Author's Note: Before you read this I wanted to say I tried to make an
illustration and if it goes well it will show up online. If not, that's
alright.
1 Chapter 4
Dancing in the Rain
Hermione had never looked that shocked. Her face seemed to turn a ghastly pale, then she uttered out a single word: "Really?"
" Yes. Hermione, will you go to the dance with me?" Harry spoke in a rush, his eyes darting across the surprised face of Lavender and then back to Hermione.
" Of course!" Her eyes filled with what seemed tears. "I'd been waiting for you to ask me. For anyone to ask me." She added the last sentence quickly.
" Good." Harry smiled. " Then . . . I guess that's settled."
Lavender was fuming angry. "Ooh!" She hissed, and then ran from them, clutching her Potions book under one arm while balancing a bag of books in the other.
" Harry?" Hermione asked.
" What is it?" Harry turned to her.
" Why did you ask me? Was it to make Lavender mad?" She looked doubtful.
" No!" Harry smiled. " Believe me, I'm not that shallow. I want to go to the dance with you."
She seemed satisfied with the answer, and Harry walked her to Potions in silence, not knowing what to say. Just before they entered the room, she said to him: " Thank you, then."
" You're welcome." He replied. " Thanks for saying that you will go with me. I thought you'd say. . ."
" Harry!" Ron called out from behind them before Harry could finish.
" What is it?" Harry asked his red-haired friend, who's eyes were sparkling with a sudden delight.
" Did you find a date for the dance yet? Because Cho just told me that she'd go with you, if you'd like, and I thought, 'Oh, man, I gotta go tell Harry before he does anything stupid'." Ron panted out.
Hermione's face changed abruptly.
" Stupid as in asking me as a last-chance desperation plea?" Hermione asked.
" No! I wanted to go with you, not Cho." Harry explained. "Ron, somehow break to Cho that I'm going with someone else."
Ron looked at Harry, then Hermione. "Well, you finally told her, eh?"
" Told me what?" She frowned. " Harry just asked me if I wanted to go with him. He didn't tell me anything." Hermione crossed her arms. "What is going on, exactly, that I don't know about?"
" Nothing!" Harry quickly said, stepping firmly on Ron's foot.
" Ow!" Ron gasped.
" Oh! Terribly sorry, Ron. I'm feeling clumsy today." Harry quickly stepped inside Professor Snape's class, his eyes adjusting slowly to the low lighting. He wanted to have no more conversation with Ron on the subject of the dance. Until the actual dance, anyway.
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The dance came unexpectedly fast for Harry Potter. He had been immerged in his studies and in balancing his classes so that he'd manage with the homework and all. That evening before the dance, Ron was panicking with loss of a date.
Harry put on a nice suit that he had Hagrid buy him in Hogsmeade (Hagrid had been away from Hogwarts a lot this week to find more wood with which to carve his creations). The suit was amazingly suited to him, for it was made by magic. Once it was put on, it would immediately take shape to compliment the body of the wearer.
Harry smiled at himself in the mirror. The mirror replied at his gleeful face: " Hot date tonight?"
Harry shrugged. " If it counts as it, then yes."
" You look snazzy." The mirror seemed to think a while, then continued: " That shirt you have on - it's a bit too gray to match the suit. Maybe you can find another one?"
" Thanks. I'll look." Harry glanced through the small bag of his belongings nearby and found a crisp white shirt that the Dursleys had bought for him when they'd have guests over, so that he'd look 'presentable'.
" There's a nice one." The mirror sounded delighted. " It matches your suit splendidly."
" Thanks." Harry had never really tried asking a mirror for fashion advice, but he knew that if there was one person or thing that would know a bad suit when it sees one, it would be a mirror. The poor things had seen everything. The mirror had complained to him once about a bald forty-year- old man that would look into her cousin every day and smile. Then, one day, the man had said: "Man, do I look good! Forty and not one gray hair!". It had been a great joke among the mirror and the Gryffindor boys, though a lot of the boys never quite got the joke.
Harry tugged his tie into place, then realized he should get something for Hermione. 'Girls love flowers and cards and stuff', someone had once told him, probably one of the Weasley boys, though Harry hadn't taken the time to remember who said it.
" Mirror?"
" What is it?" The mirror asked.
" Do you think I should get something for the girl I'm going with?" Harry's examined his reflection in the mirror, trying to fix up his crooked tie at the same time.
" Flowers work. A single red rose, in fact, would be romantic." The mirror sighed dreamily. " Now, off you go. The dance begins in half an hour, you know."
" I know." Harry smiled at the mirror and then walked out of the common room, the fat lady's portrait swinging shut behind him. Out in the hallway, he caught Ron asking Lavender to the dance. Lavender looked up at Harry spitefully and then projected her voice loudly:
" Yes, Ron, I will go to the dance with you."
Harry felt not a single twinge of jealousy, despite Lavender's intentions. He walked casually through the hallways, down a few staircases, and then found himself outside. Rose bushes lined the wall around the entire area, and he carefully plucked a long stemmed one.
Then, running his fingers across its soft leaves, Harry returned inside the castle and then went inside to find his way to the dining hall, the area the dance was going to take place. As he stepped inside the room, his breath was taken away for the whole entire room was changed into a glorious dance floor. Dumbledore had been casting spell after spell, adorning the room with cascading purple curtains, flower chains all around the windows, and small round tables rounding the dance floor. A clear night sky was shown in an image on the ceiling, with hundreds of stars dancing and shining happily.
Harry sat down at the nearest table and waited for everyone else to come. Neville was still sick, and in fact much worse, and he wouldn't be attending. Malfoy had joked about how Neville would be having a private date with Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing, which aroused barely a few chuckles in Professor Trelawney's class.
Professor Trelawney had made a few predictions about Harry already, from his palm. She envisioned bad luck coming closer, and she warned him to stay in the shadows. Then, she added that his love life was blossoming magnificently and that he was truly maturing into a nice young man.
If Draco hadn't cracked up at that point, Harry would have felt proud. Now, Harry's ears burned at the memory of Draco's cold, heartless laughter instead of smiling with the knowledge of the improvements in his love life.
The room was now buzzing in excitement. An arrangement of flowers appeared on each table along with a complicated amount of table settings. Harry had never used so many pieces of silverware in his life.
The room was aglow with candles, and the usual chairs in the dining hall were now magically enhanced to being gilded thrones, with sapphires and rubies sparkling in intricate swirls and designs across the arms and legs of the chairs.
Harry couldn't marvel enough at how his school had morphed from ordinary to a romance-factor dance floor. Harry's eyes stopped dead on someone moving towards him. He'd waited for a moment like this, but now it looked impossibly glamorous: Hermione had come.
