A/N: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!!! I feel so special now! LoL. So here's chapter 3. Sorry it's not longer, but I think I picked the right spot to end it.
Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Harry Potter. The only thing I own is the plot. So, don't sue! Oh, and since the plot is mine, don't steal it!
Chapter 3: A Bit of A Mess
Harry woke up the next morning to an empty bed. Hermione was nowhere to be found, he figured that she'd gotten up to get ready.
He lay in bed a moment and the events of the previous night settled back upon his shoulders.
Sure enough, when he went across the grimy landing, he heard the shower within the bathroom running.
His stomach was growling for food. The only problem was that they didn't have any yet.
He went back into his room and fell back on his bed. He noticed that the rain from the previous day had stopped.
The clock on the wall only read nine-thirty. Harry heard a quiet sniggering and turned to the empty portrait on the wall next to his wardrobe.
"What do you want, Phineas?" Harry asked irritably.
Phineas Nigellus was one of the cockiest paintings Harry had ever met in his entire life.
"Oh, nothing. I was just laughing at the way children act these days, is all," Phineas said casually. "Oh, and Dumbledore wanted me to tell you that Nymphadora will be dropping by in a few days."
"Thanks," Harry muttered.
"So ungrateful!" Phineas cried.
Hermione poked her head into the room. "Who are you talking to?"
She stepped in, and Harry looked her over. Her hand was grasping the corner of a light blue towel, and her hair, soaking wet, was matted against her shoulders.
"Me," said Phineas, causing Harry to break his stare. "He was talking to me. Now, young lady, I suggest you go put something more decent on!"
Hermione huffed indignantly and stalked as best she could out of the room.
Harry groaned, "Now you've done it," and followed her quickly out of the room.
She was just unraveling her towel when Harry knocked. Hermione jumped slightly at the noise, but secured her towel and told him to come in.
"Um..." Harry blushed.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, not you too!" Hermione exclaimed exhasperatedly.
Harry turned around. "Put some clothes on, Hermione."
"What did Nigellus want?" Hermione asked, dropping her towel.
"He said Tonks is gonna drop by in a few days," Harry replied. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I suppose Hedwig will be here at around noontime," Hermione said.
"Perfect for lunch," Harry added.
"Oh, dear," Hermione grumbled.
"What?" asked Harry, almost turning around.
"I don't know how to cook," Hermione explained.
"You what?!" Harry cried. He turned around.
"HARRY!" Hermione squealed. She held up her t-shirt.
Harry's cheeks colored like tomatoes and he turned around again. "Sorry," he mumbled.
Hermione finished dressing. She stepped up behind Harry and whacked him on the back of the head.
"You never do that when a girl is changing," she huffed.
-:-:-:-:-
Hedwig, sure enough, arrived later that day, right on time (around noon) as Hermione had predicted.
"Okay," Hermione checked the list. "We've got everything."
"Wonderful... we've got all the food that we can't cook," Harry replied.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's ironic, isn't it? I mean, I know a lot of things, except all the ones I know I'll need."
Harry looked at her a minute with his head tilted. "If we looked, we could probably find a cookbook around here somewhere. I bet Sirius needed one."
Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Finally, something I can work with!" she said.
Harry laughed. "You really love to read," he noted.
Hermione grinned and said, "Did you just notice this, Harry?"
So began their search for a cookbook. Hermione searched the upstairs library and Harry checked all the other places.
An hour or two later, Hermione entered the dusty kitchen where Harry was sitting.
She pulled a book out from seemingly nowhere and held it up. It read A Hundred and One Recipes for the Average Witch.
"Does that mean I have to be a witch to read it?" Harry asked. "Does that mean it wasn't Sirius who owned that?"
Hermione shot daggers through him with her eyes. "You know," she began, setting the book on the dining table, "you're a lot funnier than I've known you to be."
Harry shrugged. "Get me alone with you and I just might show you a side of myself never seen before." Harry thought about what he'd said for a moment. "That sounded bad," he concluded.
Hermione laughed, but then stopped abruptly. "I sure miss Buckbeak in this house."
Harry nodded in agreement.
Hagrid's beloved hippogriff Buckbeak had been set free by the Ministry the year before upon Draco Malfoy's discovery of the creature at Hagrid's home. They didn't feel it necessary to kill the creature anymore.
Hermione walked over to the kitchen counter. "Now help me with these groceries."
Harry stood behind her and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. "We're even now. You have no idea how long I've waited to do that! Three years, woman! Better appreciate it!"
