Or were his hands in entirely different places." She added with a smug expression, almost whispering it.

The other girl almost snorted out a pea from her nose and turned to look at her 'friend' with a disbelieving look.

"Seriously though, what happened?", she shifted even closer to Hermione.

"What! Nothing!"

"Is that so? Hm? Let me ask Harry himself," standing up partly, her legs at an odd angle, Cecilia called out to Harry who had just entered the hall with the Gryffindor chaser. He bid Angelina goodbye and jogged up to Hermione and Cecilia, "Say, Potter? Would you have any reason as to why Hermione is acting so flustered?"

"What?", Harry asked in confusion as he took off his glasses to fix them with an 'Oculus Reparo', which probably broke off due to yet another disaster during quidditch.

"You know, would you have any known reason as to why Hermione's- OOOWWW!", Hermione had dug her heel in the other girl's toe.

She flusteredly stood up, and with a hurried reason, went off to Library.

"I will join you soon!", Cecilia howled after Hermione.

The poor girl just replied, "There is no need."

After she had left, Cece chuckled to herself and sat back down to finish her bowl of cereal. While Harry just sat there, confused as fuck, as to what had just happened.

XXX

Hermione once again found herself daydreaming in the library, where there was literally a haven of thousands of books.

What has he done to me? she cried to herself. Yet that was still not enough to stop her cooking up scenarios in her mind… Mind, a truly wondrous thing, inside where, Hermione Granger, the last person you'd think about kissing a boy was a, mind my language, but, 'A sex Queen!'. Now, now, don't blame her for her dirty mind, she's 16 after all, what'd you expect. You can't possibly expect a 16-year-old to be a holy saint.

When for the second time, Madam Pince glared in her direction, for not 'Maintaining the proper use and decorum of the Library', she left without getting even a single page of reading done. On her way back to the Gryffindor Tower, she kept trying to look for any surprise or anything, to jump her way. But it went in vain, as nothing came.

She had started to doubt if Harry even remembered her birthday because it was even well after lunch, and he just sat there, in the common room, playing exploding snap with some younger students. Getting irritated, and honestly, quite angry, when Harry asked her if she wanted to play a round too, instead of saying, 'Happy Birthday Hermione! How would you like to snog me in front of the fireplace?', or maybe just a 'Happy Birthday', she stood up abruptly, practically steaming and left for her dormitory.

Harry looked around to Ron and Cecilia, who were just as in the dark, simply shrugged.

XXX

Three Hours Later, and Hermione sat in the bathroom, with the bathroom door locked. She cared so much that Harry didn't wish her, she didn't even notice that even Ron didn't wish her.

Yes, she had received numerous gifts from her parents and Mr and Mrs Potter, even Sirius and Remus. From her way back from the great hall to the library after lunch, even McGonagall wished her a Happy Birthday. But her friends, even her best friend, didn't remember her special day.

She tried to stop the tears that were threatening to leak down her red cheeks. She tried biting down her tongue or scraping at the inside of her cheek, but it didn't work. Hot and heavy tears started dripping from her eyes and she no longer was able to hold them back. She washed her face, yet they still returned.

After a few minutes of her self wallowing, she heard the door to the dorm slightly pushed as a pair of soft feet thudded in the room. She listened silently, having nothing better to do. The room was silent again, and after a minute she heard the door to the bathroom being slightly knocked, followed by a voice, "Hermione."

She didn't reply, she had no reason to, also because she wasn't able to find her voice after minutes of weeping. Cecilia knocked on the door again, this time, even more lighter, "I know you're in there, love. Is something wrong?"

"No!", she replied almost immediately.

Hermione wasn't able to see it, but Cece's suspicious smile grew even wider, "Well, alright, don't you wanna come to have dinner."

She replied again, "No!"

Despite being excited for the other girl, Cecilia was also a bit sad for what Harry had made her gone through, throughout the day. "I'm leaving then, for dinner. But there is something on your bed you might wanna check out." With that, she hurriedly left the room, with an expression of a koala, jumped up on crack.

"What?", Hermione replied back from the bathroom, but no reply came as the other girl had left already.

When she didn't hear anything from behind the door, wiping away the remaining of her tears, she unlocked the door and got out of the washroom. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing seemed suspicious, except…

She walked over to her bed, where laid a tall, knee-length hunter green dress. This wasn't hers, she never bought this, least put it on her bed.

