First Date
The windows of the Dormitory were wide open to let in some fresh, crisp air. Ron and Harry woke up and made their way down stairs, a bit groggily, and saw Hermione sitting at the desk in the corner.
"You going to Hogsmeade, Ron?" Harry asked.
"Don't have a date, so I suppose not," Ron replied.
"You going, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"So much to do, sorry, don't think I will be able to," she replied, not concentrating.
"Well, sorry Ron, I have Occlumency lessons again with Snape. I can't go." Harry informed them.
He walked through the door and into the hallway, wishing the Fat Lady a happy Valentine's Day and then he started down to the dungeons.
Ron slumped into the big, comfy armchair by the dying fire. He glanced at Hermione every few seconds and then sighed. Both of them were in the same room for another hour without even saying anything to each other.
"Hey Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," she said, her head still in a book.
"Nothing," said Ron, "Forget it."
She finally looked up, "What?"
"You'd never go anyway," he said, "so, never mind."
"Go where?" she asked, "Hogsmeade?"
"Yeah," he mumbled, turned around in the other direction, "I was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmeade with me, kind of as a date for Valentine's Day."
He turned around and saw Hermione smiling at him. "Sure," she said and straightened her piles of scrolls and books and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair. "Hurry up then, or we'll be late."
Ron was surprised that she said yes and he got his stuff and they walked down to the Great Hall. Many of the students were gone and they saw the huge doors across the room closing, the bulk of the students were already halfway down the path.
"Come on," Professor McGonagall told them, "If you two are going to Hogsmeade, you'd better get a move on."
"Erm, right," Ron said and they followed Professor McGonagall outside.
A slight snow started falling and the temperature dropped a few degrees as they arrived at the store-lined street of Hogsmeade. Students hurried inside their favorite shops to get out of the cold and Ron and Hermione were trying to decide where to go first.
"How about the library?" Hermione suggested, "We could sit in there by the fire and talk. I doubt anyone else would be in there."
"Or, how about the Three Broomsticks?" said Ron, "I'm all for a nice, warm Butterbeer."
"How about the tea shop, down by the corner," she said, "That's always decorated nicely for Valentine's Day."
"How do you know?" he said, "I mean, sure, let's go there."
They walked down the street a bit and stopped in front of the tea shop. Outside there was a wreath in the shape of a heart on the wooden door. It was decorated with pink and white roses that gave off a lovely perfume. The windows were fogged a bit and warmth from the fireplace inside felt even outside of the building. Both Ron and Hermione walked inside and into the great burst of warmth, sound and excitement. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but they got used to it once they sat down in a small booth by a window in the back.
"Thanks," Ron said as the waitress seated them and handed them a lunch menu.
"What are we going to be having, then?" asked Hermione as she lowered her menu to see Ron's face.
"Dunno," he said and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess a cup of tea will do for me."
"Yeah," she said and then the waitress came back for their order.
"Can I get you anything?" the plump lady asked.
"Two cups of tea and some peanut butter sandwiches, please," Hermione told her.
The waitress left them and Ron gave Hermione a funny look.
"Peanut butter sandwiches?" he asked incredulously.
"My Mum always made them for me when I was little, so, I just feel like having one again. Is there a problem with that?" she defended herself.
"No need to snap at me and no, I don't have a problem with it. I was just asking," he said, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Ugh, you know, maybe I shouldn't have come. I have so much work to do; write five essays, study, draw that picture for Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione told Ron.
"No, look. We'll have some lunch, head over to the library and the sweet's shop and then we can go back and I'll help you get some of that work done. Okay?" Ron replied.
She gave him a huge smile, "You're a lifesaver. Did I ever tell you how much I love you? I'm going to owe you one."
Ron went red and turned the other way as to not let Hermione see him blushing. Luckily the waitress came and took Hermione's attention away from him for a moment.
"Finally," said Ron, "I'm starving!"