Hermione blushed terribly. It seemed to seep from the base of her neck all the way to her forehead. She hated blushing... It made her seem so — so girly.
"You made me blush," she whispered. "That's not fair, Harry!"
Harry laughed at her whining.
"You did it to me numerous times last night, if I do recall correctly, Miss Granger. I was simply taking my revenge!"
He received another thwack on the head for his comment.
"Women are violent. Ginny did that to me constantly!" Harry grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
"We're only violent because men are stupid!" Hermione defended. She pulled a loaf of bread out of a brown paper bag and set it on the counter.
"Men are not stupid! Women are stubborn!" Harry removed a carton of eggs from within another bag.
"Women are not stubborn! Men are pig-headed!" Hermione replied in a bemused sort of way. She began putting plastic dishes and cups in the cupboards.
Their banter lasted all of five more minutes until they burst out laughing and finished putting the groceries away.
"It's too late to have lunch now," Hermione reasoned. She sighed, looking about the kitchen that was now relatively cleaned and stocked.
"Right... want to wait til dinner, then?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. It was around five o'clock anyway, and they could probably have dinner around seven.
"I think though," she said, "that if we want to have dinner at seven... we should start cooking."
Harry agreed, and they pulled out the cookbook once again.
From the moment they began cooking, both of them knew that it was not going be an ordinary dinner.
On the way to pulling out the ingredients, Harry managed to successfully drop three of the eggs in the carton, and Hermione stumbled over a chair leg and the tomatoes she was holding rolled to the floor.
"This isn't working!" Hermione cried.
"How about we just make scrambled-egg sandwiches," Harry suggested.
Hermione nodded and they set about their tasks.
An hour later, after they burned three pieces of bread and dropped two more eggs, Harry and Hermione sat down to scrambled-egg sandwiches with ketchup and pumpkin juice.
"Not my average choice of meal, but it works," Hermione said, biting into her sandwich.
It was during the dishwashing process that it happened.
Hermione decided, that to get back at Harry for what he'd done earlier, she would pour liquid soap down his back.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Harry yelled, hopping about maniacally. The soap dripped lazily out from the bottom of his shirt and down the legs of his jeans.
Meanwhile, Hermione stood to the side, laughing hysterically... Until, that is, Harry lunged at her.
She lost her footing, and together they crashed to the stone floor.
"Ow! OUCH!" Hermione yelled.
Harry landed sharply on top of her. "Hello there," he said with a sheepish grin.
Hermione, who in a normal case, would have glared, instead looked into the green eyes of her not-so-platonic-feeling-anymore best friend.
"Hi," she managed to whisper.
Hermione, looking into his eyes, felt like running her hands through his jet-black hair — felt exhilarated.
Bad thoughts! she scolded herself. He's Harry! H-A-R-R-Y!
"What could you possibly be thinking right now?" Harry said, noting the look of pondering on her face.
Another blush slowly crept its way onto her cheeks. "Stop it, Harry!" Hermione squealed.
"Stop what, Hermione?" he asked innocently, so innocently in fact, that Hermione claims she could see the halo held up by the horns atop his head.
"Damn you," she muttered.
Harry gasped in mock shock and said, "Hermione, dear, that was a very rude and uncalled-for comment."
Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently. "Are you ever going to get off me? That soap's making me sticky."
"You know, I quite like it here," Harry said, grinning cheekily. "But just for you, I'll get up."
So, he grasped Hermione's arms with his soap-covered hands, and pushed himself off the floor.
"Jerk," she muttered, trying to wipe the soap off, in doing so only making it worse.
"Well..." Harry said looking around at the floor. "Haven't we made a bit of a mess?"
"Let's get to cleaning then," Hermione sighed.
So went the next two hours. They managed to successfully clean the floors and the wet sink, as well as wash the dishes and clean the dining table.
"Not too shabby," Harry said, looking around at the now semi-sparkling kitchen.
"For two people who can't cook," Hermione finished.
Harry laughed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they walked into the living room to kill the rest of the time until bed.
A/N: Hope you liked it, please leave a review! Thanks! By the way, this story going to be longer than the original seven or eight chapters I had planned.
Gryffindor620: Oh yes, mucho Harry and Hermione interaction coming up soon. Thank you for reviewing!
gl2004: Of course, I didn't want to kill Kreacher. I wouldn't have killed him in the first place, but I realized that after two years of pent-up anger, Harry and Hermione were not just going to let the little demon walk around the house muttering horrid things under his breath. Besides, I don't think I could've handled writing an entire month of Kreature, lol. I respect your opinion and completely agree with it in both that Harry wouldn't have done it and Hermione wouldn't have let him. Thank you for reviewing!
fanjimmy: You are very welcome! Thank you for reviewing!
