Harmione Winter Oneshots!
Warning: mention of periods, so if you don't like that don't read this oneshot.
Also, I'm very much a beginner. So yeah, sorry if it's not realistic crocheting or anything.
I don't own Harry Potter. That belongs to J.K Rowling and various publishing companies including Scholastic Corporation, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., Raincoast Books, or any other company that has to do with the movies or merchandise.
Oneshot Five – Sweaters
"You're kidding, right?"
Hermione frowned, looking down. Sure, what she had so far didn't look the prettiest. But she thought it would end up better when she was further along. Right now, a partially finished sweater dangled down near the ground from the yarn she held. Just the neck and the connected shoulder were there, but Hermione felt confident she could finish in time. After all, it was only August. This was only the first out of three sweaters that she wanted to make.
"I know it may not look like much fun, but we could do other things. Like talk while we crochet, or tell each other stories, or even race each other to see who makes theirs the fastest."
He was quick to shake his head, but not in the way she'd hoped.
"No way, count me out. I'd rather do something fun, like play chess. Speaking of which, there's Dean and Seamus. Gotta go! See ya, Hermione!"
Ron then walked quickly away to catch up to the other two boys.
Hermione sighed. Now she was alone again in the common room. Earlier in the day she had thought it was fine, but now was wishing for company. But all the kids were busy doing something else.
Harry was even at Quidditch practice, had been for half an hour already. The only reason Ron wasn't with him was he wasn't on the team. Which was odd since kids were allowed to join in their second year, and yet even now in third year Ron still hadn't wanted to try out.
Hermione quickly put that out of her mind though, focusing on her crochet.
Hermione made her way to the large sofa by the fireplace.
After about ten minutes, Harry came into the common room. He was dripping rain onto the carpet and wiping his glasses onto his shirt.
"Hey, Hermione. How are you?"
"Good, Harry. Are you done with Quidditch practice already? Has it been that long?"
She tried twisting her neck around to see the clock. But the movement made her uncomfortable, so she stopped.
Harry brought his arm up in the air only to wave his hand down.
"Nah, the sky opened up and started pouring heavy rain all of a sudden. So Oliver decided to cancel, though he wants us up earlier next time to make up for it. Who knows what the weather will be like though. Times like this I wish we had a television, so we could get the weather forecast."
"Yes, that would make things so much simpler. Well, I'm sorry that happened to you guys. But at least you can go get dry now."
She put on a small smile on her face, to try and reassure him. Hopefully it worked somewhat.
He smiled at her, noticing happily that hers grew wider the instant she saw his own.
"Yeah, I'll be back in a bit."
"Alright, Harry."
With that, Harry rushed up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.
He hurriedly put his broom near his bed and quickly kicked off his shoes. Fumbling with his wet clothes, he managed to get them off his body. He found a towel and ran it repeatedly over his body, wicking off some of the chill with it. He rummaged through his trunk for warm things. He pulled on sweats, some wooly socks, a long shirt, and a sweater. Harry felt overall warmer though soon remembered something. He then snagged a smaller towel through his hair, making it stand up in every direction.
He then returned to the common room. Hermione was still in the same spot.
"See? Told you I'd be back in a flash."
It took seconds to reach her on the couch. Harry then plopped down onto the cushion next to Hermione, making her bounce a little in her spot. Grabbing her hand and lacing their fingers together, he felt warm for a different reason. Then he started to give multiple kisses to her knuckles. They had started to date two weeks ago, and he felt that he couldn't get enough of her. Probably never would.
"Hi, again."
"Hello."
Hermione giggled at his dramatics. This made him smile after each brush of his lips on her skin.
But her sounds quickly turned into a tiny gasp as she saw a ball of yarn roll off the couch and towards the alive fire. With lightning speed, he leapt up and raced to it. He snatched it up, saving it from a fiery demise.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Turning to her, he prepared for her mad face. He thought it was cute, but it never stopped the stinging stab he felt whenever she was mad at him.
