Disclaimer: Unfortunately, only in my fantasy world do I own the characters
of Harry Potter. I only own the plot. All hail J.K. Rowling!
Hermione's eyes were slowly beginning to fill with tears.
" Hagrid!" she exclaimed, " Our poor Hagrid!"
And with those last words she began to sob uncontrollably. Harry immediately moved over to where she was and held out his arms. She fell into them, burying her face in his shirt, which was becoming soaked with tears.
" It will be ok Mione," Harry soothed, while stroking her hair lovingly, " I promise you it will be ok."
After a few more minutes, Hermione withdrew herself from Harry's protective arms.
" Thank you" she murmured.
" Your welcome" he stated, " But now we need to talk seriously. For all we know, it might not have been Madame Maxime, we could have just been imagining things or it could have someone else from France or .."
But he stopped, at a loss for words; because he knew in his heart it most likely was Madame Maxime.
" Harry, your right" Hermione agreed, " We don't know for sure, we just jumped to a conclusion. And we're not saying anything about this to Hagrid, right?"
" Right" he promised.
" Harry." she said looking uncomfortable, " What about the stuff the Voldemort said though? I mean, you've got to be really careful and.."
She stopped talking because her eyes were filling with tears again.
" Hermione" Harry said " Don't worry, please, I'll be fine, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself now. I promise you I will try to be careful and I don't want you to worry about this anymore, ok?"
" All right" she agreed.
" Now, didn't I say something about dinner earlier?"
" Let's go."
Dinner was an okay meal. Harry and Hermione sat together, but Ron was mysteriously absent from the Gryffindor table.
" Harry" Hermione said, " Where is Ron?"
" Dunno, maybe he - LOOK!" Harry blurted, accidentally spraying bits of mashed potatoes on Dean Thomas who, giving Harry a death glare, tried to clean it off with some napkins.
Hermione quickly whipped her head around and found that Ron, to her "oh-so- great- surprise" was seated at the Ravenclaw table next to Katherine Rally. At the moment, he seemed to be whispering into her ear while she giggled and smiled at him.
" Sheesh" said Harry, " those two act like they're in love."
" Well, maybe they are" stated Hermione, " but I can't believe that Ron didn't mention anything about Katherine to us."
" Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be his best friend!"
" Well, you learn something new everyday."
However, at that moment, Fred and George had just fed Neville their latest creation, and he was running around the Great Hall trying to stop his ears from growing larger, (they had become about the size of an elephants). The whole Gryffindor table exploded with laughter, causing many heads to turn, including Ron's. Harry, noticing his look, motioned for him to come back over to the Gryffindor table. Ron, sighing, leaned in to whisper to Katherine who smiled and nodded at him. He then took her hand, kissed it, and walked back towards Harry and Hermione.
" Yes?" he questioned grumpily as he sat down.
" Ron, don't you have something to tell us?" asked Hermione, smiling.
" Fine, that is Katherine Rally and I've had a crush on her for a long time and I asked her out and well.. That's it!" he finished very red in the face.
"Oh, I see, Ron is in love, Ron is in love." Harry started chanting, to the delight of the entire Gryffindor table, especially Fred and George's.
" Harry, leave Ron alone," said Hermione, playfully hitting him on the arm.
The rest of dinner was quite an enjoyable affair. However, with everyone being so exhausted from the events of the day, sleep was a must, and not a single soul was in the common room after 10 o'clock. However, in the 5th year boy's dorm, a single soul lay awake wondering. It was Harry.
' I can't sleep' he thought, ' this whole Voldemort thing is really bothering me! And what if Voldemort tries to hurt Ron or his family, or even my precious Mione? Now I know that I really must keep my feelings for her a secret because if he was to find out, she would be in danger, and I love her so much that I can't let that happen.'
And with that resolving thought, Harry went to sleep.
As the next day was a Sunday, everyone in the castle got up late. Breakfast was very quiet and afterwards Harry, Hermione and Ron headed upstairs to do some of their Potions homework.