Aurora Sunkiss: Thank you so much! The only reason Hermione was terrified of storms and lightning and all that jazz was because I can't even go outside in storms, I'm so scared! It's pretty sad, but I can't help it, lightning just gives me the goosebumps, I hate it! Sure it's pretty, but I don't like it, lol. Well, since you gave me a cherry and sprinkles, I'll update as fast as I can! Thanks for reviewing!
Dbish403: Oh yes, Harry is definitely gonna do something along the lines of that. Thanks for reviewing!
ANDTORR: Yes, definitely! Moldieshorts, lol, needs to DIE! Thanks for reviewing!
shotgunn: Thanks! I really don't mind Harry and Ginny, but I just can't stand Ron and Hermione. So if it's just Harry and Ginny, I'll read it. The Weasleys went to Australia more for safety purposes than anything else. Thanks for reviewing!
Suki: Yes yes!!! I love those stories where Harry and Hermione get married and... uh, yeah, lol. Thanks for reviewing!
WildMustang: I sure HOPE it's going to get better! Thank you for leaving a review!
SoccerNymph39: I'm glad you thought it was funny! I was hoping it would be! And, yes I agree it was freaky when Harry did that, but that was what I was going for. Thanks for reviewing!
potter-crzy: Um, it takes place one month before Seventh Year. Therefore, the day before they talked to Moody about Grimmauld Place, Harry'd just turned seventeen and then in one month would be September 1, the day they go back to Hogwarts. Thank you for leaving a review!
moonlightwitch: Thank you, I'm flattered! And thanks for reviewing, it makes me feel special, lol!
Trumpet-Geek: You're very welcome! And thank you as well for reviewing and for such wonderful compliments!
Chelsea Frog: Yes, the first chapter was odd, but I liked it a lot. Thanks for reviewing!
AND THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR THEIR WONDERFUL REVIEWS!
AngelOfHell, eat paper, grantsbeetle, Elfobsession2931, DanFan, ray1, ladybird2256
THANK YOU ALL!
Next Chapter: Tonks pays Harry and Hermione a visit explaining some things to them as well as the readers! Plus, a turn of events causes Harry to get very... physical with Hermione, can she handle it?
Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Harry Potter. The only thing I own is the plot. So, don't sue! Oh, and since the plot is mine, don't steal it!
Chapter 3: A Bit of A Mess
Harry woke up the next morning to an empty bed. Hermione was nowhere to be found, he figured that she'd gotten up to get ready.
He lay in bed a moment and the events of the previous night settled back upon his shoulders.
Sure enough, when he went across the grimy landing, he heard the shower within the bathroom running.
His stomach was growling for food. The only problem was that they didn't have any yet.
He went back into his room and fell back on his bed. He noticed that the rain from the previous day had stopped.
The clock on the wall only read nine-thirty. Harry heard a quiet sniggering and turned to the empty portrait on the wall next to his wardrobe.
"What do you want, Phineas?" Harry asked irritably.
Phineas Nigellus was one of the cockiest paintings Harry had ever met in his entire life.
"Oh, nothing. I was just laughing at the way children act these days, is all," Phineas said casually. "Oh, and Dumbledore wanted me to tell you that Nymphadora will be dropping by in a few days."
"Thanks," Harry muttered.
"So ungrateful!" Phineas cried.
Hermione poked her head into the room. "Who are you talking to?"
She stepped in, and Harry looked her over. Her hand was grasping the corner of a light blue towel, and her hair, soaking wet, was matted against her shoulders.
"Me," said Phineas, causing Harry to break his stare. "He was talking to me. Now, young lady, I suggest you go put something more decent on!"
Hermione huffed indignantly and stalked as best she could out of the room.
Harry groaned, "Now you've done it," and followed her quickly out of the room.
She was just unraveling her towel when Harry knocked. Hermione jumped slightly at the noise, but secured her towel and told him to come in.
"Um..." Harry blushed.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, not you too!" Hermione exclaimed exhasperatedly.
Harry turned around. "Put some clothes on, Hermione."
"What did Nigellus want?" Hermione asked, dropping her towel.
"He said Tonks is gonna drop by in a few days," Harry replied. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I suppose Hedwig will be here at around noontime," Hermione said.
"Perfect for lunch," Harry added.
"Oh, dear," Hermione grumbled.
"What?" asked Harry, almost turning around.
"I don't know how to cook," Hermione explained.
