Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 6
House: Ravenclaw
Subject: Ancient Runes
Category: Drabble
Prompt: 4. [Dialogue] "It's just a little bit of rain. How bad could it get?"
Word count: 801
Warnings: Canon Divergence
Life's a picnic
"A picnic? But we have Transfiguration homework to finish!" Hermione said exasperatedly, which Harry thought was adorable. "I don't have time for picnics and neither do you."
Harry couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend. They had started dating a little while after the incident at the Ministry during fifth year, with a lot of coaxing from Remus and Sirius, who had barely survived falling into the Veil. Both men adored Hermione, and after the brunette had saved Sirius' life, he was more than happy to push (more like, shove) his godson at her.
"Mi, you have to take a break. It isn't healthy, the way you're studying non-stop. You don't want to lose study time because you blacked out and had to go to the Infirmary, do you?" Harry asked, coming to sit next to her. She was sitting on her favourite armchair, next to the fire.
Hermione huffed, but Harry could see she understood his point. Putting an arm around her, Harry brought her closer to him and kissed the top of her head.
"What do you say, Mi? Come with me to have a little picnic around the Black Lake?" Harry asked, looking at her with puppy eyes.
"Fine, but later, we'll finish our homework, do you hear me?" Hermione stated authoritatively, and Harry nodded. "Good, I'll change to something more comfortable."
Harry smiled, watching his girlfriend walk towards her dorm. It was going to be a good day.
"You asked Dobby for all of this? It's too much food," Hermione said, looking inside the basket Harry had brought along. "He goes overboard every time."
Harry chuckled. She was right: Dobby loved to spoil 'the Great Harry Potter and his Grangy.'
"I think he just loves us; that's why Dobby does what he does," Harry said with a shrug. "Ready to eat and spend time with your handsome boyfriend?"
Hermione chuckled and nodded, pulling out the sandwiches and pumpkin juice from the basket.
"You chose the perfect time for the picnic, but it looks like it's going to rain," Hermione said, pointing towards the darkening clouds overhead. Just then, a raindrop fell on her nose. "See what I mean? It's definitely going to rain."
No sooner than Hermione said that, a steady drizzle began, but Harry wasn't worried about it.
"It's just a little bit of rain. How bad could it get?" Harry asked, smiling at Hermione.
Turns out that it could get very bad. Hermione's curls were plastered to her face and neck, her clothes were dripping wet, and Harry felt like a prick. Harry should have known by now that nothing he planned had ever turned out like he wished for. All he'd wanted to do was have a nice picnic around the Black Lake with the love of his life, but no, the weather had to turn out bad.
"I'm sorry, Mi, this is not what I wanted when I asked you to join me." Harry wasn't looking at her and was cursing himself mentally. "I just wanted something nice for our date, and I screwed this up because—"
Hermione put her hand over Harry's mouth, stopping his babbling. "You didn't ruin anything, Harry. I loved our picnic—the part that happened, I mean—and getting caught in the rain isn't a bad thing, don't you think?"
Her eyes shone bright, and her smile was brilliant. Harry fell further in love with her at that moment. Throwing caution to the wind, Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and left the safety of the tree they were huddled under. He started to walk towards the little hill next to Black Lake.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled over the sound of the heavy rain. "Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?"
"Dancing with my beautiful girlfriend in the rain!" Harry shouted back, twirling her around and smiling at the laugh that escaped her pretty mouth. "Aren't you the one who always wanted to experience something out of your books?"
Hermione laughed even more, and Harry brought her closer to him, humming under his breath. She laid her head on his chest, and Harry hugged her tighter; hearing her happy sigh, Harry felt like he was the luckiest bloke alive.
"I love you, you know that, don't you?" Harry whispered into her ear and was delighted to feel her shudder in his arms. "I don't know what my life would be if you weren't in it."
"I love you too, and don't worry." Hermione smirked at him. "You'll never need to find out what life's like without me. I don't intend to go anywhere."
Harry smiled at her and dropped his head to kiss her, intending to make her promise permanent. If he had already talked to his manager at Gringotts about a ring, well, it wasn't anyone else's business but his.