Was this what Cece was talking about. Lying on top of the dress, was a little piece of square parchment. In green emblazoned font, was printed on it.

For Miss Hermione Granger:

8 o' clock.

~H

There could only be one possible reason behind this, and that was of course the only thing that came to mind. She let her fingertips graze the hem of the dress. Stealing a glance at the clock on the wall, she picked up the dress and entered the washroom once again, to change.

Upon walking out of the washroom, Hermione was surprised to see Cecilia sitting on her bed, and the moment she stepped out, the other girl's head swung up to look at her friend, dawning the green dress she had left on her bed.

Her eyes turned soft, and she let her head tilt to her left, "You have no idea how beautiful you look. He is going to throw himself off a cliff.", she walked over to her and unruffled some of the edges of the dress.

"What are you talking about?", Hermione asked, trying to act completely innocent, trying to hide the smug smile she felt creeping up.

Cecilia stepped behind her and lead her to the long full-length mirror, and wrapped her arms around her from behind, setting her chin on the other girl's shoulder. "If you didn't love him so darned much, I would have taken you on your bed right the fuck now.", she whispered in her ear, and Hermione let out a giggle, so unlike her, making her lips curl at the corner of her mouth.

Unwrapping her hands, she stepped in front of her, "Alright let's get you ready."

"Hm?"

"Let's get you some makeup, and ooh…", she squealed and went near her bed, bent down and pulled out a cardboard box from under it, "I found these beautiful shoes last week in 'Witch Weekly', they would go perfect with your dress."

She opened the box to reveal a pair of golden heeled stiletto shoes, and indeed, they looked beautiful on her feet, perfectly contrasting the dress.

Cecilia got done with getting her makeup done and styled her hair a bit, at least so they would behave.

Finally, Cecilia took her to the mirror, to get a good look at herself.

And boy, oh, boy, was she looking breathtaking. The dress engulfed her in all the right places, bringing out her ass, which Cecilia didn't know yet existed, even her chest. She looked completely in proportion, anything a woman could ask for. Her lips were glossed with a pink tint, Cecilia didn't want them to be too dark, the natural colour looked perfect on her. She highlighted her cheekbones, eye shadow matching her shoes, and with a wee bit of magic, she was practically glowing.

Hermione was very happy with the result, it was neither too much, nor non-existent, just what she liked.

She looked back at Cecilia, with a nervous smile dancing around her lips, "Thank you."

"Ah!", she went over to her bed, and from the topmost drawer, took out a long velvet box. Standing in front of her, she opened the box and revealed a golden necklace. "I got it in Hogsmeade, I loved the design, it was just so you."

"You really don't have to. Weren't the dress and the shoes enough?"

"No! And they weren't gifts, they were proper essentials for what Harry had planned."

"You bought them?"

"Yes.", she beamed at her.

"Oh. What did it cost?"

Cecilia sighed and looked at her, abashed, "If you're insinuating that you want to pay me back, I'll slap you across your tinted cheeks."

Hermione gave her a laugh and turned back to the mirror, "I'm ready."

XXX

Ron fixed his best mate's tie for the umpteenth time in the span of 20 minutes, raked his fingers through Harry's hair one last time and held him from the sides of his face, making him look in his eyes, "Alright mate, I gotta say this. Okay? I love you mate, I really do, but for the sake of Merlin, don't mess this up, yeah?"

Harry nervously nodded. That was not right.

"All you gotta do is ask her how she is, talk about the weather, compliment her dress, have dinner, maybe some of that wine. Take her down to the river. Kiss her. Promise her the future and eternal love.", after a bit of contemplation and turning of gears in his head, he shook his head, "Maybe don't say that last part. How are you feeling?"

But now Harry had just resorted to the shakes of his head instead of using words. This was not gonna end well.

"Okay, walk me through it.", Ron took his arms back to himself and folded them over his chest.

Harry nodded his head frivolously, "Okay. Okay. Complement her dress. Ask her for dinner. Gonna talk romantic, that's important, stay romantic."

"That's right. Show me romantic."

For some reason, Harry believed that being romantic meant standing extremely stiffly and smiling through his teeth.

"No mate! Don't do that, okay? Whatever happens, don't do that.", Seeing Cecilia came along with Hermione in the distance with a blindfold over her eyes, he said, "Okay, here she comes. Don't mess this up.", he was almost in a sprint now, "Don't mess this up.", And with that, he disappeared behind the castle stone.