"You what?!" Harry cried. He turned around.
"HARRY!" Hermione squealed. She held up her t-shirt.
Harry's cheeks colored like tomatoes and he turned around again. "Sorry," he mumbled.
Hermione finished dressing. She stepped up behind Harry and whacked him on the back of the head.
"You never do that when a girl is changing," she huffed.
-:-:-:-:-
Hedwig, sure enough, arrived later that day, right on time (around noon) as Hermione had predicted.
"Okay," Hermione checked the list. "We've got everything."
"Wonderful... we've got all the food that we can't cook," Harry replied.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's ironic, isn't it? I mean, I know a lot of things, except all the ones I know I'll need."
Harry looked at her a minute with his head tilted. "If we looked, we could probably find a cookbook around here somewhere. I bet Sirius needed one."
Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Finally, something I can work with!" she said.
Harry laughed. "You really love to read," he noted.
Hermione grinned and said, "Did you just notice this, Harry?"
So began their search for a cookbook. Hermione searched the upstairs library and Harry checked all the other places.
An hour or two later, Hermione entered the dusty kitchen where Harry was sitting.
She pulled a book out from seemingly nowhere and held it up. It read A Hundred and One Recipes for the Average Witch.
"Does that mean I have to be a witch to read it?" Harry asked. "Does that mean it wasn't Sirius who owned that?"
Hermione shot daggers through him with her eyes. "You know," she began, setting the book on the dining table, "you're a lot funnier than I've known you to be."
Harry shrugged. "Get me alone with you and I just might show you a side of myself never seen before." Harry thought about what he'd said for a moment. "That sounded bad," he concluded.
Hermione laughed, but then stopped abruptly. "I sure miss Buckbeak in this house."
Harry nodded in agreement.
Hagrid's beloved hippogriff Buckbeak had been set free by the Ministry the year before upon Draco Malfoy's discovery of the creature at Hagrid's home. They didn't feel it necessary to kill the creature anymore.
Hermione walked over to the kitchen counter. "Now help me with these groceries."
Harry stood behind her and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. "We're even now. You have no idea how long I've waited to do that! Three years, woman! Better appreciate it!"
Hermione blushed terribly. It seemed to seep from the base of her neck all the way to her forehead. She hated blushing... It made her seem so — so girly.
"You made me blush," she whispered. "That's not fair, Harry!"
Harry laughed at her whining.
"You did it to me numerous times last night, if I do recall correctly, Miss Granger. I was simply taking my revenge!"
He received another thwack on the head for his comment.
"Women are violent. Ginny did that to me constantly!" Harry grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
"We're only violent because men are stupid!" Hermione defended. She pulled a loaf of bread out of a brown paper bag and set it on the counter.
"Men are not stupid! Women are stubborn!" Harry removed a carton of eggs from within another bag.
"Women are not stubborn! Men are pig-headed!" Hermione replied in a bemused sort of way. She began putting plastic dishes and cups in the cupboards.
Their banter lasted all of five more minutes until they burst out laughing and finished putting the groceries away.
"It's too late to have lunch now," Hermione reasoned. She sighed, looking about the kitchen that was now relatively cleaned and stocked.
"Right... want to wait til dinner, then?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. It was around five o'clock anyway, and they could probably have dinner around seven.
"I think though," she said, "that if we want to have dinner at seven... we should start cooking."
Harry agreed, and they pulled out the cookbook once again.
From the moment they began cooking, both of them knew that it was not going be an ordinary dinner.
On the way to pulling out the ingredients, Harry managed to successfully drop three of the eggs in the carton, and Hermione stumbled over a chair leg and the tomatoes she was holding rolled to the floor.
"This isn't working!" Hermione cried.
"How about we just make scrambled-egg sandwiches," Harry suggested.
Hermione nodded and they set about their tasks.
An hour later, after they burned three pieces of bread and dropped two more eggs, Harry and Hermione sat down to scrambled-egg sandwiches with ketchup and pumpkin juice.
"Not my average choice of meal, but it works," Hermione said, biting into her sandwich.
It was during the dishwashing process that it happened.
Hermione decided, that to get back at Harry for what he'd done earlier, she would pour liquid soap down his back.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Harry yelled, hopping about maniacally. The soap dripped lazily out from the bottom of his shirt and down the legs of his jeans.
Meanwhile, Hermione stood to the side, laughing hysterically... Until, that is, Harry lunged at her.
She lost her footing, and together they crashed to the stone floor.
"Ow! OUCH!" Hermione yelled.