She had on a simple red dress, her hair tied back and then cascading down over her shoulders in light curls. She had touched up her highlights a bit, making her hair glow wonderfully. The dress she had on might have been simple, but it complemented her well. Though Hermione wasn't exactly thin, Harry felt it was a lot better that she had more to herself then some of the girls, which would skip lunch or breakfast to stay at a desired weight. The dress was strapless if you considered the fact it wasn't held up by anything on the shoulders. Instead, a thin and filmy red gauze-like fabric stretched across and around her arms about an inch below the shoulder, then it was tied with a red ribbon in back and cascaded down in a filmy wave to her lower back. Her shoes were high heels, and Harry had never seen ones like it. They had little sequined hearts near the tip and the rest of it was somewhat a glossy red material that was elevated upwards by half an inch tall heels. Then, moving upwards, the bodice of her dress was done in small little red flowers that were pinned on by heart-shaped sequins. Then, her lips were painted a nice pink-red that set off the color of her dress and hair. Her eye shadow was more simple, just a shimmering gloss.
" Harry?" She asked, for Harry was just about turned to a stone statue, sitting there, gawking.
" You look great!" Harry said. He had just remembered the rose in his hand by an unfortunate prickle to his index finger. With a haste, he held the flower up and then said: " I. . . I got this for you. I thought you might like this."
" Oh, thank you. It'll match my dress." She took the rose and then gently held it up to her face. " Do you think we could dance like they do in the movies, with a rose held between the teeth of the girl? Or is that the guy?"
" A rose between your teeth. Ingenious." Malfoy was standing beside them all of a sudden, spoiling the moment. Malfoy's eyebrows arched upwards, and a single white strand of hair fell forwards on his forehead, his eyes studying Hermione. " Well, I'll be."
" Do I really look that nice?" Hermione seemed amused. " I had to ask around for advice from the other girls."
Malfoy didn't reply, not wanting to say something that might be considered an insult, and yet trying to look uninterested so his date, Rebecca Crick, wasn't upset.
" You look so nice that you make all the other girls invisible, Herm." Harry told her.
" Of course you'd say that." She teased.
" I mean it." He said, softly.
Hermione was about to say something, her eyes filling with a sudden thankfulness, when a soft melody drifted through the room. Slow classical music was the easiest to dance to for Harry, who had practiced dance steps in front of his mirror already.
The tables were suddenly blossoming with food. Malfoy didn't wait around much and returned to his seat, though he still seemed impressed with Hermione.
" I'd say having him look at me that way is equally annoying as when he called me Mudblood." Hermione confessed to Harry, as they sat down at the table to begin the meal.
Harry stared at the series of forks. " Now, what exactly am I to do with these? This one here looks like a back-scratcher, and that there could easily pitch hay."
She laughed. " Just work from the inside out, that's what my mother always tells me."
" Sounds about right." Harry began on the tiny plate of salad before him, which had about more on it then a leaf of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and a few peas. A thin sliver of dressing was splashed along the side of the plate, looking more like decoration then anything.
Hermione ate slowly and elegantly, so Harry decided to imitate her. He held the small fork daintily in his hand, then observed how Hermione treated it as if it were glass, gently poking it into the peas and then spearing the tomato slice.
Harry looked sideways at Crabbe, who had gone to the dance with a fourth-year girl that had thick horn-rimmed glasses and a boatload of freckles dotting her face. She was rather cute in a way, but the way she ate together with Crabbe would have been rated 'R' if someone were to watch - for violence. Even the simple salad left a terrifying mess on their table.
Harry then glanced at Hermione, and they both exchanged smiles, knowing just what they were looking at.
The music then changed to a slightly different beat, a bit livelier and yet smoother then the other one, which had very low notes then would jump to high ones abruptly.
Once the salads were eaten, then next meal appeared on the table and Harry moved on to the next set of silverware. These consisted of a slightly larger fork and a very sharp-looking knife, and the meal was shell macaroni with a light, meaty sauce over it. This was also served in a smaller portion, for Harry knew that there would be at least six or seven parts to the meal and it would spoil everyone's appetite if the appetizers were in heaping proportions.
From the center of the tables, next to the flower arrangement, a plate of hor de' vours sprouted, which were simply small bite-sized delicacies.
Hermione shifted her leg and it brushed Harry's, which made him sit up straighter in surprise. Hermione also turned red and then moved her knee away immediately.
Harry realized he should make some conversation, and he searched his mind for topics. Finally, he decided on a sure-fire topic that never failed: " So . . . how about the weather?"
" The weather's . . ." Hermione had said at precisely the same time.
Harry laughed. " I guess we're both trying to think of something to say."
" Yet there's little to say." She replied, looking down at her plate, which had now disappeared and been replaced with barley soup. " And so much, at the same time."
Harry didn't know what she meant exactly but nodded anyway. Draco Malfoy's laughter rang through the room just then. It seems that Crabbe had tried to drink his soup from the bowl instead of using a spoon and ended up pouring the hot liquid down his shirt.
Professor McGonagall, one of the chaperones, nearly died trying not to laugh as she escorted Crabbe from the room to get him cleaned up.
" How embarrassing." Hermione said, softly.
" I know." Harry smiled suddenly. " Did I ever tell you about this guy that Fred and George knew, who'd enchanted his mop to act as a girl?"
" No." Hermione replied. " Tell me!"
" Well, he put a spell on his broom and. . ." Harry proceeded telling the story in detail until he got to the part where the mop suddenly became itself again right in the middle of the dance, then stopped to let Hermione finish laughing.
" Goodness! If I were there, I'd have burst laughing." She finally choked out.
Harry was satisfied, knowing that he had managed to entertain Hermione somewhat. Now his mind searched for the next thing to say.
Just then, Fred and George excused themselves simultaneously from their dates and then approached Draco Malfoy's table. "Say, Malfoy." Fred began.
Malfoy looked up. "What?"
Harry turned around to see better what was going on. He hoped that the twins weren't serious in embarrassing Draco Malfoy in front of his peers - it would have been a sure row of three weeks worth of detention. The twins had enough already from previous years to keep serving detention even when they graduate.
" It seems Slytherin lost to Gryffindor, even without Gryffindor's good-luck charm." George began, obviously referring to Harry.
" Really? Good-luck charm? I'd say he was the one that messed things up." Malfoy retorted.
" You're missing the point. Slytherin lost." Fred spoke slowly, making every word sting before he finished.
" So? We're still better. You got lucky." Malfoy replied, still unbending to facing the truth.
" Yeah, that's what you'd like to think, wouldn't you?" George asked.
" Leave him alone. Ve just vant to have dinner in peace. Settle this later." Rebecca Crick ordered the twins, her eyes angry.
" Hmm. I see you've gotten right to picking up the first girl that would want you, Malfoy. I'd say she's pretty desperate." Fred smiled mischievously.
" I think you're jealous." Malfoy hissed.
