Meet You There
Chapter 13
~*~
She's all I need
She's all I dream
She's all I'm always wanting…
I'm always wanting you
~*~
As Harry and Ron sat down at the table, Ginny walking around the other side to sit with Dean, Harry spoke up, "Where's the new Defence against the Dark arts teacher?" he asked Ron, but he just shrugged.
"I don't know, they weren't here last night either, I've got no idea who it is" he said, loading his plate with food.
"I'll give you a clue" came a voice from behind them, making Harry jump and drop mashed potatoes all over his pants.
"Shit" he muttered, and waved his wand over his them as he looked up at the mystery person. "Lupin?!" he said, astounded at seeing him there.
"Professor Lupin, Harry" he said grinning, "And watch your language" he added, but he was laughing.
"What're you doing here Professor?" Ron asked.
"I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher" he said simply.
"But…what about third year? I thought you said the parents didn't want you working here because of…well…you know…" Harry trailed off awkwardly.
Lupin patted him on the shoulder, "It's all right Harry, because of what happened…well you know…in the Department of Mysteries…everyone seems to be a lot friendlier towards me nowadays" he said, looking like it was hard to not be too emotional about it but Harry suddenly glared at him.
"Don't talk about that place to me" he said furiously, and turned his back on Lupin, stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes.
He heard Lupin sigh behind him, and he knew Ron was looking at him pityingly. "I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to…I know how you feel…" Lupin started, but Harry broke in angrily,
"No you DON'T know how I feel but you don't need to pity me all right?! I'm fine, why won't…" but he stopped as he saw Hermione walking over to them. He smiled at her, calming down slightly at the sight of her and seemingly forgetting that she'd told Ron she loved someone else, "Scoot over kid" he said to a fourth year who had been sitting next to him with his friends, and he quickly moved out of the way so Hermione could sit down. "Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly, completely ignoring Lupin, although not purposely, who had been watching Harry's action the whole time.
He smiled, and turned to the red head, "See you in class tomorrow Ron" he said, and left to sit down at the head table.
Hermione nodded, not noticing Lupin as she concentrated on Harry "Thanks for…comforting me, Harry, I really needed it" she said warmly, and he smiled at her.
"No problem Mione, I'm always here for you" he said rubbing her leg affectionately for a minute. Ron was watching them curiously,
"Erm, guys?" he said, starting to get a little ticked off at the electricity between his friends. They both looked over to him,
"Sorry Ron I didn't see you there" Hermione said laughing, and Ron smiled awkwardly.
She looked at him strangely, "Ron, I thought we said we wouldn't let this get awkward" she said sighing, and Ron's ears went red.
"It's not awkward Hermione" he said immediately, and Harry couldn't help but laugh. Ron glared at him, but he snickered again,
"Sorry mate, just slipped out" he said simply, patting his friend on the back. Ron looked at him, still a bit ticked off but decided to let it go, and started to laugh. Hermione joined in and pretty soon the three of them were laughing so hard, people were looking at them as if they were mental.
Ginny looked over at the three friends and smiled, "Look's like the trio's back to normal"
* * *
"Hey, Colin!! Colin!" Harry ran down the hall, running after the slightly star struck teenager. His eyes widened slightly as he saw that it was Harry running after him, but he tried to hide it as he spoke.
"Yes, Harry?" he asked, looking up at him slightly in awe, as he was quite a bit shorter than Harry who had grown a heck of a lot.
"Are you in Ginny Weasley's next class?" he asked quickly, and Colin nodded,
"Yup, Herbology, why?"
Harry smiled in relief, "Just give her this note will you?" He replied, passing a rolled up piece of parchment to Colin, who took it and put it in his bag.
"Sure thing, Harry, see you later"
Harry smiled, "Thanks Colin" he said hurriedly, and ran off towards the Dungeons for potions. "Don't be late, don't be late, don't be…"
"Late, Potter"
* * *
Colin swore under his breath, as the Professor told him he was five minutes late, "Sorry Professor Sprout, I was just talking to Harry and he…" he started but she cut him off,
"I don't care who you were talking to Creevey, just sit down, it's all right you're never usually late." She said laughing lightly, obviously in a good mood. As Colin walked past Ginny's seat, he dropped the note in her lap, unnoticed by Professor Sprout who was now talking loudly about the next activity they were supposed to be doing.