But to his surprise she was still smiling.
"Harry, please be careful."
He easily heard the smile in her voice. Harry breathed a mental sigh of relief, before rejoining her on the couch. He sent a sheepish smile her way, offering her the yarn. Then watched as she placed the ball on her other side, next to the plush arm behind her. Harry then kissed Hermione's temple twice before whispering in her ear.
"Sorry, love. Didn't mean to almost cause the end of your project."
Hermione patted his hand.
"It's ok, love. Thanks for getting the yarn before it reached the fireplace."
Harry nodded.
"Yeah, didn't want it to catch fire. What are you making anyways?"
"I'm still working on the sweater from the other day."
"Oh yeah. The one for your mother, right?"
Nodding, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. As she did so, she breathed in the smell of his wet hair and the scent of lingering rain. Her hand came up to ruffle his drying hair, mostly away from his face. She kept on smiling as Harry leant into her touch.
"That's right. After this one I'll start on the one for my father. And then to finish off the immediate family, there's a third sweater which I want to make for my grandmother."
"Wow, that's cool. Think you'll be able to finish in time for Christmas? I know it's only the beginning of August, but still…"
"Yeah, if I time them right. And keep on schedule."
"That's great. Do you want some help?"
Hermione snuggled into Harry's side even more. Then her arms came from behind and front, to surround him. He felt an extra tight squeeze on his sides, but loved it all the same.
"No thank you, Harry. I've got it covered. But would you still like to learn, even though I've got my list of people handled?"
Harry gave her a squeeze of his own, pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah, that would be great. Thank you, Hermione."
More kisses resumed, this time on their faces.
And so, Harry learned how to crochet.
It was a slow process, especially at the start.
He would do a loop for a few notches, only to concentrate on something else (like the homework he was trying to do alongside). He'd do it for a while before going back to his crocheting, only to forget how to do a loop and need a quick reminder from Hermione. But soon, the repetition caught on for Harry. He found it easier bit by bit as he kept on practicing. And not trying to do two things at once.
Though this did not mean he surpassed beginner and straight into professional level. Harry still had regular mishaps despite how easy it became to do crochet. He easily got annoyed whenever he messed up. Like when he would miss the hook and have to try to catch the yarn again. He even encountered where the stitch would look wonky. Twice he forgot where he stopped, when he finished for a day and wanted to resume another time.
But Hermione was always quick to calm him down. Harry would then fix his mistakes or start over if it were needed. Whenever they were working together, she'd give him helpful tips on what he was doing. And would shower him with compliments of how well he was doing. Harry made sure to dole out praise to Hermione as well, to him her sweaters looked great.
"Yours is looking so good, Hermione!"
She leaned over and gave him a peck on the lips.
"Thanks, Harry!"
She peered at his own.
"That looks good!"
His heart fluttered in delight.
"Thanks, Hermione!"
"Do you feel you've got it down now?"
"Yeah, I think so. These rings help a lot. Thank you for telling me about them."
He glanced at her almost finished sweater, to see small plastic clip-on rings on her own crochet fabric. He reckoned she'd finish it today. And knowing Hermione like he did, he figured the second sweater would be begun the next day.
It was now almost the end of August.
"So what color are you gonna do for your dad's sweater?"
"I'm thinking a creamy beige. He always likes to wear that color in the fall. As opposed to mom, who likes darker browns."
"That sounds interesting. I bet they'll compliment each other nicely."
"Yeah, I think that's part of why he likes them."
Time went on.
Despite how much Harry appreciated Hermione's help, he didn't want her to see the gift he was making for her. Well, not as he progressed anyways. Once he got an idea of what he wanted to make, he decided to create her gift separate on his own time.