" Jealous?" George said, in a fake voice. " Why, by Jove, he's got it. Fred and I are simply dying to be you. To be on the bad side of Harry, who's going to be about as big as Dumbledore some day; to have our team be a bunch of losers. Yes, sir, that's every man's dream."
" Shut up." Malfoy grumbled. " Why don't you go sit down and gloat about how great you are to someone else, since I don't care?"
" Someone's a bit cold today." Fred laughed.
" Yeah, just freezing." George suddenly winks at Harry and lifts a glass filled with water and ice, ready to land on Draco's well combed hair.
" Stop." Harry said.
" What?" The twins both wheeled around to face Harry, their ruddy faces filled with surprise.
" I said, stop. Just because he. . . and I . . . had a fight, doesn't mean that you guys have to get back on him for me." Harry realized that everyone was staring at him in surprise, including Draco. " So if you want to beat Draco up, or do something nasty to him, then do it on your own expense, not as revenge for me or for spite and gloating."
" Harry, are you nuts? Don't you WANT to get back at him?" Fred motioned at Draco.
" Sure." Harry replied. " But I'll handle it myself."
The twins exchanged glances, then the glass of ice water returned to the table, and they turned to return to their seats, a near-collision avoided.
" That was really brave!" Hermione said to Harry, once he sat back down.
" No, it was stupid. Now the twins will think I'm some sort of sissy." Harry stirred his barley soup with his spoon, a thin glaze setting over it, for the soup had thickened on the top.
" Harry." Hermione was ready to tell him something important. " Listen. It is any man's job to stand up to his enemy in order to help his friends, but it is a true man that stands up to his friends to help his enemy."
" Maybe." Harry didn't seem convinced.
" Besides, the Weasley twins would never, ever think you're a sissy. They'd assume it was for the best, since they know you'd make a better decision then they would."
" You're right. There's no point in moping now." Harry smiled and then quickly pulled his spoon from the barley soup as the plate transformed into a white, round little bowl that wasn't very deep. It was filled generously with a slice of garlic bread, a well-done steak, and a scoop of mashed potatoes, the gravy placed a bit off side so that the steak was completely saturated.
" They sure change the meals fast. I didn't get to finish my soup." Hermione complained.
" I didn't even start my soup." Harry replied.
They ate a bit faster, at the same time trying not to be appearing as messy slobs. The meal was done at that point and Professor McGonagall announced that it would be the dancing time now as she prepared the dessert spell.
" Care to dance?" Harry asked Hermione, holding his hand out.
" I can't dance!" She replied, a bit shyly.
" Neither can I." Harry pulled her to her feet, her heels sliding a bit on the sheen floor, her eyes wide with surprise. "Well, come on! You're the best looking girl in the room. You shouldn't be sitting the dancing out."
Harry bumped into people as he walked backwards to the edge of the dance parquet, still pulling Hermione along. The bracelet on her wrist jangled, and her hands were still twined around the rose.
Just then, someone tapped Harry's shoulder. He turned, and saw it was Draco. He had his hands in his pockets and was trying to look as if he was just incidentally standing there, not purposely to speak with Harry.
" What is it?" Harry asked. " Are you mad that I didn't let you handle the twins alone?"
" Kind of." Draco admitted, his icy blue eyes settling on his shoes. " More of it, though, is that I wanted to say thanks."
" You're kidding!" Harry had by now begun to dance, leading Hermione around in circles, just as the other couples were dancing. Malfoy had to raise his voice as Harry moved farther away:
" How about we call that fight a truce? I won't make it look like your fault, and you won't tell on me. Deal?"
Even though Malfoy didn't sacrifice much in the deal, Harry realized it had taken someone like him a lot of hard will and courage to speak up.
Harry nodded in agreement, then turned to Hermione, her gauzy red arm straps tickling his own hands as he rested a hand on her shoulder, the other at her side, trying to imitate the other couples.
Just then, Goyle stumbled backwards into Harry, and Harry nearly fell over. The two boys looked at each other and mumbled an apology. Then, Harry tried to swallow his embarrassment and continued to dance.
If someone had asked Harry what he thought about, finally getting to dance with Hermione, having his hands at her shoulder and side, their eyes locked in a meaningful glance, then Harry would say he had no idea at all. His mind was fairly blank of anything dealing with the reality of it. Instead, he thought hard about what his feet were doing, which was a far cry according to him from dancing. Hermione seemed pleased, though.
The music was slowing down with every note, and then the piece ended. Harry began to walk off the dance floor, losing the last of his bravery, when a warm hand caught his cold one. He smiled at Hermione and her hand guided him back onto the dance parquet for another round of dancing.
" You're a good dancer." She whispered in his ear as a lively piece began. Harry glanced at the way Ron and Lavender were dancing, with Lavender spinning wildly and Ron holding his hand up to spin her, then making round circle maneuvers across the dance floor. Then, Hermione and Harry assumed the new dance form like molten plastic would assume a mold set out for it.
" I've never danced, really, like this." Harry replied, as he lifted his hand so Hermione could spin. She did, and then they began the circle movement.
" It seems Draco had." Hermione noted.
Draco was dancing about as elegantly as a professional would, and Rebecca was more then impressed. Draco was light on his feet and strong, capable of any move by guidance of his dance partner, not really relying on her skill; for a dance pair with one good leader was as good as two.
" His father probably sent him for lessons." Harry then looked out the large window. " It's raining."
" Again?" Hermione seemed disappointed. " I hope the fields won't be muddy for Madame Hooch's private Quidditch lesson on Monday."
" Hermione - why do you want to know how to play Quidditch so much? It seems to me that you've never been that interested in the game, though I might be wrong." Harry asked.
" I don't know. I just saw how much you liked it and I thought that if I played Quidditch. . ." She stopped, and she changed the subject abruptly, her ears burning red: " Say, look at that. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore are dancing together."
Indeed, the two older adults were dancing harmoniously together, with Dumbledore's tall figure and vibrant robes clashing to Professor McGonagall's stature.
Just then, a huge flash of lightning turned the dark velvety sky to a dazzling white, then the low frightening growl of thunder erupted. It had hit something desperately close, Harry could tell. His mind wondered what it had hit, but then Hermione took his mind off the thunder with another question:
" Where's Neville?"
" Out with the flu. Poor guy, he's so sick that he's spending the dance with Madame Pomfrey." Harry told her.
" That's too bad. I'm sure I could have found someone for him to go with. There's so many girls in this school, after all." She smiled at Harry.
Harry smiled back uncertainly.
" Have you done any new research on that letter you got?" Harry asked her.
" As a matter of fact, I have." She suddenly dropped her hand from Harry's shoulder, a small droplet of blood seeping from her finger, the thorny rose in her hand the cause of the injury, though slight. " Ouch!"
" Here, let me take care of your rose." Harry took it from her hands and then slowly peeled the thorns off the side and then broke the head of the rose off, along with about two inches of stem, and tucked it behind Hermione's ear. " There."
