The other possibility for how it might have gone. You just gotta choose your "poison" here.
Summer 21 - The Silly Circe Option
Leaving Dudley with a sulky look on his face, Harry and Hermione went out the back door, and over toward the bench Harry had painted so many times in the past. Hermione sat down, and Harry walked over to the rose bushes."Want a couple," he said, a bit nervously. Now that they were out here alone, he wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Sure, " answered Hermione, rubbing her arms. " I really ought to go back for my sweater. You were right , Harry, it is pretty cool tonight."
'Yeah, ' thought Harry. 'My perfect chance and what am I doing? Cutting flowers like an idiot!' He gritted his teeth and continued until he had cut a few of the nicest ones,then walked back over to the bench, dropping the roses in Hermione's lap. "Um, still cold?" he asked hopefully.
"A little, not too bad. Want to walk a little?" asked Hermione. "I'll warm up that way."
" No! Hermione I wanted to come out here because....." Before Harry could get any mre words to come out, they heard a loud bang, followed by an exclamation, and saw a flash of yellow streak across the garden.
" Crookshanks !" cried Hermione." Someone has let him get out!"
'I wonder who' thought Harry, with a frustrated shake of his head. He walked over to the door as Hermione darted after Crookshanks, spilling the roses on the ground."All right, Dudley, come on out here and help us! You know you let him out!" To his delight, Harry saw all three Dursleys standing in the kitchen, one of Ivy's cakes in each hand, apparently making complete pigs of themselves.
At his words, Petunia shoved the cake into Dudley's mouth, doing the same thing with hers, and choking it down. " I told you to be careful! The cat probably isn't used to being outside in a strange place!"
Harry's eyes lit up as an idea hit him." Yeah! and Hermione loves that cat more than about anything ( he realized, unfortunately, he was being truthful there.) There's no telling what she'll do if he's lost!"
At these words, a look of fear apppeared on Uncle Vernon's face, and he shot out the back door as fast as his size would allow, with Dudley lumbering behind. Aunt Petunia wiped her mouth with a napkin,and she and Harry followed more slowly. Harry wasn't about to get involved in this chase, unless he knew Hermione really needed him!
The scene that met Harry's eyes when he walked into the garden was enough to make a far more serious person roll with laughter. Uncle Vernon's coat had been thrown off, and was hanging over a bush. He and Dudley were attempting to catch Crookshanks who kept running back and forth across the garden, bottle brush tail held high.'That cat knows what it's doing!' thought Harry, grinning. He could hear Vernon and Dudley's panting and muffled curses as Crookshanks continued to elude them.
Hermione was now standing by the bench, a look on her face that showed equal amounts of concern and amusement. Suddenly Crookshanks gave a great leap and flew up the plane tree near the garden bench. "Oh, no," Hermione cried " Now we'll never get him down, and Mom and Dad will be here any minute! I don't know what they'll say. They love Crookshanks as much as I do!"
At this Vernon's look of fear and confusion changed to one of absolute terror, and he gave Dudley a hard shove toward the tree. " You let him out, you great lump! Now get the blasted cat down before........" he stopped here, and looked furtively at Hermione.".....s-something happens," he finished weakly.
When Vernon gave Dudley the great shove, he tripped over the hose Harry had neglected to roll up earlier, in his haste to get back in the house. Dudley fell headlong across the garden, making the ground shake as if there had been a small earthquake. The garden bench fell over with a crash, barely missing Hermione's feet, and cracking in half. The strangest thing of the evening happened next. As Dudley fell, and the ground shook, so did the plane tree. When it did, Crookshanks fell from the tree, landing right in Harry's arms, without his claws extended.
" Harry! You caught him!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around him. He could tell she was about to kiss him on the cheek, but some instinct made him turn his head, so that their lips met. Although the kiss only lasted seconds, it was enough to make Harry know it was something he'd like to try again.
When Hermione drew back, he carefully put Crookshanks in her arms and grinned at her. "Still a little cold?" Harry put an arm around Hermione's shoulders and continued."We'd better get inside. Your parents will be here soon." With that they turned and walked into the house, feeling happily that the evening had turned out very almost exactly as they had hoped, even with a little bonus.
Dudley, Petunia and Vernon continued to stand in the garden, arguing loudly over whose fault all this had been, while lights began to appear in windows across Privet Drive. Heads began to crane out of windows as neighbors attempted to get a better look at the fight the "oh-so-normal " Dursleys were having in their back garden.
To be continued...............