He raked his hands through his hair once, not trying to make them messier, but actually trying to get them to behave. He put on a brave smile, one of his real ones, not the one that made him look constipated. He saw Cecilia leading Hermione up to where he was standing on top of the cliff where there was set a table for two. All his nervousness and uneasiness melted away as her face came into vies, obviously obscured by the blindfold, but she looked stunning just the same.

Cecilia looked up to see Harry looking longingly at the girl in her arms. She wanted to smile, the way he looked at her, but instead tried to get his attention, with a look that said, Don't you dare mess this up! He gave her heart eyes as if saying back, How could I? Look at her.

Cecilia dropped Hermione off to the top of the wide cliff, making a run for it before Hermione could take off her blindfold.

"Cecilia?", Hermione asked, confused as to stop, "Are we there?"

Getting no reply, she took off her blindfold. Her eyes adjusted to the sudden soft light. She froze as the view came to her.

As far as her peripheral view saw, she couldn't see Harry, but she knew he was here. She was at a top of a flat cliff just a mile away from the castle, but, the view in front of her blew her away. She felt the wind in her hair and the moist air. It smelled of chocolate and flowers. Some feet away from her was a table set for two surrounded by fairy lights. It looked like a scene out of one of those cheesy romantic french movies mum watched, she always hated them.

But this, when it was right there in front of it, she loved it, and finally understood why her mother is obsessed with them.

Before she could even take in her environment, a wand flair went up in the sky, however, when the flair burst to launch sparks everywhere, it dawned on her that they were no danger flares, but sky shots. One after the other, fireworks were launched in the air from somewhere below the cliff, forming beautiful patterns in the dark night sky. She stood mesmerized by the fire show for a whole minute.

Abruptly, the sky shots stopped, only for another firework to launch into the air after five seconds. This one was huge, as it rocketed, its tail turned from red to green to orange to a light shade of pink. The moment it burst, it sputtered a million different colours in the sky. The tiny trails that were now scattered throughout the sky slowly rearranged themselves to form a word. It said…

Happy Birthday, Hermione Granger!

She was rooted to the spot, her eyes reflecting the light off of her brown eyes, the reflection in her eyes resembled a dark sky scattered with stars.

She didn't even notice Harry standing 5 feet away from her to her left, looking at her joyous expression and the different colours bouncing off of the smooth skin of her face.

He waited for the colours and the fireworks to die down, and now the atmosphere was back in its dim soft light. Finally noticing that someone was standing to her left she turned towards Harry and slightly trudged towards him.

She didn't mean to, but her arms grew self-aware and threw themselves at him. Harry much obliged, engulfed her in a hug.

"I thought you forgot."

"That literally hurts me, Granger."

XXX

After dinner and some Sauvignon Blanc, which Hermione refused to take at first, but finally got herself a glass after a bit of persuasion from Harry, both of them sat near the lake as senseless words escaped their mouths.

"I still can't believe you thought I had forgotten your birthday."

"What was I supposed to do, I was hurt, and that was the reason that came to mind."

"Well, from next time, remember this, I can never, and will never forget you.", slightly Harry laced his fingers with hers, maintaining eye contact. When she completely took his hand in hers, he shifted a bit closer to her, not really knowing what to expect but knowing that he had to do something.

Hermione was still looking into his eyes, making him nervous by the second. A ghost of a smile danced around her eyes as she leaned forward. It felt like he was kissing someone for the first time, he closed his eyes before too slowly leaning forward.

And just as he could feel her soft breath on his lips, a terribly shrill voice echoed through the night, "Harry Potter! What do you think you are doing out of bed after curfew?"

Umbridge stood ten feet away from them where they sat on the grass. Her short and fat figure was looking even menacing in the moonlight.

Harry knew something like this was going to happen. Of course, why not. Why wouldn't a middle-aged woman whose only sexual partner was a cucumber, cock-block him?

XXX

A/n: Urggghhh… I am so sorry, I am being a little cock block myself aren't I?

I'm an idiot. I have a storyline, but I get excited and totally escape out of it, and then not wanting to ruin the story and my plan, somehow ruin it for you guys.

Sorry.

Sorry?

Friends?

Hm?

Friends!

I swear all of this be worth it.

*Sad Narwhal noises*

Love and chocolates

Cece