Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize are, of course, J. K. Rowling's. Everyone that's not in the books are mine. This goes for all parts of this story.
"My...my...my..." All she could say was my. She was still saying my when her mother walked in and screamed.
"Hermione Evelyn Granger! What have you done to your room?!"
Now all Hermione could say was I. "I -- I -- I...I...I...aye-yi-yi..."
"WELL?!" Her mother demanded, looking quite impatient.
"Oh! I...I didn't do..." Her voice cracked with surprise, knowing she wasn't lying, but it sounded so untrue. "...anything."
She wasn't even aware that her mother left, didn't hear the door slam...couldn't take her eyes off her room for that long. Everything from the trees to the chipmunks to the single, beautiful fairy, it was all too much to take in. This was...her room.
She was finally interrupted when something dropped on her head. Looking up, she saw an owl, and at first glance, thought the owl was a decoration from her new room...and that it had just laid a bird dropping on her. Then she realized she was a witch, and received letters by owl, and that the thing that had been dropped on her head was indeed a letter, in an envelope from the ministry of magic. Opening it up, she discovered that it told her off for spells being done in a Muggle house. Frankly, her mind was drawing a blank on what on earth it meant, so she went back to staring at her room.
Her room! It must have been magicked to be decorated this way! After all, how could someone catch a fairy without using magic? But wait, that wouldn't be in her room. However, there was no way in the world palm trees would naturally sprout from her rug, so she decided there must have been some magic involved...inside her room.
Oh well, I mean its only a warning, right? She, being Hermione, had never gotten a warning before. She would probably never get one again. She wondered if she's done magic in her sleep for a brief moment, then realized that Harry must have done it. But where was Harry? She had to find him. She grabbed some clothes, but realized she was wearing perfectly fine clothes from last night at didn't want to take the time to change, so she didn't.
Hermione, in a paranoid mood, looked up the Dursley's number and called it.
"Harry! Ohmigosh, I miss you!"
"MOOOOOOM! Someone called and asked for HARRY!"
"You're not Harry?"
"Do I look like Harry?"
"Really, I can't see you!"
"Oh. (What, Mom?) Well, we don't have a Harry at this house, sorry, wrong number."
*click*
Hermione was discouraged already, Harry wasn't in her room, and he wasn't at the Dursley's. She walked out of the nearby door, to the back porch. No Harry there. She sat down, deciding to wait until he came back, so she'd see him. After 1/2 hour, she decided that he would probably come in the front door, and walked inside, to the kitchen door, and was about to turn the handle.
"Where ya goin'?" Hearing a voice caused Hermione to jump a foot high.
"Whadda-ya-think-ya -- OH! HARRY!" She rushed up to him and gave him a hug. "Thank goodness you're alive! I didn't know where you were, and I was going to look for you!" At this, Harry cracked up.
"Can't a guy get some breakfast without having a search party sent to look for him around here?" At this, Hermione looked down, saw his gorgeous, but nearly gone, breakfast, and inhaled all the air in the room.
"HARRY! You can COOK?" Harry was, once again, laughing himself to tears.
"Did you think Dudley did it?"
"The Dursleys made you cook for them? That's incredibly rude!" Harry rolled his eyes.
"And locking me in spider cupboard...wasn't?" They both laughed at this. Of course he could cook, how could she have thought otherwise? Harry quickly finished his breakfast and jumped up.
"Harry, where are you going?"
"Oh, I'm still hungry." Hermione watched him fry more bacon, cook more pancakes, scramble more eggs, and toast more toast. She watched him pour chocolate milk. Then she watched him put it on the table in front of her, and tell her to eat it. She decided she'd better stop watching, or he might suspect something. So she ate.
"Thanks!" Hermione said as she jumped up after her meal, obviously not wanting to stick around. She grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him off to...her room. "So...so...you did this, right?" Harry looked at her, not about to say anything. "I take that as yes!" She said happily, bouncing off with his hand in hers once more. Once they stopped, in the kitchen, she uncovered the cookie jar and stuffed 3 cookies in his mouth. She giggled as she watched him try to eat it with only one free hand (she was holding the other one).
"Hyper this morning, Herm?" She blushed, then remembered she didn't want him to see her blush, and turned her head away. She was just happy to see him. For the second time that day, an owl came in and dropped something on her head, but this time, she knew what it was. She opened it, then turned the envelope and looked at the name. It said Miss Granger, and since her mother was a Mrs., she assumed it was for her. Before she got to start reading it, the owl tapped her with its beak repeatedly, until she realized there was another letter, exactly like it. She remembered to look at the address before opening it this time, and it said Mr. Potter, so she handed it to Harry. She finally got to read her letter.
To whom may be invited,
Lavender Brown is throwing a couple's party. Please only come if you have a partner. Follow the owl. Please come at 1:00 PM Saturday, keep the owl with you until then. Semiformal dress. Bring a swimsuit and an appetite.
Well, it looked normal enough, but it was Saturday already, and they would have to leave in...it didn't say how long it would take to get there. But the owl looked anxious, so they decided to get ready right away. Hermione transformed Harry's clothes into a decent looking robe, but it was only as good as the magician...which, being Hermione was not bad at all, despite her Muggle heritage and only 4 years in the magical world. She performed a hair charm, and put on a nice dress ("Much easier than finding the spell to get the look I want") and some makeup, and they were out the door. And right back in, as soon as they discovered they didn't have wands or shoes. But soon they were really ready, and left once more. Then Harry ran inside to get his Firebolt, because they had no other way to get there. They put the owl on Hermione's owl leash so that they would look partly normal -- despite Harry being in robes, and Hermione holding a leashed owl. As soon as they were out of...everywhere, where no one would see them, they hopped on the broom and took off flying. It wasn't very long, once they were flying on a Firebolt. They were at Lavender's house in no time, and, looking at her watch, Hermione discovered it was only noon.
"So, what are we going to do for an hour?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Since neither of them knew what to do, they just started walking. Then they started talking to each other, until they got interrupted.
"So you two are a couple huh?" It was Lavender, in her bossy voice. Harry and Hermione looked up in surprise, and calmly asked what she was talking about. Lavender didn't miss a beat. "Well, it said 'for couples'. It said bring a partner."
"What said?"
"Oh honestly, you guys! Why are you here? Do you know?"
"Um..." Harry thought out loud, "we're at a party, I think."
"Right," Hermione added, "only it hasn't started yet." She checked her watch just to make sure that was true. I was, it was only 1:45.
"And on the invitation, it said to come with a partner. Couple's party, you know." Lavender stated.
"Oh, right, guess we are then!" Harry said happily, grinning. Hermione wondered, once again if he liked her. Or...maybe he just like Lavender. Or maybe he just liked parties? It was all too much for her to figure out. She just smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Lavender tried to storm off, but after she went 10 feet, she turned right around and stomped her way back to them. It seemed she couldn't leave Harry.
"Well, who are you going with, Lavender?" Hermione asked, genuinely interested.
"I, uh, you'll see." And that was pretty much all the talking she did for the next fifteen minutes, while listening in on Harry and Hermione.
Peace, parentheses, and popcorn,
~Heather~