Ginny looked curiously behind her at Colin, but he wasn't paying attention, so she turned back around and opened the rolled up parchment as quietly as she could, when she saw Harry's writing she got even more curious, and checked to make sure Professor Sprout wasn't looking before she read it with interest,
Ginny,
I was thinking since Hermione's birthday is coming up soon, we could
have some sort of surprise party for her, because it is her 16th birthday
and that's usually pretty important, isn't it? Anyway, I just
couldn't wait until after classes to tell you, I just wanted to know
what you think about it, and please don't tell anyone unless you
have to; I really want it to be a surprise. We can talk more about
it later with Ron and maybe a couple other people that want to
help, meet me in my dorm after your last class,
- Harry
Ginny smiled broadly, this was an excellent idea since Hermione had never really wanted to do much on her birthday, but Ginny thought she just didn't want to bother anyone. She sat there all through her last two classes thinking about it, unable to concentrate on anything, and simply dying to tell someone. But she kept her mouth shut, as Harry requested, and simply waited anxiously for the day to be over.
* * *
Harry stumbled through the portrait hole, and slammed it noisily behind him, running towards the fire where a group of 6th years were sitting. "Ron, Dean, Ginny, everyone else, come up to my room, quickly!" he shouted as he ran up the stairs. As he saw most of them just sitting there staring at him curiously he glared at them, "Don't ask questions, just get your asses off the couch!!" he yelled.
They finally got up, all of them looking strangely at each other, besides Ron, Ginny and Dean, who Ginny had told about Harry's plan. They all piled into the boys dorm, right before Hermione came through the portrait hole.
"Okay, Harry, what was that all about?" Lavender said as she sat down on Neville's bed, with Parvarti, and Neville next to her. A few murmured agreements came up from the rest of them.
"Sorry I had to rush you, but Hermione was coming." He said simply, and there were many confused faces,
"So? Why wouldn't you want her to be with us too, don't you like her anymore?" Neville said, and Harry almost laughed at the hilarity of those words,
"Believe me Neville, I definitely still like her" he said, glancing at Ginny who was smiling at the ground. "Anyways, I didn't want her to know we were up here because we're going to plan a surprise party for her 16th birthday"
Lavender and Parvarti squealed together, "Oooh, I love surprise parties!! When's her birthday?" Ron rolled his eyes at the pair, but was smiling and a few others laughed.
"The 19th, so it's pretty soon" Harry said, and everyone else nodded.
Seamus grinned excitedly, rubbing his hands together. "Let's plan this thing then"
* * *
"So tell everyone you can, it doesn't matter really who it is, just no Slytherins because…well I don't think I need to explain myself"
Everyone laughed, as Harry made a face showing how he felt about that particular house.
"So, how are we all going to get out of here without Herm…?" Kate started when suddenly there was a knock at the door and they all jumped,
"Harry?" came an all too familiar voice that usually made Harry's eyes light up, and a grin to cross his face, but his reaction this time was a bit different.
"Hide!!" he whispered fiercely, and everyone dashed to hide themselves, under the beds, in the wardrobes, in the bathroom, anywhere. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and threw it over Ron, Ginny and Dean.
"What are you..?" Ron whispered, but Ginny put a hand over his mouth.
"Harry take your shirt off" she said quietly and quickly, and Harry looked at the spot where Ginny had vanished, with a shocked expression.
"What?!" Harry said rather loudly, and winced as he heard Hermione speak again,
"Erm, sorry Harry is it a bad time?" came her voice sounding a bit awkward,
"No, No, sorry Hermione, one second!!" he yelled through the door. "Why?!" he whispered fiercely to Ginny's direction,
"Because she'll get distracted and won't ask any questions!" came Ginny's voice quickly, and Harry heard Ron make a small noise of indignation from under the cloak. "Then you can take her down to dinner, and we can all get out of here with out her seeing us!" Harry thought about the extremely weird idea for a second, before making up his mind and whipping of his shirt. He could almost feel Ginny smirking appreciatively at him as he walked towards the door, and was positive that he had heard giggles coming from certain parts of the room.