" UGH! Finally, I'm finished!" exclaimed Ron happily.
" Me too!" shouted Harry in triumph.
" Me three!" giggled Hermione.
" Well, what should we do know?" asked Harry.
Hermione however had a very interesting idea. This year, her parents had bought her a brand new deck of playing cards that she had not yet used. Now, let it be known that Hermione loved card games of all kind, but her absolute favorite was Egyptian Rat Screw.
(A/N for all of you out there who don't know how to play this game, I will quickly explain the rules - There can be as many players as you want. The cards are dealt out evenly so that there are no cards left in any other piles. No one is allowed to look at his or her cards. The person to the left of the dealer goes first. What they do is they take their top card, and put it on the table face up. If that card is anywhere from a 2 to a 10, the next person puts down their card. However, if the card if a Jack, Queen, King or Ace, then there are certain chances for the next player, 1 chance for a Jack, 2 for a Queen, 3 for King and 4 for an Ace. So, let's say the card was a Jack, then the person going next would have one chance to put another face card down, if they did then the next person would have as many chances as there are for that card. However, if that person didn't put down a face card, the cards go to the person that did put the face card down originally. The object of the game is to win all of the cards. If there are two cards put down consecutively that are the same number (for example and 8 over an 8), than the first person to slap the cards gets the whole pile. Phew, I hope you understand, I am not the best explainer. )
" Well, does anyone here want to play cards?" Hermione questioned tentatively.
" You mean like Muggle card games?" asked Ron.
" Yeah."
" Well, ok but you have to teach me, hold on, can Katherine play with us?"
" Sure."
So, Ron went off to fetch Katherine while Harry sidled over to Hermione grinning at her.
" That was a good idea, you know?" he said, " It's been a long time since I have played cards with anyone. So what game are we playing?"
" Well, I was hoping we could play Egyptian Rat Screw," answered Hermione.
" Great" Harry replied, " That's one of my favorites."
At that moment Ron and Katherine came in and sat down next to them. After a quick explaining of the rules to Ron (remember he doesn't know about Muggle things), Hermione dealt out the cards. The game went pretty fast and Ron soon caught on. While they played, Hermione couldn't help but notice how nice Harry looked when he was happy.
' He's so handsome and so intelligent and so brave' she thought ' Oh, he if only I could just muster up the courage to talk to him about how I really feel.'
Little did she know that Harry was thinking the same thing.
' Look at the way the light reflects of her hair, her long beautiful hair. I love her cinnamon eyes and..'
But Harry was cut short by Ron's upset huff. He was out of the game. The game then continued with more ferocity than ever. There was a very large pile beginning to form and all of the three left in the game knew that if they won this pile, they had the best chance of winning the entire game. It was Hermione's turn. She put down a Queen of Spades. Katherine was after her, and she put down a card. At that moment Hermione slapped her hand on the card, with Harry's hand right behind hers. Katherine had been the last one to try and slap, so she took her hand off. However, Harry was feeling like a thousand watts of electricity was running through his fingertips into Hermione's. Without even thinking about it, he started stroking her hand ever so lightly. Hermione was thoroughly shocked but she enjoyed the sensation Harry's fingers were creating in her hand. Harry's body decided for him to take things a little further, and before he knew it, he was massaging her hand with his thumb and index finger. Hermione was about to melt. Both felt lost in Lover's Paradise, wishing the moment would never end. However, there is always something that comes up and ruins things. Ron chose the next moment to say " Oy, Harry, Hermione won the cards, you can't get them by just keeping your hand on hers for the next century. Come on mate, let's get a move on!"
Harry immediately jumped in his seat and blushed furiously while taking his hand away from Hermione's ever so quickly. Hermione reluctantly pulled her hand away too. However, what she saw made her gasp. The card that had caused all Harry's hand to be on top of hers for all that time was a very ironic card.
The Queen of Hearts.
(A/N Well I think I'm going to leave it there for now. I again thank all of my reviewers and I promise more fluff and happiness in the next few chapters. Thanks again and please review!)