Harry landed sharply on top of her. "Hello there," he said with a sheepish grin.
Hermione, who in a normal case, would have glared, instead looked into the green eyes of her not-so-platonic-feeling-anymore best friend.
"Hi," she managed to whisper.
Hermione, looking into his eyes, felt like running her hands through his jet-black hair — felt exhilarated.
Bad thoughts! she scolded herself. He's Harry! H-A-R-R-Y!
"What could you possibly be thinking right now?" Harry said, noting the look of pondering on her face.
Another blush slowly crept its way onto her cheeks. "Stop it, Harry!" Hermione squealed.
"Stop what, Hermione?" he asked innocently, so innocently in fact, that Hermione claims she could see the halo held up by the horns atop his head.
"Damn you," she muttered.
Harry gasped in mock shock and said, "Hermione, dear, that was a very rude and uncalled-for comment."
Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently. "Are you ever going to get off me? That soap's making me sticky."
"You know, I quite like it here," Harry said, grinning cheekily. "But just for you, I'll get up."
So, he grasped Hermione's arms with his soap-covered hands, and pushed himself off the floor.
"Jerk," she muttered, trying to wipe the soap off, in doing so only making it worse.
"Well..." Harry said looking around at the floor. "Haven't we made a bit of a mess?"
"Let's get to cleaning then," Hermione sighed.
So went the next two hours. They managed to successfully clean the floors and the wet sink, as well as wash the dishes and clean the dining table.
"Not too shabby," Harry said, looking around at the now semi-sparkling kitchen.
"For two people who can't cook," Hermione finished.
Harry laughed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they walked into the living room to kill the rest of the time until bed.
A/N: Hope you liked it, please leave a review! Thanks! By the way, this story going to be longer than the original seven or eight chapters I had planned.
Gryffindor620: Oh yes, mucho Harry and Hermione interaction coming up soon. Thank you for reviewing!
gl2004: Of course, I didn't want to kill Kreacher. I wouldn't have killed him in the first place, but I realized that after two years of pent-up anger, Harry and Hermione were not just going to let the little demon walk around the house muttering horrid things under his breath. Besides, I don't think I could've handled writing an entire month of Kreature, lol. I respect your opinion and completely agree with it in both that Harry wouldn't have done it and Hermione wouldn't have let him. Thank you for reviewing!
fanjimmy: You are very welcome! Thank you for reviewing!
Aurora Sunkiss: Thank you so much! The only reason Hermione was terrified of storms and lightning and all that jazz was because I can't even go outside in storms, I'm so scared! It's pretty sad, but I can't help it, lightning just gives me the goosebumps, I hate it! Sure it's pretty, but I don't like it, lol. Well, since you gave me a cherry and sprinkles, I'll update as fast as I can! Thanks for reviewing!
Dbish403: Oh yes, Harry is definitely gonna do something along the lines of that. Thanks for reviewing!
ANDTORR: Yes, definitely! Moldieshorts, lol, needs to DIE! Thanks for reviewing!
shotgunn: Thanks! I really don't mind Harry and Ginny, but I just can't stand Ron and Hermione. So if it's just Harry and Ginny, I'll read it. The Weasleys went to Australia more for safety purposes than anything else. Thanks for reviewing!
Suki: Yes yes!!! I love those stories where Harry and Hermione get married and... uh, yeah, lol. Thanks for reviewing!
WildMustang: I sure HOPE it's going to get better! Thank you for leaving a review!
SoccerNymph39: I'm glad you thought it was funny! I was hoping it would be! And, yes I agree it was freaky when Harry did that, but that was what I was going for. Thanks for reviewing!
potter-crzy: Um, it takes place one month before Seventh Year. Therefore, the day before they talked to Moody about Grimmauld Place, Harry'd just turned seventeen and then in one month would be September 1, the day they go back to Hogwarts. Thank you for leaving a review!
moonlightwitch: Thank you, I'm flattered! And thanks for reviewing, it makes me feel special, lol!
Trumpet-Geek: You're very welcome! And thank you as well for reviewing and for such wonderful compliments!
Chelsea Frog: Yes, the first chapter was odd, but I liked it a lot. Thanks for reviewing!
AND THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR THEIR WONDERFUL REVIEWS!
AngelOfHell, eat paper, grantsbeetle, Elfobsession2931, DanFan, ray1, ladybird2256
THANK YOU ALL!
Next Chapter: Tonks pays Harry and Hermione a visit explaining some things to them as well as the readers! Plus, a turn of events causes Harry to get very... physical with Hermione, can she handle it?