As he opened the door, he discovered Ginny had been perfectly right, Hermione looked at him with slightly wider eyes and stammered out,
"Erm…hi Harry….I um…can't remember why I came up here…there's uh…no one downstairs…" she said, looking around her as if asking for a reason. Harry laughed at her unusual behaviour, though he knew he'd probably act even worse if he'd seen her half naked.
"Sorry Mione, I was just getting changed, do you want to go down for dinner?" he asked, as he quickly grabbed a sweatshirt from the nearest bed and pulled it over himself.
"Sure" she said, able to contain herself, now that he'd put something on.
As they shut the door behind them, everyone came out from their hiding spots, most of the girls smiling cheekily to each other and Ron was surprisingly laughing. "Merlin, you're clever Ginny! You'd think she liked him or something!" he said chuckling as he walked towards the door, not seeing the many sideward glances and smirks behind his back.
* * *
"I'm so excited!!" Hermione said the next day as they walked to their first Defense against the Dark Arts Class of the year. "I can't believe I didn't notice him at dinner yesterday!"
Ron shrugged, "I dunno, I guess you were distracted or something, he didn't really stick around long anyway" he said casually as they sat down in the second row from the front of the classroom.
"Hey Ron!" The three of them looked up as Lavender walked up to them beaming. Ron looked at her a bit oddly, but gave her a charming smile anyway,
"Hi Lavender" he said, closing the book he'd opened. "How are you?"
Lavender smiled "I'm better now" she said sitting on his lap, and the trio looked at her as if she'd grown three heads before she started to laugh, and jumped off Ron's lap. "I'm just kidding Ron, I would never actually say something so cheesy!" she said, giggling, and he laughed along with her. Hermione watched the two continue to flirt happily, and she turned to smirk at Harry who was working hard to keep his face straight.
Just as he was about to burst out laughing, the door opened, and in walked Professor Lupin. "Good afternoon everyone" he said enthusiastically, setting down his suitcase on the large desk at the front of the room.
"Good afternoon Professor" the class chirped in unison back to him, as Lavender walked smoothly back to her seat, Ron watching her hips sway as she did this.
Lupin cleared his throat, looking pointedly at Ron, and his ears when bright red as he snapped his head to the front. Harry chuckled lightly to himself, and Hermione sighed happily beside him, since in her opinion that had to be the sexiest sound ever.
"Okay, by a show of hand, who was in an association called the DA last year?" Harry started as he heard Lupin ask the question, and felt Hermione jump slightly beside him, as they looked at each other oddly, while Ron wasn't even paying attention. The class seemed to be holding back…no one was putting their hands up. Harry looked around at the many faces who he knew had been in the DA and raised his hand into the air, making the rest of them eventually put their hands up too.
Lupin looked around at the few people who hadn't raised their hands, "Well for those of you who weren't a part of it, that's all right, I can explain it to you" he said, clapping his hands together, looking almost excited. "Last year, Mr. Potter here, thought of the idea to…" he started but Harry interrupted loudly,
"It was Hermione's idea actually, Professor" Lupin smiled at him, as Hermione hit him lightly, her cheeks flushing pink.
"Right you are Harry…Ms. Granger had the idea to join a little group together to practice defensive magic to use against Lord Voldemort" he said, ignoring the several winces around the room at the name. "As you all should be well aware of, Voldemort has returned and we all need to be prepared if anything should ever happen here at Hogwarts." The room suddenly went deathly silent, but Lupin quirked a small smile, "Which I assure you is very unlikely to happen, but nonetheless, Professor Dumbledore and I still think it's a good idea for you all to know how to defend yourselves" He finished his little speech, and there was a lot of interested murmuring throughout the class room
"All right, so let's get started shall we…."
* * *
As class ended, Hermione, Harry and Ron began to walk out of the class, but Hermione spoke up the moment they'd gotten outside. "I think I'm going to go to the library a bit before dinner" she said, putting her wand in her bag.
Ron rolled his eyes, "Haven't been back a week and you're off to the library already" he said, and Harry laughed while Hermione frowned.
