A/N I am soooooooo sorry this took me long! Anyway, here it is!
Harry and Hermione crossed the Entrance Hall and climbed the marble staircase, Harry privately wondering when he'd ever felt lighter and happier. Not even half an hour ago, he was trembling from head to toe at the prospect of facing Hermione and fearing the end of their friendship. Now, not only were he and Hermione still friends, she had just told him what he'd only heard in his dreams followed by their first kiss, which left Harry feeling slightly dizzy, as he still dared himself to believe it had really happened. And now, unbelievably enough, they were on their way to their first date! Harry couldn't take that in! Everything else that had happened that evening could have just been said or done in the heat of the moment, Hermione could have just been carried away with her confession about her work…but a date? Wow! Harry was feeling so elated, he couldn't really think of anything to say.
"Are we taking the Honeydukes passage?" Hermione asked, as they climbed another staircase.
"Yeah, I think so," Harry smiled at her. "It's the only real way to get into Hogsmeade from he- "
Harry broke off and he felt his stomach drop several inches. They had reached the middle of the third floor corridor, where the statue of the one-eyed humped witch should have stood. Instead, they were facing a bare stretch of very solid-looking wall, very much like any other in the castle.
Harry was shocked. How long had the statue been missing? He hadn't used the Honeydukes tunnel since his third year and didn't even look at the secret entrance at all during his fifth year…but it had been there three days ago; Ron and Padma had used it the night he and Hermione had had that row, so where was it now?
Almost automatically, he reached out and slowly ran his hands over the bricks, half-hoping to find a loose one he could pull out or something. Hermione meanwhile pulled out her wand and tapped the wall sharply and said, "Dissendium", though the wall stayed stubbornly still.
"Going somewhere, Potter?" barked an icy voice behind them, making them both jump.
Harry and Hermione turned to see Snape striding down the corridor towards them, looking venomously pleased to have caught them.
"Wondering where your precious escape tunnel is?" he sneered. "well, you will be interested to know that Professor Dumbledore destroyed it two nights ago."
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other quickly, their hearts slipping a few more inches.
"I suppose you'd like to know how he found out about it?" said Snape, a dry smile twisting unpleasantly on his sallow face. "It was that map of yours, Potter. You gave Moody that map of Hogwarts last year, did you not? Well, the Headmaster confiscated it after using the Veritaserum and only recently has he had a chance to examine it. He destroyed it the tunnel himself, primarily for security reasons with the Dark Lord's return to power, but it has proved very useful otherwise, too - like preventing students running off into the village, when they're supposed to be doing their detention!"
Snape yelled the last bit, making the two teenagers flinch and back into the wall.
"But Professor, we've fin -" Harry began, but Hermione clapped a hand to his mouth and pulled him down the corridor to the dungeons before Snape could take any more points off Gryffindor.
Back in the dungeons, Harry leaned against the wall and folded his arms.
"How can they do this us?" he muttered furiously, kicking a nearby cauldron.
"Well, you've got to admit, Dumbledore's right," said Hermione, leaning against the wall beside him and taking his hand. "The Death Eaters have been a lot more active recently and they could well find out about the tunnel through Honeydukes."
Harry still looked downcast, so Hermione kissed him on the cheek and added, "Don't worry, we'll find a way out of here."
But they didn't. The following evening, they tried flying out of the grounds on Harry's Firebolt, but just as they rose over the North Tower, they hit an invisible barrier, which Hermione recognized as the Bubble-Locking Charm, which had been placed over the castle, presumably till the last day of term. Then they tried the Whomping Willow passage, hoping to get to the village through the Shrieking Shack, only to find the tree no longer froze when they pressed the knot in its trunk and had to crawl back under its furious branches on their stomachs.
Attempt followed futile attempt and eventually, they gave up. Hermione managed to save their O.W.L marks with a Speed-Reading Charm she'd discovered, which meant they could get through their revision in a tenth of the time. Harry left his final exam unable to believe he'd mastered all that schoolwork in one week and that he'd made it through his exams without dying of frustration.
But his frustration was yet to come. Dumbledore called him to his office on the last day of term and made him swear that under no circumstances would he leave the Dursley household over the summer.
"I have placed similar charms to the ones on the school over number 4 Privet Drive," he explained gravely. "If you stay in the house, you will be as safe from Voldemort as I can make you. You may only leave the Dursleys if Sirius, Professor Lupin or myself tell you to, is that clear?"
