By: FayeValentine00
Chapter 2
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"G-Good morning. I almost didn't recognize you." His voice sounded so cold compared to the usual warmth that'd I'd grown to love over the last nearly 6 years. I felt the urge to wrap my arms tightly around his neck and hug him until the old Harry returned but seeing as I wasn't sure if he'd allow it, I stuck with humor.
"Do I look that bad?" I couldn't keep the smile off of my face as I did a little turn in front of Harry so he could see the whole outfit. "I must say that I'm glad my mother convinced to buy these clothes. Our robes aren't exactly the most flattering attire, are they?"
My heart nearly leapt from my chest when I saw a small smile grace Hary's face and when he spoke with a hint of humor in his voice, I nearly cried out of happiness.
"No, the robes aren't very flattering but you do look great."
Unable to control myself, I flung myself into his arms. "Oh Harry, I missed you so much and I've been so worried!"
He stood still for a moment before I felt his arms wrap tightly around my middle. It took every ounce of self control not to start crying but I knew that a crying female was just one more thing that Harry didn't need to deal with.
"I missed you too, Hermione."
When we finally stepped apart a few moments later I realized that people in the cafe had begun to stare at us so I took Harry's arm and pulled him inside.
"What have you been doing this summer?" He posed the question once we'd been seated at a table away from the windows. I assumed he just wanted to keep the questions away from himself so I smiled and complied.
"Not too much really. I read most of next years text books already and my parents and I took a trip to Scotland a few weeks ago which was really interesting. Oh yeah, and my mom bought me some clothes as you can see."
"And make-up too," he added with a teasing smile.
"Fine Harry, and make-up too." I smiled despite my best efforts to glare evily. Harry simply knew me too well not to tease me about suddenly shown up looking completely different.
We ate slowly while I did my best to keep up a constant conversation of small talk but it was hard because Harry kept retreating back into himself. As I took a sip of my tea, I couldn't help but think that I might never get the Harry back that I'd grown to love and that was unacceptable.
"Just ask whatever you're thinking so hard about, Hermione. You look miserable." There was a tone of defeat in his voice that I didn't miss so I jumped at the chance to try to help him.
"How are you doing, Harry?"
"I'm fine."
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" My yell sent ever head in the house turned towards our table and I immediatly lowered my voice, feeling guilty. "No. You're not okay. You don't write. You don't call. You look awful."
"Thanks for the pep talk," his eyes rolled as he spoke.
"You know what I mean. I miss you, I really do. Dealing with everything that happened last year has been hard for all of us and I know it's been worse for you but please don't go away. I'm so afraid of losing you. It feels like..." I took a moment to blink back my tears and look into Harry's eyes before I continued on. "It feels like you don't even care about us anymore."
Harry sighed deeply with an unreadable expression on his face and for a moment I feared that he'd completely shut himself off to me but then he spoke.
"I'm sorry." With his eyes fixed on the napkin in his lap, he continued in a low voice. "I still care. I'm just... I'm just scared, I guess."
"Scared?" Of all the things that I'd expected to hear out of his mouth, fear was not one of them.
"Think about it, Hermione. First Cedric and then Sirius. Who's next? I can't just stand by and watch people get killed off one by one."
I nodded my head in understanding, not quite sure what else to do. My mind was going in every direction but in the end, I spoke from my heart. "It's okay to be scared but don't push us away. Ron and I are your best friends and we'll do anything to help you. You know that, right?"
"I know," he nodded slightly. "But what happens if you or Ron are the ones to get hurt next. I'd never forgive myself."
"Don't think about that now. Please!" I reached out and wrapped my hand around his. "Lets just try to get things back to how they were."
"It's different now." He eyes met mine and held firm.
"I know it is but we have to try."
We stared into each others eyes for a long time before he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement and squeezed my hand firmly. "Alright. I'll try. Are you happy now?"
"Yes. Never happier!" I knew I had a huge grin on my face but thankfully Harry returned the smile as well as he could.
We finished our lunch and decided to walk around muggle London for a while. Since both of us had grown up in muggle families, muggle things were nothing new but everytime we saw something slightly odd we'd laugh about how Ron would react. As the day wore on, Harry seemed to liven up bit by bit. Before I realized where the day I gone, the sun'd begun to set.
"I guess I should start heading home."
"Do you mind if I escort you?" Harry's question stunned me but I found myself nodding anyway.
We walked most of the way in silence until we reached my block and he took my arm, pulling me to a stop. "I wanted to say thank you for forcing me to meet you today."
"Force you? I didn't force you."
The knowing look in his eyes silenced me but then he smiled. "If you hadn't forced me to come then I guess I'd still be sitting at home feeling miserable. I just didn't realize how much I missed you until I saw you."
"Don't be silly, Harry. It's just the make-up that makes you say that." I started to laugh but when he didn't join in, I realized he was totally serious.
"I'm not joking. I'm really glad we met for lunch."
"Well... I'm glad." I found myself nearly speechless at the expression in Harry's eye. I was shocked to find that he was completely serious.
"Do you want to met again next week?"
"Y-Yeah. Er, I mean... yes, I'd love to. Ummm... same place and time, then?"
"Sounds good. See you then."
Before walking away, Harry bent down and kissed me on the cheek. As he walked away I realized that it was the first time he'd ever done that. Of course I'd kissed him on the cheek before but somehow this entire sitsuation seemed different and as I headed back into my house, I couldn't get the image of Harry out of my mind.