"That's our Hermione" Harry said patting her fondly on the head, her frown disappearing into a small smile as she walked away, waving over her shoulder.
"This is good actually, now we can talk about her party" Came a voice from behind, making them jump.
"Merlin Ginny, don't do that!" Harry said exasperatedly as he saw the pretty red head; she laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder,
"Whatever, let's go" she said, leading the way.
Ron sighed in almost annoyance, "What is there to talk about?" he asked as they walked up to Gryffindor Tower.
Ginny looked at him impatiently, "Well we don't know how we're going to keep Hermione preoccupied while we're getting ready do we?" she said irritably. "We've got to decide what to do"
"Well we can just take her to Hogsmeade while you're decorating or whatever" Ron said, gesturing to Harry and himself, but Ginny shook her head as they reached the Fat Lady.
"Someone has to go get the butter beer and candy from Hogsmeade that day, she'd see them"
Harry frowned slightly, "Uh…I don't want just anybody wearing my invisibility cloak Gin" he said as Ron told the password to the Fat Lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole.
"I know Harry, that's why I think only one of you should take Hermione out, and the other can buy the party stuff" Ginny said sitting down on a large cushy chair in front of the fire, and motioning for them to do so too.
But neither of them sat down, "Only one of us?" Ron asked, glancing at Harry uneasily.
"We have to choose?" Harry said, looking back at Ron in the same way.
Ginny looked up at the two's slightly anxious faces and laughed, "Yeah you have to choose, but it's not a big deal, just flip a coin" she said casually, and Harry groaned while Ron grinned broadly.
"Coins hate me, I've never won a coin toss in my life" he said, and Ron couldn't hide his gleeful smile.
"Touch luck mate" he said patting him on the back, "Got any coins?"
Harry glared at him as he took a spare sickle out of his pocket and gave it to Ginny, who looked at him reassuringly, but he wasn't very convinced.
"Okay, Harry you get to call it since you seem to think you're bad at this" Ginny said laughing, and flipping the coin in the air, and catching it in her hand, looking at it laying in her palm, but hiding it from the boys.
"Uhh..hea…" Harry started to say but he noticed Ginny wince slightly and he quickly changed his mind, "I mean tails…yeah, tails"
Ron smiled evilly at Harry, "Bad choice their Potter, heads always…" Ginny took her hand away to reveal the coin, smiling triumphantly at Harry, and Ron stopped dead in his tracks. Harry started to laugh happily, "What were you saying Weasley?" he said, a huge grin on his face.
Ron folded his arms grumbling, "Oh shut up" he muttered as Harry plopped onto the couch still laughing. Ron sat down next him looking miserably into the fire.
"Why so glum, Ron?" Lavender sat down next him, appearing from no where, with Seamus and Kate behind her. Ron looked at her pretty face, and couldn't help but smile, "I lost a coin toss" he said simply, shrugging as if it didn't matter much anymore.
"Well what was it about?" she asked curiously.
"We were just deciding who gets to keep Hermione preoccupied while we're getting ready for her party" Ginny said, smirking at Harry, and he laughed at how she'd made it sound.
"Ohh, I see…and Harry won?" Lavender said, looking over to Harry with a small smirk on her face.
"Sure did" said Harry, looking at Lavender, knowing she knew his secret, as her eyes were sparkling.
"Well I hope you enjoy that Harry" she said smiling, and then stood up, "Do you want to come down to dinner with me Ron?" she asked, playing with her hair as she did.
"Sure" Ron said immediately, getting up off the couch, looking like he'd completely forgotten about the coin toss. "See you down there" he added to the rest and they all just nodded.
The minute they'd shut the portrait hole door, they all started to talk again, "Look's like someone likes Ron there doesn't it?" Kate said, and they all laughed, nodding in agreement.
As everyone continued to talk, Harry went to sit on the arm of Ginny's chair, "So how am I going to preoccupy her, we can't go to Hogsmeade…" he said, and rolled his eyes as Ginny smirked suggestively at him, "and not that"
Ginny laughed, "And not what Harry? What did you think I was going to say?" she said innocently, and Harry shook his head although he was smiling.
"I need something she'll really enjoy…"
"Believe me Harry she'd enjoy…"
"GINNY!!"