Hermione laughed and they both took huge bites out of their peanut butter sandwiches. Ron looked at the tables near them. They were filled with students from Hogwarts as well. Neville and Ginny sat three tables away. Ginny noticed Ron looking and waved. Neville waved as well but he caught his shirt on the chair and it pulled him off. Ron rolled his eyes and smiled.
"At least Neville is better then that other guy she was dating last year," he thought and then his mind traveled back to Hermione. She had been dating Harry last year, but they broke up, she claimed that she no longer felt attracted to him.
"I don't think she really liked him anyway," Ron thought while looking at her, "she told me that she thought he needed someone and that's why she turned me down, but now I don't know who she has feelings for."
"Hermione, do you like anyone?" Ron blurted out and then looked down and scratched his head.
"Well, yes," she said, "I do fancy someone."
"Who?" he asked almost instantly.
She hesitated for a moment and then said, "Erm, you'll find out later I suppose."
"Alright," Ron said slowly and then picked up his sandwich once more and took a sip from his cup of tea.
Finally they were finished and were going to leave, but decided against it. They paid the bill and were left at sitting at the freshly cleaned table.
"Want to sit by the fire?" Hermione asked.
"Sure, beats being outside in the cold," Ron said, looking outside at Hogwarts students bundled up, walking around Hogsmeade.
They walked to the fireplace and sat down on the floor next to each other and leaning against the brick divider.
"I know," said Ron, "Dad and I used to do this all the time when I was a little kid. Let me go get something."
He got up and went over to the counter. "Can I have some marshmallows, please?" he asked and the lady gave him a bag full for 10 Sickles.
Ron went back to the fire and broke some sticks off from the firewood piled against the wall.
"Roasting marshmallows is one of my favorite things to do. My dad tried it once because he found out Muggles did it when they did something called camping and so, now, every summer we "go camping" in our living room and roast marshmallows. Well, we sort of go camping. You know, use a spell that makes our house grow grass and trees so it looks like we're in the wilderness," Ron explained.
Hermione laughed and grabbed the bag of marshmallows to open it and then she took a marshmallow and stuck it on the end of her stick. Ron grabbed the bag and did the same. They held the sticks in the fire and ate them when they were nice and toasted. Sitting there, talking about life and their pasts and futures, they lost track of time a bit.
"Oh no, Ron," she said, "What time is it?"
"It's getting late, but don't worry, we can do all that work later, let's go though," he said, "it's starting to feel like Trelawny's room in here."
The got up and left. The chilliness from outside shocked them a bit and they went back into the foyer to bundle up more.
"Hmm, I know somewhere we can just relax," Hermione said after they exited the library that was filled with students that had only came in to get out of the weather, "Come on."
She led him up the street and down a path in the woods. Soon they came to a clearing where a fence stood. There was a rusty sign dangling from the wooden gate that said, "Caution, DO NOT ENTER."
"The Shrieking Shack?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, nobody will ever go in there, they all believe it's haunted. Let's go, before we get seen," she said.
They hopped the fence and started down the walkway. At the door they undid the lock with the "alo-hamora!" charm and walked inside. It was quite dusty, but they fixed that, too, and made their way deep inside to the room where they met Sirius in their third year.
"It'll need a bit fixing up, but I can manage that," Hermione said and then shouted, "Scourgify!"
The room was removed of dust and dirt and suddenly looked a lot brighter. Hermione went the picked up the chair that was on its side and straightened up the bed.
"There," she said, "That's better."
"Yeah," said Ron, who looked a bit astonished.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Alright, I brought half my work with me. If you want to, we can start that picture for Care of Magical Creatures."
They laid down next to each other on the bed and started on the picture.
"Okay, it says, Directions: Draw a picture of one of the animals we discussed in the past four years that you had me as a teacher for this class. Please include a brief description. What did you draw, Ron?"
"I found that picture of the Bowtruckles we did a few years ago and recopied that.," he said.
"Well, hmm, what could I draw?" Hermione asked, feeling that Ron wasn't being much help.
"How about Thestrals! You don't even have to draw anything! Just write a description," he said.