Hermione's eyes were slowly beginning to fill with tears.
" Hagrid!" she exclaimed, " Our poor Hagrid!"
And with those last words she began to sob uncontrollably. Harry immediately moved over to where she was and held out his arms. She fell into them, burying her face in his shirt, which was becoming soaked with tears.
" It will be ok Mione," Harry soothed, while stroking her hair lovingly, " I promise you it will be ok."
After a few more minutes, Hermione withdrew herself from Harry's protective arms.
" Thank you" she murmured.
" Your welcome" he stated, " But now we need to talk seriously. For all we know, it might not have been Madame Maxime, we could have just been imagining things or it could have someone else from France or .."
But he stopped, at a loss for words; because he knew in his heart it most likely was Madame Maxime.
" Harry, your right" Hermione agreed, " We don't know for sure, we just jumped to a conclusion. And we're not saying anything about this to Hagrid, right?"
" Right" he promised.
" Harry." she said looking uncomfortable, " What about the stuff the Voldemort said though? I mean, you've got to be really careful and.."
She stopped talking because her eyes were filling with tears again.
" Hermione" Harry said " Don't worry, please, I'll be fine, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself now. I promise you I will try to be careful and I don't want you to worry about this anymore, ok?"
" All right" she agreed.
" Now, didn't I say something about dinner earlier?"
" Let's go."
Dinner was an okay meal. Harry and Hermione sat together, but Ron was mysteriously absent from the Gryffindor table.
" Harry" Hermione said, " Where is Ron?"
" Dunno, maybe he - LOOK!" Harry blurted, accidentally spraying bits of mashed potatoes on Dean Thomas who, giving Harry a death glare, tried to clean it off with some napkins.
Hermione quickly whipped her head around and found that Ron, to her "oh-so- great- surprise" was seated at the Ravenclaw table next to Katherine Rally. At the moment, he seemed to be whispering into her ear while she giggled and smiled at him.
" Sheesh" said Harry, " those two act like they're in love."
" Well, maybe they are" stated Hermione, " but I can't believe that Ron didn't mention anything about Katherine to us."
" Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be his best friend!"
" Well, you learn something new everyday."
However, at that moment, Fred and George had just fed Neville their latest creation, and he was running around the Great Hall trying to stop his ears from growing larger, (they had become about the size of an elephants). The whole Gryffindor table exploded with laughter, causing many heads to turn, including Ron's. Harry, noticing his look, motioned for him to come back over to the Gryffindor table. Ron, sighing, leaned in to whisper to Katherine who smiled and nodded at him. He then took her hand, kissed it, and walked back towards Harry and Hermione.
" Yes?" he questioned grumpily as he sat down.
" Ron, don't you have something to tell us?" asked Hermione, smiling.
" Fine, that is Katherine Rally and I've had a crush on her for a long time and I asked her out and well.. That's it!" he finished very red in the face.
"Oh, I see, Ron is in love, Ron is in love." Harry started chanting, to the delight of the entire Gryffindor table, especially Fred and George's.
" Harry, leave Ron alone," said Hermione, playfully hitting him on the arm.
The rest of dinner was quite an enjoyable affair. However, with everyone being so exhausted from the events of the day, sleep was a must, and not a single soul was in the common room after 10 o'clock. However, in the 5th year boy's dorm, a single soul lay awake wondering. It was Harry.
' I can't sleep' he thought, ' this whole Voldemort thing is really bothering me! And what if Voldemort tries to hurt Ron or his family, or even my precious Mione? Now I know that I really must keep my feelings for her a secret because if he was to find out, she would be in danger, and I love her so much that I can't let that happen.'
And with that resolving thought, Harry went to sleep.
As the next day was a Sunday, everyone in the castle got up late. Breakfast was very quiet and afterwards Harry, Hermione and Ron headed upstairs to do some of their Potions homework.
" UGH! Finally, I'm finished!" exclaimed Ron happily.