" Thanks." Hermione replied.
" All my pleasure." Harry realized that this was the sappiest moment of his life, but he didn't even mind. If he was to see this happen in a book or on Muggle Television, he'd have felt queasy with how corny and sappy it was. Now, though, nothing mattered but the warm hand on his shoulder and his side, and the girl in front of him.
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A million drops of rain were clattering to the roof of Hogwarts by the time dessert was announced. Harry's feet hurt and Hermione had probably been even worse off in her nifty high heels, though she didn't show it.
The dessert sprang up just as magically from the table, three vanilla scoops of ice cream sundae in a crystal bowl with fudge poured over it and finely chopped nuts. So finely chopped they looked like dust. In fact, it could've just as well been dust and nobody would have noticed.
Harry moved his spoon down onto the fudge and then looked up at Hermione, who was raising her wand and tapping at the edge of the ice cream bowl. The ice cream immediately turned into chocolate with marshmallow swirls.
" That's cool. How'd you sneak your wand in?" harry asked her.
" Easy. Minimus!" She said the word and her wand shrunk to a tiny little thing and she tucked it into the ribbon around her waist. From far away the small chapstick-sized wand didn't seem visible at all.
" I wish I thought of that. I'd rather have some strawberry ice cream." Harry stared down at his ice cream again and then ate a spoonful. It was very good and he ate more.
" Harry, do you think that the letter I got might have been from Lavender?" Hermione suddenly asked.
Harry shrugged. " Why would she bother?"
" She doesn't seem to like me much." Hermione replied.
" Not everyone likes me, but I don't get letters like that." Harry countered.
" I suppose." Hermione looked out the large windows at the rain. " You know what? I'd always wanted to walk through the rain like that - it's warm enough outside and the rain isn't that cold, I'm sure."
" Do you want to?" Harry asked her.
" You mean it?" She asked, her eyes dancing with excitement. " My dress. . . I might ruin it."
" And my glasses might break, and I can trip and die, Volde - - uh, You-Know-Who might pop out from behind the bushes and zap me into another dimension or something. So many 'maybes' and 'mights', but that doesn't stop ME." Harry's words were very convincing. Hermione struggled to keep her word, then finally broke into a smile and said:
" You're right. I'll never know if I don't try."
Once the ice cream had been taken away - or perhaps zapped away by magic - Harry and Hermione stood to leave.
" Harry! Where you going? The dancing is just beginning!" Ron asked, as Harry walked by Ron's table to go outside.
" I'm going to take Hermione outside." Harry replied.
" What? In that pouring rain?" Ron frowned. " It's like the remake of Noah's Arc out there!"
" Then we'll go take a swim." Harry smiled and then pushed the doors open to go outside. The rain immediately enveloped him and he turned to face Hermione. Her sequined shoes shimmered in the dark of the night.
" Let's walk around." Harry finally said.
" Alright." She laughed and then walked around. They weren't really walking in the rain for Hogwarts had a little sill on the second floor from the all the windows that pretty much covered the walkway like a canopy.
" It's so romantic." Hermione whispered. " I'd always wanted to just be outside, listening to the rain. How about you?"
" I guess." Harry had never thought about things like that.
" I'd also wanted to ride a horse in the rain. I suppose I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with mysterious yet inspirational behavior." Hermione's eyes looked up towards the heavily raining sky and then added: " I miss my parents, sometimes, they'd always read me stories about princesses that did these sorts of things. Me and my mom still read to each other over the holidays."
" I wish I could say something like that." Harry realized how much he had missed out, not having parents. It always struck him oddly shocking that he turned out a normal kid without any good role models.
A thunder clap roared the sky open, a heaving white mouth of a bear, gleaming with white teeth that sailed down to gnaw on the fresh earth. Then, the response of rain followed.
" Maybe you'd like to spend your winter with my family, Harry. We don't have much, but at least you might feel welcome and warm." Hermione suggested.
" Do you mean it?" Harry exclaimed.
" Sure." She replied. Her hand took his, an action coming so naturally that Harry wasn't even startled to feel her slightly cold and slender fingers around his palm. Hermione gently gave his hand a squeeze and then she motioned to Hagrid's hut. " Is Hagrid still away?"
" Yes. He went off to Hogsmeade again, searching for that wood." Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. " I'm glad Hagrid's found himself a hobby and all, but I really think its going too far."
" I'd say. He'd even given Madame Hooch his own, home-made chair, which could fit a well-sized bear from what I see." Hermione grinned.
Suddenly, the sound of music filled their ears as the dance floor in Hogwarts was occupied again by merrily dancing couples. "It's dancing again. Want to go back?" Harry offered.
" No." Hermione replied.
Then, she added: " We can dance here."
" Here?" Harry couldn't help but look down on the muddy mess of earth beneath his feet. He was nervous, and would love to interfere with the dancing if he could, knowing that he'd probably mess up and embarrass himself: " Wouldn't that be interfering with nature? We can cause a mudslide."
" Don't back out now." She took his other hand and placed it on her hip. The rain swished past them as she began the first rotation, then they stopped and they moved backwards, then another rotation.
Soon Harry had forgotten his feet for the elated feeling inside him was spinning him in tune to the dance without the use of any elementary dancing skill at all.
The rain saturated both their clothing, but neither cared. Hermione smiled as another thunderbolt flashed the sky. Then, Harry stopped dancing for she looked funny.
Her eyes were slowly tracing him, then stopped at needlepoint to his own, her eyebrows arching upwards as she asked:
" Should we go back?"
Harry shook his head. " I'd rather dance out here."
" See? I knew you'd like it." Hermione took his hand and then guided him around again, the mud now not even an obstruction beneath his feet, despite the annoyance of its sickening squishing. Everything was lost again in a whirlwind of swirls and dance rhythms.
It was at least a good twenty minutes before they returned to the canopied walkway and headed to the dance again.
" That was fun." Hermione smiled. " I can't believe you wanted to go outside in a rainstorm. I'd have not dared to go alone, so I really owe it to you."
" I only went since I thought you'd go anyway." Harry admitted.
She laughed. They were now standing in front of the door and Hermione leaned back on the wooden door, her hair scattering on her shoulders, and she titled her head up slightly.
It was too perfect.
Harry saw these kinds of moments in the movies before, on Muggle television, and even in books.
So he should have been unsurprised by what happened next but somewhat he still was, even as he thought back to the moment many days later.
For just as another thunderclap rattled the night air, Hermione had kissed him.
Author's Note: I just couldn't wait to write this chapter, I'd been running it over in my mind all day. I suppose this is shorter then ch. 1 and 3 but longer then ch.2. I wasn't intending for anything too shocking, Hermione kissed Harry before. (Book 4, last page, on the cheek). No, I don't own Harry Potter. Do I have to repeat this in every chapter?
P.S. Thank you for all the nice reviews, it's really nice to know that people like this fan fiction. I try very hard to make my stories funny, cute, and not vulgar.