"But Professor, Hermione…."Harry began, but Dumbledore cut him across.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow to see Ron or Hermione during the summer holidays," he said sharply. "I will order your school supplies by Owl Order for you. I don't want you going to Diagon Alley either. Promise me, Harry."
Resigned to the worst, Harry promised.
* * * *
Harry and Hermione had an emotional farewell at King's Cross the following day on Platform 9¾. After swearing to be in touch, they shared one last kiss and then stepped through the barrier, where they found the Dursleys waiting for Harry with their usual frowns of intense dislike, apparently in a hurry to get away from all of the weirdoes around them. Harry dejectedly hauled his trunk onto a trolley and followed the Dursleys out of the station, glancing back at Hermione, who mouthed, "Love you, sweetheart!" at him. Harry grinned and mouthed "love you too!" back, before Uncle Vernon opened the car door and shoved Harry inside.
The next few days were some of the worst in Harry's life. He missed Hermione too much to be able to eat or sleep very much, and his promise to Dumbledore meant there were still another six weeks until he'd see her on the Hogwarts Express. He couldn't ever remember time going as slow as it was now. The injustice of it was torturing him; he'd had almost fifteen years without parental love, five of which he'd spent secretly loving his best friend and now that he finally had love in his life, the love he'd been dreaming about for five years, good old Voldie's got to return and exile Harry from the girl he loved for a whole summer of torture.
Harry sat gloomily with his face in him hands on the sofa, ignoring the shrill ringing of the phone beside him. Uncle Vernon glared at Harry as he got up and answered the phone himself.
"Vernon Dursley speaking," he growled into the receiver.
"Hello, I was wondering if I could have a word with Mr. Harry Potter?" came a calm voice on the other end of the line, making Harry jump.
"Who is this?" Uncle Vernon barked, remembering the last time someone had called for the boy, some nutcase from that- that school screaming down the phone…
"My name is Rita Skeeter," came the reply, "I'm a reporter for the Daily Proph- er, Mail and we're doing a piece about orphans…I was wondering if I interview your, er, orphan in residence."
Uncle Vernon threw the receiver at Harry's forehead and marched out of living room, slamming the door behind him.
Hands trembling, Harry pressed the phone to his ear and said, "Hermione, that was brilliant!"
"I know!" said Hermione, sounding quite pleased with herself. "I had to think about that one. If I tried phoning you the way Ron did, I'm not sure there would be much left of you."
Harry laughed.
"How are you, Harry?" said Hermione, a note of concern in her voice.
"I'd be a lot better if I wasn't missing you so much," he admitted.
"I know, I miss you like mad too," said Hermione. "That's why I phoned. I was wondering if you wanted to…you know…"
"What?"
"…go on that date we've both been waiting for forever?"
Harry's heart sank. "Hermione, you know there's nothing I want more, but I told you, I swore to Dumbledore…"
"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Hermione sadly. "So you can't leave Privet Drive at all?"
"I can't leave number 4," Harry corrected dejectedly.
"Not even to Diagon Alley where there are loads of Aurors patrolling the place?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"No. Believe me, Hermione I've been dying to go out with you for years…"
"Okay!" said Hermione brightly. "fine. If you can't come out, I'll come and visit you!"
Harry was sure he'd hadn't heard correctly. "Sorry?"
"It's very simple! We're both dying to see each other. You can't come out of prison to see me, so I'll come and see you in prison! We don't have to have a date in town, we can have one in your room!"
For a moment, Harry worried about what the Dursleys would make of this, how they'd react to having one of his friends in their house, but as he heard Hermione breathing softly down the phone, his love for her stamped out these concerns.
"You're on!" he grinned. "How about tonight?"
"Can't wait," said Hermione cheerfully. "See you then!"
"I love you Hermione," he said, as the living room door opened and Dudley waddled in, forcing him to cut the conversation short.
"Love you more, sweetie," she said, then signed off before Harry could correct her.
Feeling lighter than a helium balloon, Harry went up to his room, full of the happiness only love can bring.
A/N there's the long awaited chapter three. Okay? I really hope you like it because I've just spent four hours writing it – non stop! And PLEASE, if you've got a heart at all and feel like adding some light to a teenager's life, (a teenager who'd give anything to be in Harry's shoes, may I add) if you want to do your good deed for the day, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS, SPRINKLES, HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS, WHIPPED CREAM AND A ZILLION CHERRIES ON TOP PLEEE-HEE-HEEEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!(this is kind of pathetic, isn't it? ;-)
Chapter Four….coming as soon as I get some reviews….