Hermione laughed and hesitated to agree, but finally she did. "At least there's one thing out of the way," she thought.
After writing about a foot of parchment about Thestrals, she took out the next assignment that she had to work on. It was a essay on the Poly Juice Potion for Professor Snape.
"Well, we know all about that," laughed Ron, remembering their second year when he and Harry transformed into Crabbe and Goyle by using the Poly Juice Potion. Hermione, however winced at the thought of it. She had accidentally turned herself into a cat by drinking the wrong hair.
"Sorry," Ron said, remembering what had happened to her as well.
"It's alright," she said and then they worked on that essay together as well. Ron had done it as well, as he hadn't done it yet, either.
Soon they had finished everything that Hermione had brought to work on and they sat by the fire again, just looking into the flames.
"You know how I said I owed you one before?" Hermione asked. "Well, here."
She kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ron." in his ear.
Ron's face turned bright red and he replied, "You, too."
So, they sat there by the fire a while longer, tired and worn out, and drifted to sleep. A few hours later Hermione awoke with a start.
"Ron, wake up!" she exclaimed, "Oh, no! We fell asleep. The sun is already setting. We need to get back to Hogwarts!"
Ron jumped up and they gathered their stuff and raced to the passage way beneath the Whomping Willow. By the time they got out all the students that went to Hogsmeade were inside at the feast. They could hear applause as Dumbledore said, "Dig in!"
"How are we going to get in without being seen?" Ron asked.
"Here, let's go to Hagrid's Hut. Maybe he's home and if we come into the feast with him, it will look like we were just there visiting," she said quickly and they ran to the cabin by the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
They were in luck. A huge shadow of Hagrid could be seen moving about the cabin and they could here Fang whining to be petted. Racing up, they pounded on the heavy door.
"Jus' a minute," Hagrid said and they heard Fang pawing against the door, "Hol' on!"
He opened the door and surprisingly, they saw Harry sitting at Hagrid's table, drinking a cup of tea. Ron and Hermione walked inside and sat down as well.
"Where have you two been?" Hagrid asked, "Harry came down here at about five, wondering where you were and by then everyone had returned from Hogsmeade."
"Erm, we lost track of time," said Ron, nearly swallowing the whole cup of tea in one gulp, his heart still racing with worry.
"We're lucky you two are here," said Hermione, "I don't know what we'd do if we had to walk into the Great Hall, late, and explain that we fell asleep in the Shrieking Shack and lost track of time."
"What? I thought you weren't going to Hogsmeade," Harry said.
"Well, Ron asked me to go with him, it was a," her voice lowered a bit, "a date."
"What were you doing there all that time?" Hagrid asked.
"Homework!" both Ron and Hermione said at the same time.
A bit awkwardly, the subject changed and they talked about Harry's Occlumency lessons instead as they finished up their third cups of tea.
"Wait, are you talking about the Snape we know?" Ron asked when Harry said that Snape was being nice to him.
"I know," Harry said, "He was acting strangely nice, he must be sick or something."
All of them, including Hagrid, laughed and then Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave.
"Thanks for tea, Hagrid," thanked Hermione and Harry and Ron shook their heads in agreement.
"I'll escort you three to the Great Hall, you never know what's lurking out there, especially at this hour," said Hagrid, but then he smiled and they talked some more as they walked across the grounds.
Finally they arrived at the Great Hall and Hagrid opened the door to let them in. He walked in, himself and approached Professor McGonagall with the explanation of their absence.
"Sorry, Professor," he said, "They was at me cabin for a bit of tea is all. No need to worry."
"Oh alright," she replied, "It's late, you'd better be off to your dormitories. Happy Valentine's Day."
They walked up the halls and came to the portrait of the Fat Lady where they chimed this year's password, "Nargle Breath!"
"I'm tired," yawned Harry, "Goodnight!"
"Yeah, I'm going to bed, too," said Hermione, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ron."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Hermione," Ron replied and they embraced each other in a cute, but awkward Valentine's Day hug.