1 Chapter 4
Dancing in the Rain
Hermione had never looked that shocked. Her face seemed to turn a ghastly pale, then she uttered out a single word: "Really?"
" Yes. Hermione, will you go to the dance with me?" Harry spoke in a rush, his eyes darting across the surprised face of Lavender and then back to Hermione.
" Of course!" Her eyes filled with what seemed tears. "I'd been waiting for you to ask me. For anyone to ask me." She added the last sentence quickly.
" Good." Harry smiled. " Then . . . I guess that's settled."
Lavender was fuming angry. "Ooh!" She hissed, and then ran from them, clutching her Potions book under one arm while balancing a bag of books in the other.
" Harry?" Hermione asked.
" What is it?" Harry turned to her.
" Why did you ask me? Was it to make Lavender mad?" She looked doubtful.
" No!" Harry smiled. " Believe me, I'm not that shallow. I want to go to the dance with you."
She seemed satisfied with the answer, and Harry walked her to Potions in silence, not knowing what to say. Just before they entered the room, she said to him: " Thank you, then."
" You're welcome." He replied. " Thanks for saying that you will go with me. I thought you'd say. . ."
" Harry!" Ron called out from behind them before Harry could finish.
" What is it?" Harry asked his red-haired friend, who's eyes were sparkling with a sudden delight.
" Did you find a date for the dance yet? Because Cho just told me that she'd go with you, if you'd like, and I thought, 'Oh, man, I gotta go tell Harry before he does anything stupid'." Ron panted out.
Hermione's face changed abruptly.
" Stupid as in asking me as a last-chance desperation plea?" Hermione asked.
" No! I wanted to go with you, not Cho." Harry explained. "Ron, somehow break to Cho that I'm going with someone else."
Ron looked at Harry, then Hermione. "Well, you finally told her, eh?"
" Told me what?" She frowned. " Harry just asked me if I wanted to go with him. He didn't tell me anything." Hermione crossed her arms. "What is going on, exactly, that I don't know about?"
" Nothing!" Harry quickly said, stepping firmly on Ron's foot.
" Ow!" Ron gasped.
" Oh! Terribly sorry, Ron. I'm feeling clumsy today." Harry quickly stepped inside Professor Snape's class, his eyes adjusting slowly to the low lighting. He wanted to have no more conversation with Ron on the subject of the dance. Until the actual dance, anyway.
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The dance came unexpectedly fast for Harry Potter. He had been immerged in his studies and in balancing his classes so that he'd manage with the homework and all. That evening before the dance, Ron was panicking with loss of a date.
Harry put on a nice suit that he had Hagrid buy him in Hogsmeade (Hagrid had been away from Hogwarts a lot this week to find more wood with which to carve his creations). The suit was amazingly suited to him, for it was made by magic. Once it was put on, it would immediately take shape to compliment the body of the wearer.
Harry smiled at himself in the mirror. The mirror replied at his gleeful face: " Hot date tonight?"
Harry shrugged. " If it counts as it, then yes."
" You look snazzy." The mirror seemed to think a while, then continued: " That shirt you have on - it's a bit too gray to match the suit. Maybe you can find another one?"
" Thanks. I'll look." Harry glanced through the small bag of his belongings nearby and found a crisp white shirt that the Dursleys had bought for him when they'd have guests over, so that he'd look 'presentable'.
" There's a nice one." The mirror sounded delighted. " It matches your suit splendidly."
" Thanks." Harry had never really tried asking a mirror for fashion advice, but he knew that if there was one person or thing that would know a bad suit when it sees one, it would be a mirror. The poor things had seen everything. The mirror had complained to him once about a bald forty-year- old man that would look into her cousin every day and smile. Then, one day, the man had said: "Man, do I look good! Forty and not one gray hair!". It had been a great joke among the mirror and the Gryffindor boys, though a lot of the boys never quite got the joke.
Harry tugged his tie into place, then realized he should get something for Hermione. 'Girls love flowers and cards and stuff', someone had once told him, probably one of the Weasley boys, though Harry hadn't taken the time to remember who said it.
" Mirror?"
" What is it?" The mirror asked.
" Do you think I should get something for the girl I'm going with?" Harry's examined his reflection in the mirror, trying to fix up his crooked tie at the same time.
" Flowers work. A single red rose, in fact, would be romantic." The mirror sighed dreamily. " Now, off you go. The dance begins in half an hour, you know."
" I know." Harry smiled at the mirror and then walked out of the common room, the fat lady's portrait swinging shut behind him. Out in the hallway, he caught Ron asking Lavender to the dance. Lavender looked up at Harry spitefully and then projected her voice loudly:
" Yes, Ron, I will go to the dance with you."
Harry felt not a single twinge of jealousy, despite Lavender's intentions. He walked casually through the hallways, down a few staircases, and then found himself outside. Rose bushes lined the wall around the entire area, and he carefully plucked a long stemmed one.
Then, running his fingers across its soft leaves, Harry returned inside the castle and then went inside to find his way to the dining hall, the area the dance was going to take place. As he stepped inside the room, his breath was taken away for the whole entire room was changed into a glorious dance floor. Dumbledore had been casting spell after spell, adorning the room with cascading purple curtains, flower chains all around the windows, and small round tables rounding the dance floor. A clear night sky was shown in an image on the ceiling, with hundreds of stars dancing and shining happily.
Harry sat down at the nearest table and waited for everyone else to come. Neville was still sick, and in fact much worse, and he wouldn't be attending. Malfoy had joked about how Neville would be having a private date with Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing, which aroused barely a few chuckles in Professor Trelawney's class.
Professor Trelawney had made a few predictions about Harry already, from his palm. She envisioned bad luck coming closer, and she warned him to stay in the shadows. Then, she added that his love life was blossoming magnificently and that he was truly maturing into a nice young man.
If Draco hadn't cracked up at that point, Harry would have felt proud. Now, Harry's ears burned at the memory of Draco's cold, heartless laughter instead of smiling with the knowledge of the improvements in his love life.
The room was now buzzing in excitement. An arrangement of flowers appeared on each table along with a complicated amount of table settings. Harry had never used so many pieces of silverware in his life.
The room was aglow with candles, and the usual chairs in the dining hall were now magically enhanced to being gilded thrones, with sapphires and rubies sparkling in intricate swirls and designs across the arms and legs of the chairs.
Harry couldn't marvel enough at how his school had morphed from ordinary to a romance-factor dance floor. Harry's eyes stopped dead on someone moving towards him. He'd waited for a moment like this, but now it looked impossibly glamorous: Hermione had come.
