Chapter 4, Hermione's Birthday
Harry's first week of teaching had been difficult. All of his classes with the Slytherins had resulted in their loss of many, many points. Particularly bad was his class with the fifth year Slytherins that Hermione had taught. The same boy who had tormented Hermione had been more than a little rude to Harry. He had refused to say his name, first of all. Then he had let a go of a dungbomb right on Harry's desk, saying that Harry must have eaten something particularly bad for lunch. He had constantly talked well above a whisper, saying how he planned to serenade Professor Granger with a very nasty set of lyrics, and on and on until he had wound up taking away the remaining points awarded to Slytherin and won himself a month's worth of detentions. Hermione had been sympathetic, saying that this particular boy had his name down in every single teacher's book as a troublemaker. She also told him that she had found a bouquet of Stink Lilies on her desk with a note that said she looked as well as the flowers smelled.
Harry had also mentioned to her what Dumbledore had said and she pointed out that the fact that his scar was disappearing was probably why Betty had asked if he were really Harry Potter.
"You can't speak parsel tongue any more?" she asked, very much surprised.
"Nope," Harry said. "But it's not like I run into all that many snakes, anyway." Harry thought back to his last conversation with a snake. It had only been a few months ago. Nagini, Voldemort's snake, had been wrapped around his entire body.
"Leave me!" Harry had hissed.
"You have no right to order me around," the snake had hissed back. "I serve one Master, and he is your enemy. He has promised me that I may eat you when you have died."
"Am I dead now?" Harry asked.
"No, but soon, very soon." She had tightened her grip.
"Your master would not be pleased if you should be the one to kill me," Harry whispered menacingly. "He does not care for you. He cares for no one. When he is done with you, he will have you killed."
"No!" the snake had hissed. "You lie, you lie!" Nagini broke her hold to call to her master, and in that moment Harry had broken free. He summoned up all his hatred and used the death curse to destroy the snake.
A shiver ran down Harry's back. The further he was from any gift given to him by Voldemort, the better. He did not want to be like him. It was better this way.
Harry's thoughts returned to a pleasanter matter. During the past days, he had made up his mind that he had not been imagining his feelings for Hermione. They were real. His feelings for Cho had been only skin- deep. He already loved Hermione. He had for years now. With Ron out of sight, and out of mind, Harry felt much freer. He had come up with a plan. Hermione's birthday was going to be on a Saturday in another week and a half. He was going to ask her to go with him to Hogsmeade, and he was going to tell her there. He couldn't bear to go much longer without her knowing. He had felt enough of that sort of apprehension with Cho. He wasn't about to waste his time. The days leading up to the 18th were very fun for Harry. He had left a beautiful bouquet of amaryllis for her on her desk, with a note that said that it was from her secret admirer, who, by the way, was not a certain Slytherin boy without manners. He had also taken to leaving her other notes around the castle where she was sure to find them. Each of which led up to a request to meet with her on her birthday at noon at a restaurant in Hogsmeade.
"It's very strange," Hermione had said, after finding a note which said "on your" on it. "I'm almost certain that this isn't another trick by that bratty Slytherin. Someone actually wants to, erm, get to know me better." She was blushing. Harry had to fake a cough attack just to hide his smile.
"I really think you should go to meet this guy," Harry said at last.
"You know? I think I will. I wonder who it could be? It can't be one of the students, that's not a Hogsmeade weekend..."
On the morning of Hermione's birthday, Harry told her that he was going to stay and work on grading papers, but around ten, he slipped on his invisibility cloak and hurried off to Hogsmeade. He gave the greeter and waiter a set of instructions. At exactly noon, Harry caught a glance of Hermione, dressed up a bit, walk through the door.
"How do you do, ma'am? We've been expecting you." He led her to a table. Then a waiter appeared and brought with him a hors d'oeuvre platter. "A young gentleman asked that you close your eyes for a moment." Hermione did as she was told and Harry crept into the seat across from her. He slipped his invisibility cloak off and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. She opened her eyes and jumped several inches.
"Harry! What are you doing here!" she was looking all around her, very confused. "Hang on..."
"Ha ha," Harry muttered.
"Wait a minute, are you...?"
"Happy birthday Hermione." Her face fell for a moment, but then she smiled.
"You tricked me into thinking I had a secret admirer so you could throw me a surprise party!" Harry went red.
"Er, no Hermione. I, I am your secret admirer." Hermione started laughing very hard.
"Oh, Harry," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Really though, what is this all about?"
"Well," Harry said, adjusting himself uncomfortably. "The thing is..." He looked down at a crab puff on the platter. Hermione had suddenly become very rigid.
"You mean, you, you...? Harry, is this... a date?" She looked positively alarmed. Then she broke into a smile and she reached over and held his hand. "I've been waiting for this moment for years, you know. Ever since we first met, I've liked you. It was hard on me when I realized that you only saw me as a friend, and I got over it. I should have told you years ago... Harry, I love you." Now it was Harry's turn to blush. He looked up and saw that her eyes were welling up with tears.
"No, don't cry, don't cry..." He reached with his thumb and wiped one of the glittering drops away. His throat had closed up. He started to worry that he might start crying too, but instead took a long draught of water. "Well," he said, after a minute. "Shall we order?" Their waiter was hovering in the corner, looking uncomfortable. Hermione looked up and gave Harry a forced smile.
"I'm not very hungry," she said. "Why don't we go for a walk?"
"Alright then," Harry said, and to his great pleasure, she put her arm through his as they left through the door... and Harry was very glad that Ron couldn't see them.
A.N.: Yeah, yeah, I know. That was really sudden. If this were in the books, Harry probably would have waited a whole lot longer, but as this is just a fic, and I don't really have a big plot to put in to distract you, I decided to go ahead and put it in. Also, I don't know the date of Hermione's birthday. In PoA she mentioned that it was in September, and I couldn't help but give her my birthday. Hee hee. Also, please refrain from cursing in reviews.
(Several years after this was originally written.) I am at a lack for words. That was cheesy. I remembered it being corny, but that was really, really, really bad. O_o I promise you my more recent fanfics are about five-hundred times better. Blurgh.