"Sorry"
Ginny went into a fit of giggles, and Harry laughed at her insane behaviour, before it hit him. "Hey!! I could take her for a ride on my broom" he said, making Ginny laugh so hard she fell off the chair.
"Ginny you're sick" Harry said chuckling, "But honestly, I know she hates flying, but I'm sure I could persuade her"
Ginny stopped laughing and breathed deeply trying to calm herself, "So you're going to try to give her flying lessons?" she asked, a bit more calm. Harry nodded,
"Sure why not, it'll certainly take up our time" he said casually, but he had a funny look in his eyes although he had a hidden meaning, and Ginny spotted it perfectly.
"…and of course you like the idea of her holding on to you don't you?" she said smiling, and his cheeks went a bit pink. She laughed lightly, "You're so cute Harry" she said warmly.
Harry nodded absently as he suddenly remembered something, "Hey Gin…umm you know how I uh…feel…about Hermione…" he started and Ginny smiled nodding, urging him to continue. "Well uh…you know when Ron told Hermione that he liked her?" he asked, and she nodded, not liking where this could be going. "I just remembered, when he came back…he said that she…" Harry cleared his throat, "…that she um...liked someone else…okay well actually she said she loved someone else" he finished, looking at his feet, willing his emotions to stay back.
Ginny looked at him with a slightly sad smile on her face, "Yes she does love someone else Harry, she doesn't feel that way about Ron" she said, wishing she could just tell him, but Hermione had made her swear not to, which in her opinion was absolutely ridiculous.
Harry looked at her, the hurt evident in his eyes, and Ginny almost felt like she'd done something to him. "Do you know who it is." He said in a hollow voice, now looking past her at the wall. Ginny looked around her awkwardly for an easy escape, and thanked god when she saw Dean walking over to her.
"Hey Gin, want to go down to dinner?" he asked, putting his hand out for her, and she smiled at him.
"Sure" she said, getting up. "Sorry Harry, but I can't really talk about that" she whispered to him, before turning back to Dean with a smile, and walking away.
Harry watched her and Dean talk and laugh happily as they opened the portrait, Dean's arm around Ginny's waist, and he suddenly felt very empty.
He walked up the stairs to his dorm, and fished out his photo album from under his bed, flipping to his favourite picture of Hermione. No matter how miserable he felt, she could always make him smile…
He'd never wanted anything more.
* * *
~*~ Hey everyone!! Okay I tried out a new way of writing my story, I started a new sentence every time another person would talk…someone suggested it to me and I don't know if this is what they meant but I hope I did it right!! Haha just tell me if you guys don't like it and I'll go back to writing like I used to okay?? K so hope you liked the chapter…I thought it was kinda boring because it was basically just planning the party…but next chapter will be better!! Flying lessons heheh !! Review please!! Oh and here's the list of people I wanted to thank for reviewing last time:
Silver Foot, Jacq, Raiona Alvana, Doomikazi, evilfairy 14, Irish Lass1, Kristen, Diet pepsi girl, witchysha, Lindee, X-MenfanRogue 13, Maren LP, Lizz, harryhermione 12, huggablemix, drxd, ears91, Mgranger, Leah6, Melissa37
And there were some questions so here are the answers, to Mgranger thanks for reminding me about that slide thing, I totally forgot about it but it would be too complicated to fix it, so I'll just make sure I don't make the same mistake again but thanks for pointing that out, it is a pretty cute part in the book!
To Maren LP, sorry I don't know how many chapters the story's going to be yet, we'll just have to see how long it takes me to finish it! But I definitely still have quite a ways to go!
To Kristen, don't worry they won't be admitting their feelings on Christmas….I might have a christmass ball or a dance or something, but they won't admit it then, it'll just be for fun!
To Raiona Alvana , I would never ever make Ron the bad guy, because he is a really funny character, and I think the trio are just too good friends to split up about something like that…Ron will have someone else, he'll get over Hermione, and he'll eventually be happy about H/Hr! And thank you for reminding me about the flying motorcycle!! I have to admit I forgot about it haah I'm so ashamed of myself
Okay so that's it hope you guys liked it Review please! ~