She had on a simple red dress, her hair tied back and then cascading down over her shoulders in light curls. She had touched up her highlights a bit, making her hair glow wonderfully. The dress she had on might have been simple, but it complemented her well. Though Hermione wasn't exactly thin, Harry felt it was a lot better that she had more to herself then some of the girls, which would skip lunch or breakfast to stay at a desired weight. The dress was strapless if you considered the fact it wasn't held up by anything on the shoulders. Instead, a thin and filmy red gauze-like fabric stretched across and around her arms about an inch below the shoulder, then it was tied with a red ribbon in back and cascaded down in a filmy wave to her lower back. Her shoes were high heels, and Harry had never seen ones like it. They had little sequined hearts near the tip and the rest of it was somewhat a glossy red material that was elevated upwards by half an inch tall heels. Then, moving upwards, the bodice of her dress was done in small little red flowers that were pinned on by heart-shaped sequins. Then, her lips were painted a nice pink-red that set off the color of her dress and hair. Her eye shadow was more simple, just a shimmering gloss.
" Harry?" She asked, for Harry was just about turned to a stone statue, sitting there, gawking.
" You look great!" Harry said. He had just remembered the rose in his hand by an unfortunate prickle to his index finger. With a haste, he held the flower up and then said: " I. . . I got this for you. I thought you might like this."
" Oh, thank you. It'll match my dress." She took the rose and then gently held it up to her face. " Do you think we could dance like they do in the movies, with a rose held between the teeth of the girl? Or is that the guy?"
" A rose between your teeth. Ingenious." Malfoy was standing beside them all of a sudden, spoiling the moment. Malfoy's eyebrows arched upwards, and a single white strand of hair fell forwards on his forehead, his eyes studying Hermione. " Well, I'll be."
" Do I really look that nice?" Hermione seemed amused. " I had to ask around for advice from the other girls."
Malfoy didn't reply, not wanting to say something that might be considered an insult, and yet trying to look uninterested so his date, Rebecca Crick, wasn't upset.
" You look so nice that you make all the other girls invisible, Herm." Harry told her.
" Of course you'd say that." She teased.
" I mean it." He said, softly.
Hermione was about to say something, her eyes filling with a sudden thankfulness, when a soft melody drifted through the room. Slow classical music was the easiest to dance to for Harry, who had practiced dance steps in front of his mirror already.
The tables were suddenly blossoming with food. Malfoy didn't wait around much and returned to his seat, though he still seemed impressed with Hermione.
" I'd say having him look at me that way is equally annoying as when he called me Mudblood." Hermione confessed to Harry, as they sat down at the table to begin the meal.
Harry stared at the series of forks. " Now, what exactly am I to do with these? This one here looks like a back-scratcher, and that there could easily pitch hay."
She laughed. " Just work from the inside out, that's what my mother always tells me."
" Sounds about right." Harry began on the tiny plate of salad before him, which had about more on it then a leaf of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and a few peas. A thin sliver of dressing was splashed along the side of the plate, looking more like decoration then anything.
Hermione ate slowly and elegantly, so Harry decided to imitate her. He held the small fork daintily in his hand, then observed how Hermione treated it as if it were glass, gently poking it into the peas and then spearing the tomato slice.
Harry looked sideways at Crabbe, who had gone to the dance with a fourth-year girl that had thick horn-rimmed glasses and a boatload of freckles dotting her face. She was rather cute in a way, but the way she ate together with Crabbe would have been rated 'R' if someone were to watch - for violence. Even the simple salad left a terrifying mess on their table.
Harry then glanced at Hermione, and they both exchanged smiles, knowing just what they were looking at.
The music then changed to a slightly different beat, a bit livelier and yet smoother then the other one, which had very low notes then would jump to high ones abruptly.
Once the salads were eaten, then next meal appeared on the table and Harry moved on to the next set of silverware. These consisted of a slightly larger fork and a very sharp-looking knife, and the meal was shell macaroni with a light, meaty sauce over it. This was also served in a smaller portion, for Harry knew that there would be at least six or seven parts to the meal and it would spoil everyone's appetite if the appetizers were in heaping proportions.
From the center of the tables, next to the flower arrangement, a plate of hor de' vours sprouted, which were simply small bite-sized delicacies.
Hermione shifted her leg and it brushed Harry's, which made him sit up straighter in surprise. Hermione also turned red and then moved her knee away immediately.
Harry realized he should make some conversation, and he searched his mind for topics. Finally, he decided on a sure-fire topic that never failed: " So . . . how about the weather?"
" The weather's . . ." Hermione had said at precisely the same time.
Harry laughed. " I guess we're both trying to think of something to say."
" Yet there's little to say." She replied, looking down at her plate, which had now disappeared and been replaced with barley soup. " And so much, at the same time."
Harry didn't know what she meant exactly but nodded anyway. Draco Malfoy's laughter rang through the room just then. It seems that Crabbe had tried to drink his soup from the bowl instead of using a spoon and ended up pouring the hot liquid down his shirt.
Professor McGonagall, one of the chaperones, nearly died trying not to laugh as she escorted Crabbe from the room to get him cleaned up.
" How embarrassing." Hermione said, softly.
" I know." Harry smiled suddenly. " Did I ever tell you about this guy that Fred and George knew, who'd enchanted his mop to act as a girl?"
" No." Hermione replied. " Tell me!"
" Well, he put a spell on his broom and. . ." Harry proceeded telling the story in detail until he got to the part where the mop suddenly became itself again right in the middle of the dance, then stopped to let Hermione finish laughing.
" Goodness! If I were there, I'd have burst laughing." She finally choked out.
Harry was satisfied, knowing that he had managed to entertain Hermione somewhat. Now his mind searched for the next thing to say.
Just then, Fred and George excused themselves simultaneously from their dates and then approached Draco Malfoy's table. "Say, Malfoy." Fred began.
Malfoy looked up. "What?"
Harry turned around to see better what was going on. He hoped that the twins weren't serious in embarrassing Draco Malfoy in front of his peers - it would have been a sure row of three weeks worth of detention. The twins had enough already from previous years to keep serving detention even when they graduate.
" It seems Slytherin lost to Gryffindor, even without Gryffindor's good-luck charm." George began, obviously referring to Harry.
" Really? Good-luck charm? I'd say he was the one that messed things up." Malfoy retorted.
" You're missing the point. Slytherin lost." Fred spoke slowly, making every word sting before he finished.
" So? We're still better. You got lucky." Malfoy replied, still unbending to facing the truth.
" Yeah, that's what you'd like to think, wouldn't you?" George asked.
" Leave him alone. Ve just vant to have dinner in peace. Settle this later." Rebecca Crick ordered the twins, her eyes angry.
" Hmm. I see you've gotten right to picking up the first girl that would want you, Malfoy. I'd say she's pretty desperate." Fred smiled mischievously.
" I think you're jealous." Malfoy hissed.
" Jealous?" George said, in a fake voice. " Why, by Jove, he's got it. Fred and I are simply dying to be you. To be on the bad side of Harry, who's going to be about as big as Dumbledore some day; to have our team be a bunch of losers. Yes, sir, that's every man's dream."