The windows of the Dormitory were wide open to let in some fresh, crisp air. Ron and Harry woke up and made their way down stairs, a bit groggily, and saw Hermione sitting at the desk in the corner.
"You going to Hogsmeade, Ron?" Harry asked.
"Don't have a date, so I suppose not," Ron replied.
"You going, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"So much to do, sorry, don't think I will be able to," she replied, not concentrating.
"Well, sorry Ron, I have Occlumency lessons again with Snape. I can't go." Harry informed them.
He walked through the door and into the hallway, wishing the Fat Lady a happy Valentine's Day and then he started down to the dungeons.
Ron slumped into the big, comfy armchair by the dying fire. He glanced at Hermione every few seconds and then sighed. Both of them were in the same room for another hour without even saying anything to each other.
"Hey Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," she said, her head still in a book.
"Nothing," said Ron, "Forget it."
She finally looked up, "What?"
"You'd never go anyway," he said, "so, never mind."
"Go where?" she asked, "Hogsmeade?"
"Yeah," he mumbled, turned around in the other direction, "I was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmeade with me, kind of as a date for Valentine's Day."
He turned around and saw Hermione smiling at him. "Sure," she said and straightened her piles of scrolls and books and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair. "Hurry up then, or we'll be late."
Ron was surprised that she said yes and he got his stuff and they walked down to the Great Hall. Many of the students were gone and they saw the huge doors across the room closing, the bulk of the students were already halfway down the path.
"Come on," Professor McGonagall told them, "If you two are going to Hogsmeade, you'd better get a move on."
"Erm, right," Ron said and they followed Professor McGonagall outside.
A slight snow started falling and the temperature dropped a few degrees as they arrived at the store-lined street of Hogsmeade. Students hurried inside their favorite shops to get out of the cold and Ron and Hermione were trying to decide where to go first.
"How about the library?" Hermione suggested, "We could sit in there by the fire and talk. I doubt anyone else would be in there."
"Or, how about the Three Broomsticks?" said Ron, "I'm all for a nice, warm Butterbeer."
"How about the tea shop, down by the corner," she said, "That's always decorated nicely for Valentine's Day."
"How do you know?" he said, "I mean, sure, let's go there."
They walked down the street a bit and stopped in front of the tea shop. Outside there was a wreath in the shape of a heart on the wooden door. It was decorated with pink and white roses that gave off a lovely perfume. The windows were fogged a bit and warmth from the fireplace inside felt even outside of the building. Both Ron and Hermione walked inside and into the great burst of warmth, sound and excitement. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but they got used to it once they sat down in a small booth by a window in the back.
"Thanks," Ron said as the waitress seated them and handed them a lunch menu.
"What are we going to be having, then?" asked Hermione as she lowered her menu to see Ron's face.
"Dunno," he said and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess a cup of tea will do for me."
"Yeah," she said and then the waitress came back for their order.
"Can I get you anything?" the plump lady asked.
"Two cups of tea and some peanut butter sandwiches, please," Hermione told her.
The waitress left them and Ron gave Hermione a funny look.
"Peanut butter sandwiches?" he asked incredulously.
"My Mum always made them for me when I was little, so, I just feel like having one again. Is there a problem with that?" she defended herself.
"No need to snap at me and no, I don't have a problem with it. I was just asking," he said, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Ugh, you know, maybe I shouldn't have come. I have so much work to do; write five essays, study, draw that picture for Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione told Ron.
"No, look. We'll have some lunch, head over to the library and the sweet's shop and then we can go back and I'll help you get some of that work done. Okay?" Ron replied.
She gave him a huge smile, "You're a lifesaver. Did I ever tell you how much I love you? I'm going to owe you one."
Ron went red and turned the other way as to not let Hermione see him blushing. Luckily the waitress came and took Hermione's attention away from him for a moment.
"Finally," said Ron, "I'm starving!"