" Me too!" shouted Harry in triumph.
" Me three!" giggled Hermione.
" Well, what should we do know?" asked Harry.
Hermione however had a very interesting idea. This year, her parents had bought her a brand new deck of playing cards that she had not yet used. Now, let it be known that Hermione loved card games of all kind, but her absolute favorite was Egyptian Rat Screw.
(A/N for all of you out there who don't know how to play this game, I will quickly explain the rules - There can be as many players as you want. The cards are dealt out evenly so that there are no cards left in any other piles. No one is allowed to look at his or her cards. The person to the left of the dealer goes first. What they do is they take their top card, and put it on the table face up. If that card is anywhere from a 2 to a 10, the next person puts down their card. However, if the card if a Jack, Queen, King or Ace, then there are certain chances for the next player, 1 chance for a Jack, 2 for a Queen, 3 for King and 4 for an Ace. So, let's say the card was a Jack, then the person going next would have one chance to put another face card down, if they did then the next person would have as many chances as there are for that card. However, if that person didn't put down a face card, the cards go to the person that did put the face card down originally. The object of the game is to win all of the cards. If there are two cards put down consecutively that are the same number (for example and 8 over an 8), than the first person to slap the cards gets the whole pile. Phew, I hope you understand, I am not the best explainer. )
" Well, does anyone here want to play cards?" Hermione questioned tentatively.
" You mean like Muggle card games?" asked Ron.
" Yeah."
" Well, ok but you have to teach me, hold on, can Katherine play with us?"
" Sure."
So, Ron went off to fetch Katherine while Harry sidled over to Hermione grinning at her.
" That was a good idea, you know?" he said, " It's been a long time since I have played cards with anyone. So what game are we playing?"
" Well, I was hoping we could play Egyptian Rat Screw," answered Hermione.
" Great" Harry replied, " That's one of my favorites."
At that moment Ron and Katherine came in and sat down next to them. After a quick explaining of the rules to Ron (remember he doesn't know about Muggle things), Hermione dealt out the cards. The game went pretty fast and Ron soon caught on. While they played, Hermione couldn't help but notice how nice Harry looked when he was happy.
' He's so handsome and so intelligent and so brave' she thought ' Oh, he if only I could just muster up the courage to talk to him about how I really feel.'
Little did she know that Harry was thinking the same thing.
' Look at the way the light reflects of her hair, her long beautiful hair. I love her cinnamon eyes and..'
But Harry was cut short by Ron's upset huff. He was out of the game. The game then continued with more ferocity than ever. There was a very large pile beginning to form and all of the three left in the game knew that if they won this pile, they had the best chance of winning the entire game. It was Hermione's turn. She put down a Queen of Spades. Katherine was after her, and she put down a card. At that moment Hermione slapped her hand on the card, with Harry's hand right behind hers. Katherine had been the last one to try and slap, so she took her hand off. However, Harry was feeling like a thousand watts of electricity was running through his fingertips into Hermione's. Without even thinking about it, he started stroking her hand ever so lightly. Hermione was thoroughly shocked but she enjoyed the sensation Harry's fingers were creating in her hand. Harry's body decided for him to take things a little further, and before he knew it, he was massaging her hand with his thumb and index finger. Hermione was about to melt. Both felt lost in Lover's Paradise, wishing the moment would never end. However, there is always something that comes up and ruins things. Ron chose the next moment to say " Oy, Harry, Hermione won the cards, you can't get them by just keeping your hand on hers for the next century. Come on mate, let's get a move on!"
Harry immediately jumped in his seat and blushed furiously while taking his hand away from Hermione's ever so quickly. Hermione reluctantly pulled her hand away too. However, what she saw made her gasp. The card that had caused all Harry's hand to be on top of hers for all that time was a very ironic card.
The Queen of Hearts.
(A/N Well I think I'm going to leave it there for now. I again thank all of my reviewers and I promise more fluff and happiness in the next few chapters. Thanks again and please review!)