" Shut up." Malfoy grumbled. " Why don't you go sit down and gloat about how great you are to someone else, since I don't care?"
" Someone's a bit cold today." Fred laughed.
" Yeah, just freezing." George suddenly winks at Harry and lifts a glass filled with water and ice, ready to land on Draco's well combed hair.
" Stop." Harry said.
" What?" The twins both wheeled around to face Harry, their ruddy faces filled with surprise.
" I said, stop. Just because he. . . and I . . . had a fight, doesn't mean that you guys have to get back on him for me." Harry realized that everyone was staring at him in surprise, including Draco. " So if you want to beat Draco up, or do something nasty to him, then do it on your own expense, not as revenge for me or for spite and gloating."
" Harry, are you nuts? Don't you WANT to get back at him?" Fred motioned at Draco.
" Sure." Harry replied. " But I'll handle it myself."
The twins exchanged glances, then the glass of ice water returned to the table, and they turned to return to their seats, a near-collision avoided.
" That was really brave!" Hermione said to Harry, once he sat back down.
" No, it was stupid. Now the twins will think I'm some sort of sissy." Harry stirred his barley soup with his spoon, a thin glaze setting over it, for the soup had thickened on the top.
" Harry." Hermione was ready to tell him something important. " Listen. It is any man's job to stand up to his enemy in order to help his friends, but it is a true man that stands up to his friends to help his enemy."
" Maybe." Harry didn't seem convinced.
" Besides, the Weasley twins would never, ever think you're a sissy. They'd assume it was for the best, since they know you'd make a better decision then they would."
" You're right. There's no point in moping now." Harry smiled and then quickly pulled his spoon from the barley soup as the plate transformed into a white, round little bowl that wasn't very deep. It was filled generously with a slice of garlic bread, a well-done steak, and a scoop of mashed potatoes, the gravy placed a bit off side so that the steak was completely saturated.
" They sure change the meals fast. I didn't get to finish my soup." Hermione complained.
" I didn't even start my soup." Harry replied.
They ate a bit faster, at the same time trying not to be appearing as messy slobs. The meal was done at that point and Professor McGonagall announced that it would be the dancing time now as she prepared the dessert spell.
" Care to dance?" Harry asked Hermione, holding his hand out.
" I can't dance!" She replied, a bit shyly.
" Neither can I." Harry pulled her to her feet, her heels sliding a bit on the sheen floor, her eyes wide with surprise. "Well, come on! You're the best looking girl in the room. You shouldn't be sitting the dancing out."
Harry bumped into people as he walked backwards to the edge of the dance parquet, still pulling Hermione along. The bracelet on her wrist jangled, and her hands were still twined around the rose.
Just then, someone tapped Harry's shoulder. He turned, and saw it was Draco. He had his hands in his pockets and was trying to look as if he was just incidentally standing there, not purposely to speak with Harry.
" What is it?" Harry asked. " Are you mad that I didn't let you handle the twins alone?"
" Kind of." Draco admitted, his icy blue eyes settling on his shoes. " More of it, though, is that I wanted to say thanks."
" You're kidding!" Harry had by now begun to dance, leading Hermione around in circles, just as the other couples were dancing. Malfoy had to raise his voice as Harry moved farther away:
" How about we call that fight a truce? I won't make it look like your fault, and you won't tell on me. Deal?"
Even though Malfoy didn't sacrifice much in the deal, Harry realized it had taken someone like him a lot of hard will and courage to speak up.
Harry nodded in agreement, then turned to Hermione, her gauzy red arm straps tickling his own hands as he rested a hand on her shoulder, the other at her side, trying to imitate the other couples.
Just then, Goyle stumbled backwards into Harry, and Harry nearly fell over. The two boys looked at each other and mumbled an apology. Then, Harry tried to swallow his embarrassment and continued to dance.
If someone had asked Harry what he thought about, finally getting to dance with Hermione, having his hands at her shoulder and side, their eyes locked in a meaningful glance, then Harry would say he had no idea at all. His mind was fairly blank of anything dealing with the reality of it. Instead, he thought hard about what his feet were doing, which was a far cry according to him from dancing. Hermione seemed pleased, though.
The music was slowing down with every note, and then the piece ended. Harry began to walk off the dance floor, losing the last of his bravery, when a warm hand caught his cold one. He smiled at Hermione and her hand guided him back onto the dance parquet for another round of dancing.
" You're a good dancer." She whispered in his ear as a lively piece began. Harry glanced at the way Ron and Lavender were dancing, with Lavender spinning wildly and Ron holding his hand up to spin her, then making round circle maneuvers across the dance floor. Then, Hermione and Harry assumed the new dance form like molten plastic would assume a mold set out for it.
" I've never danced, really, like this." Harry replied, as he lifted his hand so Hermione could spin. She did, and then they began the circle movement.
" It seems Draco had." Hermione noted.
Draco was dancing about as elegantly as a professional would, and Rebecca was more then impressed. Draco was light on his feet and strong, capable of any move by guidance of his dance partner, not really relying on her skill; for a dance pair with one good leader was as good as two.
" His father probably sent him for lessons." Harry then looked out the large window. " It's raining."
" Again?" Hermione seemed disappointed. " I hope the fields won't be muddy for Madame Hooch's private Quidditch lesson on Monday."
" Hermione - why do you want to know how to play Quidditch so much? It seems to me that you've never been that interested in the game, though I might be wrong." Harry asked.
" I don't know. I just saw how much you liked it and I thought that if I played Quidditch. . ." She stopped, and she changed the subject abruptly, her ears burning red: " Say, look at that. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore are dancing together."
Indeed, the two older adults were dancing harmoniously together, with Dumbledore's tall figure and vibrant robes clashing to Professor McGonagall's stature.
Just then, a huge flash of lightning turned the dark velvety sky to a dazzling white, then the low frightening growl of thunder erupted. It had hit something desperately close, Harry could tell. His mind wondered what it had hit, but then Hermione took his mind off the thunder with another question:
" Where's Neville?"
" Out with the flu. Poor guy, he's so sick that he's spending the dance with Madame Pomfrey." Harry told her.
" That's too bad. I'm sure I could have found someone for him to go with. There's so many girls in this school, after all." She smiled at Harry.
Harry smiled back uncertainly.
" Have you done any new research on that letter you got?" Harry asked her.
" As a matter of fact, I have." She suddenly dropped her hand from Harry's shoulder, a small droplet of blood seeping from her finger, the thorny rose in her hand the cause of the injury, though slight. " Ouch!"
" Here, let me take care of your rose." Harry took it from her hands and then slowly peeled the thorns off the side and then broke the head of the rose off, along with about two inches of stem, and tucked it behind Hermione's ear. " There."
" Thanks." Hermione replied.