In Hermione's presence he started to just do his homework. It was still enjoyable, even though he couldn't give her his full attention all the time. Though more often than not, Harry forgot about his homework and ended up watching as she did row after row of yarn until most of the clothing formed. It was both soothing and relaxing seeing Hermione calmly chugging along.
By the beginning of December, Hermione asked to borrow Hedwig which Harry agreed to. She had finished all three sweaters for her family. Harry hoped they liked what Hermione made them. He thought her work was amazing. There was dark and medium browns for her mother, beige and cream for her father, and pink and purple for her grandmother. Harry couldn't see any holes or other mistakes.
Mid-December Hedwig had three parcels to deliver to the Granger household. Harry gave his bird extra pieces of bacon before he sent her off.
Soon enough, it was Christmas morning.
By the tree in the common room, Harry and Hermione sat face to face. They had presents surrounding them. Harry opened his first.
To his pleasant surprise, Hermione gave him a crocheted sweater. The pattern was big stripes, and was blue and white. He quickly put it on over his thin long-sleeved pajama top. It fit great, plus was even a little baggy just like he preferred it. Harry could feel how soft the garment was.
He wondered how she had time to do it.
She brought up her hand to touch her palm to his cheek. Her voice was soft as she spoke to him. Answering his unasked question.
"Harry, you goof. I finished your sweater ages ago. Before I even began to work on the rest. You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you?"
His eyes looked down to the floor for a second, before meeting her gaze again.
"Well, I didn't want to assume."
"I know we've only been dating for a few months now, but to me you're already part of my family."
Harry's heartbeat quickly kicked up. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. Hermione's legs tangled with his as she adjusted to her new position in his arms. After a while of this, Harry and Hermione finished their hug and she sat up, although a bit closer than before.
"I feel the same about you, Hermione. You've always been family to me. Just a bit more now."
Hermione booped his nose with her finger. He quickly leaned forward to kiss her pointer finger as it drew away.
Harry then passed over Hermione's load. He watched her open ones from others with anticipation. Finally, she got to his gift for her.
Opening the box, Hermione gasped. Harry couldn't tell if that was good or bad. But before he could think on it anymore, she hugged it to her chest.
Harry had made her a crop top sweater. It was red and pink. The stripes were thinner than what she gave him, but still straight and uniform.
"So uh…first off don't get mad. What I'm about to say might be embarrassing for you, but it's the truth."
Rubbing the back of his neck from nervousness, Harry looked off to the side before telling himself to look at Hermione.
He saw her nod confusedly. She was silent while she did so. He took a deep breath and continued on.
"Ok here goes. You know your monthly period? How you get hot mostly near your stomach area, but cold in others?"
Hermione once again nodded, but this time she looked mildly shocked.
"Well ahhhh…so I wanted to give you something to help you out. Keep your arms warm, while leaving your belly free."
Hermione loved it. What she saw when she looked at the clothing, was how Harry tried his best. And that was all that mattered. Not if she got embarrassed talking about her periods.
She tried to pour her appreciation into her expression as well as her voice.
"Thank you so much, Harry. I love your gift."
Oh, there came the tears. A drop fell down her cheek and Harry reached forward slightly to wipe it.
"You like it? This isn't crossing a line or anything weird to you?"
"Not at all, love. You're such an amazing boyfriend for wanting to help me out in your own way."
Hermione caught his hand in her own and began kissing it, watching Harry's expression mellow out from worried and going to peaceful. When he spoke, she knew she had gotten him to calm down.
"Well I figured that if I can't share your pain or take it away, this is the least I can do. I'm so glad you like it, though."
"You're wonderful, Harry. I'm so lucky to have you in my life."
Harry and Hermione then spent the rest of the day cuddling by the fireplace.
At the end of the night, Harry took his sweater off with care. He loved the feel of it, the soft yarn felt cool to his hands.
Carefully folding their sweaters, Harry and Hermione put them in their piles to take to their trunks. They fell asleep with smiles on their faces. It had been a great Christmas.