Hermione laughed and they both took huge bites out of their peanut butter sandwiches. Ron looked at the tables near them. They were filled with students from Hogwarts as well. Neville and Ginny sat three tables away. Ginny noticed Ron looking and waved. Neville waved as well but he caught his shirt on the chair and it pulled him off. Ron rolled his eyes and smiled.
"At least Neville is better then that other guy she was dating last year," he thought and then his mind traveled back to Hermione. She had been dating Harry last year, but they broke up, she claimed that she no longer felt attracted to him.
"I don't think she really liked him anyway," Ron thought while looking at her, "she told me that she thought he needed someone and that's why she turned me down, but now I don't know who she has feelings for."
"Hermione, do you like anyone?" Ron blurted out and then looked down and scratched his head.
"Well, yes," she said, "I do fancy someone."
"Who?" he asked almost instantly.
She hesitated for a moment and then said, "Erm, you'll find out later I suppose."
"Alright," Ron said slowly and then picked up his sandwich once more and took a sip from his cup of tea.
Finally they were finished and were going to leave, but decided against it. They paid the bill and were left at sitting at the freshly cleaned table.
"Want to sit by the fire?" Hermione asked.
"Sure, beats being outside in the cold," Ron said, looking outside at Hogwarts students bundled up, walking around Hogsmeade.
They walked to the fireplace and sat down on the floor next to each other and leaning against the brick divider.
"I know," said Ron, "Dad and I used to do this all the time when I was a little kid. Let me go get something."
He got up and went over to the counter. "Can I have some marshmallows, please?" he asked and the lady gave him a bag full for 10 Sickles.
Ron went back to the fire and broke some sticks off from the firewood piled against the wall.
"Roasting marshmallows is one of my favorite things to do. My dad tried it once because he found out Muggles did it when they did something called camping and so, now, every summer we "go camping" in our living room and roast marshmallows. Well, we sort of go camping. You know, use a spell that makes our house grow grass and trees so it looks like we're in the wilderness," Ron explained.
Hermione laughed and grabbed the bag of marshmallows to open it and then she took a marshmallow and stuck it on the end of her stick. Ron grabbed the bag and did the same. They held the sticks in the fire and ate them when they were nice and toasted. Sitting there, talking about life and their pasts and futures, they lost track of time a bit.
"Oh no, Ron," she said, "What time is it?"
"It's getting late, but don't worry, we can do all that work later, let's go though," he said, "it's starting to feel like Trelawny's room in here."
The got up and left. The chilliness from outside shocked them a bit and they went back into the foyer to bundle up more.
"Hmm, I know somewhere we can just relax," Hermione said after they exited the library that was filled with students that had only came in to get out of the weather, "Come on."
She led him up the street and down a path in the woods. Soon they came to a clearing where a fence stood. There was a rusty sign dangling from the wooden gate that said, "Caution, DO NOT ENTER."
"The Shrieking Shack?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, nobody will ever go in there, they all believe it's haunted. Let's go, before we get seen," she said.
They hopped the fence and started down the walkway. At the door they undid the lock with the "alo-hamora!" charm and walked inside. It was quite dusty, but they fixed that, too, and made their way deep inside to the room where they met Sirius in their third year.
"It'll need a bit fixing up, but I can manage that," Hermione said and then shouted, "Scourgify!"
The room was removed of dust and dirt and suddenly looked a lot brighter. Hermione went the picked up the chair that was on its side and straightened up the bed.
"There," she said, "That's better."
"Yeah," said Ron, who looked a bit astonished.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Alright, I brought half my work with me. If you want to, we can start that picture for Care of Magical Creatures."
They laid down next to each other on the bed and started on the picture.
"Okay, it says, Directions: Draw a picture of one of the animals we discussed in the past four years that you had me as a teacher for this class. Please include a brief description. What did you draw, Ron?"
"I found that picture of the Bowtruckles we did a few years ago and recopied that.," he said.
"Well, hmm, what could I draw?" Hermione asked, feeling that Ron wasn't being much help.
"How about Thestrals! You don't even have to draw anything! Just write a description," he said.