" All my pleasure." Harry realized that this was the sappiest moment of his life, but he didn't even mind. If he was to see this happen in a book or on Muggle Television, he'd have felt queasy with how corny and sappy it was. Now, though, nothing mattered but the warm hand on his shoulder and his side, and the girl in front of him.
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A million drops of rain were clattering to the roof of Hogwarts by the time dessert was announced. Harry's feet hurt and Hermione had probably been even worse off in her nifty high heels, though she didn't show it.
The dessert sprang up just as magically from the table, three vanilla scoops of ice cream sundae in a crystal bowl with fudge poured over it and finely chopped nuts. So finely chopped they looked like dust. In fact, it could've just as well been dust and nobody would have noticed.
Harry moved his spoon down onto the fudge and then looked up at Hermione, who was raising her wand and tapping at the edge of the ice cream bowl. The ice cream immediately turned into chocolate with marshmallow swirls.
" That's cool. How'd you sneak your wand in?" harry asked her.
" Easy. Minimus!" She said the word and her wand shrunk to a tiny little thing and she tucked it into the ribbon around her waist. From far away the small chapstick-sized wand didn't seem visible at all.
" I wish I thought of that. I'd rather have some strawberry ice cream." Harry stared down at his ice cream again and then ate a spoonful. It was very good and he ate more.
" Harry, do you think that the letter I got might have been from Lavender?" Hermione suddenly asked.
Harry shrugged. " Why would she bother?"
" She doesn't seem to like me much." Hermione replied.
" Not everyone likes me, but I don't get letters like that." Harry countered.
" I suppose." Hermione looked out the large windows at the rain. " You know what? I'd always wanted to walk through the rain like that - it's warm enough outside and the rain isn't that cold, I'm sure."
" Do you want to?" Harry asked her.
" You mean it?" She asked, her eyes dancing with excitement. " My dress. . . I might ruin it."
" And my glasses might break, and I can trip and die, Volde - - uh, You-Know-Who might pop out from behind the bushes and zap me into another dimension or something. So many 'maybes' and 'mights', but that doesn't stop ME." Harry's words were very convincing. Hermione struggled to keep her word, then finally broke into a smile and said:
" You're right. I'll never know if I don't try."
Once the ice cream had been taken away - or perhaps zapped away by magic - Harry and Hermione stood to leave.
" Harry! Where you going? The dancing is just beginning!" Ron asked, as Harry walked by Ron's table to go outside.
" I'm going to take Hermione outside." Harry replied.
" What? In that pouring rain?" Ron frowned. " It's like the remake of Noah's Arc out there!"
" Then we'll go take a swim." Harry smiled and then pushed the doors open to go outside. The rain immediately enveloped him and he turned to face Hermione. Her sequined shoes shimmered in the dark of the night.
" Let's walk around." Harry finally said.
" Alright." She laughed and then walked around. They weren't really walking in the rain for Hogwarts had a little sill on the second floor from the all the windows that pretty much covered the walkway like a canopy.
" It's so romantic." Hermione whispered. " I'd always wanted to just be outside, listening to the rain. How about you?"
" I guess." Harry had never thought about things like that.
" I'd also wanted to ride a horse in the rain. I suppose I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with mysterious yet inspirational behavior." Hermione's eyes looked up towards the heavily raining sky and then added: " I miss my parents, sometimes, they'd always read me stories about princesses that did these sorts of things. Me and my mom still read to each other over the holidays."
" I wish I could say something like that." Harry realized how much he had missed out, not having parents. It always struck him oddly shocking that he turned out a normal kid without any good role models.
A thunder clap roared the sky open, a heaving white mouth of a bear, gleaming with white teeth that sailed down to gnaw on the fresh earth. Then, the response of rain followed.
" Maybe you'd like to spend your winter with my family, Harry. We don't have much, but at least you might feel welcome and warm." Hermione suggested.
" Do you mean it?" Harry exclaimed.
" Sure." She replied. Her hand took his, an action coming so naturally that Harry wasn't even startled to feel her slightly cold and slender fingers around his palm. Hermione gently gave his hand a squeeze and then she motioned to Hagrid's hut. " Is Hagrid still away?"
" Yes. He went off to Hogsmeade again, searching for that wood." Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. " I'm glad Hagrid's found himself a hobby and all, but I really think its going too far."
" I'd say. He'd even given Madame Hooch his own, home-made chair, which could fit a well-sized bear from what I see." Hermione grinned.
Suddenly, the sound of music filled their ears as the dance floor in Hogwarts was occupied again by merrily dancing couples. "It's dancing again. Want to go back?" Harry offered.
" No." Hermione replied.
Then, she added: " We can dance here."
" Here?" Harry couldn't help but look down on the muddy mess of earth beneath his feet. He was nervous, and would love to interfere with the dancing if he could, knowing that he'd probably mess up and embarrass himself: " Wouldn't that be interfering with nature? We can cause a mudslide."
" Don't back out now." She took his other hand and placed it on her hip. The rain swished past them as she began the first rotation, then they stopped and they moved backwards, then another rotation.
Soon Harry had forgotten his feet for the elated feeling inside him was spinning him in tune to the dance without the use of any elementary dancing skill at all.
The rain saturated both their clothing, but neither cared. Hermione smiled as another thunderbolt flashed the sky. Then, Harry stopped dancing for she looked funny.
Her eyes were slowly tracing him, then stopped at needlepoint to his own, her eyebrows arching upwards as she asked:
" Should we go back?"
Harry shook his head. " I'd rather dance out here."
" See? I knew you'd like it." Hermione took his hand and then guided him around again, the mud now not even an obstruction beneath his feet, despite the annoyance of its sickening squishing. Everything was lost again in a whirlwind of swirls and dance rhythms.
It was at least a good twenty minutes before they returned to the canopied walkway and headed to the dance again.
" That was fun." Hermione smiled. " I can't believe you wanted to go outside in a rainstorm. I'd have not dared to go alone, so I really owe it to you."
" I only went since I thought you'd go anyway." Harry admitted.
She laughed. They were now standing in front of the door and Hermione leaned back on the wooden door, her hair scattering on her shoulders, and she titled her head up slightly.
It was too perfect.
Harry saw these kinds of moments in the movies before, on Muggle television, and even in books.
So he should have been unsurprised by what happened next but somewhat he still was, even as he thought back to the moment many days later.
For just as another thunderclap rattled the night air, Hermione had kissed him.
Author's Note: I just couldn't wait to write this chapter, I'd been running it over in my mind all day. I suppose this is shorter then ch. 1 and 3 but longer then ch.2. I wasn't intending for anything too shocking, Hermione kissed Harry before. (Book 4, last page, on the cheek). No, I don't own Harry Potter. Do I have to repeat this in every chapter?
P.S. Thank you for all the nice reviews, it's really nice to know that people like this fan fiction. I try very hard to make my stories funny, cute, and not vulgar.