Hermione laughed and hesitated to agree, but finally she did. "At least there's one thing out of the way," she thought.
After writing about a foot of parchment about Thestrals, she took out the next assignment that she had to work on. It was a essay on the Poly Juice Potion for Professor Snape.
"Well, we know all about that," laughed Ron, remembering their second year when he and Harry transformed into Crabbe and Goyle by using the Poly Juice Potion. Hermione, however winced at the thought of it. She had accidentally turned herself into a cat by drinking the wrong hair.
"Sorry," Ron said, remembering what had happened to her as well.
"It's alright," she said and then they worked on that essay together as well. Ron had done it as well, as he hadn't done it yet, either.
Soon they had finished everything that Hermione had brought to work on and they sat by the fire again, just looking into the flames.
"You know how I said I owed you one before?" Hermione asked. "Well, here."
She kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ron." in his ear.
Ron's face turned bright red and he replied, "You, too."
So, they sat there by the fire a while longer, tired and worn out, and drifted to sleep. A few hours later Hermione awoke with a start.
"Ron, wake up!" she exclaimed, "Oh, no! We fell asleep. The sun is already setting. We need to get back to Hogwarts!"
Ron jumped up and they gathered their stuff and raced to the passage way beneath the Whomping Willow. By the time they got out all the students that went to Hogsmeade were inside at the feast. They could hear applause as Dumbledore said, "Dig in!"
"How are we going to get in without being seen?" Ron asked.
"Here, let's go to Hagrid's Hut. Maybe he's home and if we come into the feast with him, it will look like we were just there visiting," she said quickly and they ran to the cabin by the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
They were in luck. A huge shadow of Hagrid could be seen moving about the cabin and they could here Fang whining to be petted. Racing up, they pounded on the heavy door.
"Jus' a minute," Hagrid said and they heard Fang pawing against the door, "Hol' on!"
He opened the door and surprisingly, they saw Harry sitting at Hagrid's table, drinking a cup of tea. Ron and Hermione walked inside and sat down as well.
"Where have you two been?" Hagrid asked, "Harry came down here at about five, wondering where you were and by then everyone had returned from Hogsmeade."
"Erm, we lost track of time," said Ron, nearly swallowing the whole cup of tea in one gulp, his heart still racing with worry.
"We're lucky you two are here," said Hermione, "I don't know what we'd do if we had to walk into the Great Hall, late, and explain that we fell asleep in the Shrieking Shack and lost track of time."
"What? I thought you weren't going to Hogsmeade," Harry said.
"Well, Ron asked me to go with him, it was a," her voice lowered a bit, "a date."
"What were you doing there all that time?" Hagrid asked.
"Homework!" both Ron and Hermione said at the same time.
A bit awkwardly, the subject changed and they talked about Harry's Occlumency lessons instead as they finished up their third cups of tea.
"Wait, are you talking about the Snape we know?" Ron asked when Harry said that Snape was being nice to him.
"I know," Harry said, "He was acting strangely nice, he must be sick or something."
All of them, including Hagrid, laughed and then Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave.
"Thanks for tea, Hagrid," thanked Hermione and Harry and Ron shook their heads in agreement.
"I'll escort you three to the Great Hall, you never know what's lurking out there, especially at this hour," said Hagrid, but then he smiled and they talked some more as they walked across the grounds.
Finally they arrived at the Great Hall and Hagrid opened the door to let them in. He walked in, himself and approached Professor McGonagall with the explanation of their absence.
"Sorry, Professor," he said, "They was at me cabin for a bit of tea is all. No need to worry."
"Oh alright," she replied, "It's late, you'd better be off to your dormitories. Happy Valentine's Day."
They walked up the halls and came to the portrait of the Fat Lady where they chimed this year's password, "Nargle Breath!"
"I'm tired," yawned Harry, "Goodnight!"
"Yeah, I'm going to bed, too," said Hermione, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ron."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Hermione," Ron replied and they embraced each other in a cute, but awkward Valentine's Day hug.