Chapter 5- Dinner
After her mother returned to work, Harry and Hermione finished their homework. When they were done, Harry questioned Hermione further about her grandparents. She in turn questioned him on the same subject. It turned out that he had never met his grandparents on his mother's side, since they had died not too long before his parents, according to his aunt Petunia. Apparently his aunt had refused to elaborate further on the subject, because he had no idea who his father's parents were. He had, however, met Vernon's parents more than once, and from the way Harry spoke of them, Hermione gathered that they weren't any better than their son. Hearing of the horror that was "Grandma and Grandpa Dursley" made Hermione grateful for her own grandparents, even if they were slightly overbearing.
When her parents arrived home from work, Hermione's mother set to work almost immediately making dinner. Though the house was quite clean, her father set to tidying it up even more after his wife snapped irritably at him. In fact, Amy Granger had begun to snap at everything, including inanimate objects. So when David Granger motioned for Harry and Hermione to escape upstairs, they jumped at the chance and dashed up to Hermione's room.
Once there, Hermione collapsed on her bed, sighing, and Harry seated himself comfortably on a large, butter-yellow chair in the corner of her room. The chair matched the room, which was done in very basic shades of the same yellow and a light lavender. She felt bad for her mother. Entertaining had never been something she liked to do, even if she was good at it, and Hermione's grandmother was always a tough critic. At least this time she was bringing her grandfather, who tended to lighten the mood, even if he did tell rather embarrassing stories...his personal favorite was the time Hermione had lit her hair on fire during the school Christmas pageant with a candle when she was six. She could only pray that he would keep the stories to a minimum tonight. Harry got up slowly out of the chair and began to look around the room. As she watched, , he stopped in front of her bookshelf, which was full. He laughed softly and shook his head, moving on. Next he paused in front of a framed award from grade school. It was for perfect attendance, and she could tell he was smiling at it even from behind. Finally he stopped at her desk, where Hermione had many of her favorite photos displayed.
"Who is this?," he asked, pointing to a picture with her and a boy. In it, she was posing dramatically, and the boy had his arms around her, smiling.
"Oh, that's my cousin," she said, noting the strange expression that had flitted across his face when he had first seen the picture. "That was taken last year. Colin's a few years older than I am, he's pretty much my big brother." She also noticed the oddly relieved expression on his face now that he knew who Colin was.
"Oh, do you see him often?," Harry asked, seeming genuinely interested. She nodded and went on to tell him that she and Colin usually spent much of the summer together, but as he was studying abroad this year, he would not be able to make it home for the summer holiday.
Harry moved on, looking at more of the pictures. She had many of Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and some with her mother and father. There was also one that had only her and Harry, which had been taken the previous year during Christmas vacation. Both of them were smiling and laughing happily at something that Harry had said, and both of them looked very much at ease with each other. Just as Harry turned to comment on the picture, Hermione's mother yelled up to them that her grandparents were there.
When Hermione and Harry got downstairs, they could immediately see her grandparents, who were standing in front of the door, obviously waiting for her. The second Hermione's grandmother saw them, she broke into a huge smile and stated towards them, arms outstretched.
"Darling, it's been so long," her grandmother exclaimed, pulling her close. Harry could see Hermione nod in agreement from where he stood, looking rather squashed. "Oh, we've missed you so," Mrs. Granger (the elder) declared, squeezing Hermione extra tightly for emphasis, before releasing her into the arms of her waiting grandfather, who was much more gentle. He whispered something in his granddaughter's ear, and she laughed. Suddenly, Hermione's father caught sight of Harry standing at the stairs, looking rather uncomfortable. Hermione saw her dad introduce Harry to her grandmother, and then he came over to introduce him to her grandfather. They talked politely for a few minutes, until Hermione's mother entered the room, announcing that dinner was nearly ready. Suddenly Hermione's grandmother said "Amy dear, what did you do to the decor? It was so nice last time we were here, but now everything's so...oh well," she trailed off after Hermione's mother retreated into the kitchen muttering something under her breath.
"Hey, Mum, Dad, why don't we go in the sitting room and chat while Amy finishes up dinner," David said, trying to sound cheery, and motioning toward Hermione to go after her mother. Since she did not feel like leaving Harry alone with her grandparents, she grabbed his arm and steered him toward the kitchen.
"Mum," Hermione said, walking slowly into the kitchen, "are you okay?" Her mother was standing over the sink, looking slightly shell- shocked. "Harry and I came to help finish dinner." Amy turned around, looking grateful, and Hermione heard Harry say from behind her,
"I wouldn't let that get to you, Mrs. Granger. Your house is decorated perfectly, she's just looking for something to criticize," Hermione suddenly felt a surge of gratitude to Harry, since this seemed to be exactly the thing her mother needed to hear. She perked up and nodded her head and Harry continued "would you like some help," motioning to the table, which still had to yet to be set, and the food.
Five minutes later, as Harry and Hermione set the table, Hermione thanked Harry. "It's no big deal," he said, walking past her into the kitchen to get more silverware. On his way in though, he stopped and laid a hand gently on her arm "no big deal," he said quietly, and continued on his way. Hermione felt like she was going to fall over. What had that meant? Harry never was one for physical contact, and never was the one who initiated it. Maybe...no, she shrugged it off, and continued to put plates on the table. When they were done they began to lay out the food on the table. Hermione's mother had made ham, and it looked beautiful. Hermione's father and grandparents joined them at the table when they were done, and Hermione was pleased to see that her grandmother could find nothing wrong with the ham. That did not, however, stop her from sending it scathing looks from across the table. They chatted politely while they ate, and Hermione had high hopes that the rest of the evening would be somewhat peaceful. However, that was not the case...
"So, Hermione," her grandmother said, "we had no idea when your mother said you had a guest that it was a boy," she said, looking up at Hermione and winking, which caused Hermione to turn a rather embarrassing shade of pink. She sneaked a glace at Harry, and found that instead of getting embarrassed, he was laughing. "Yes," her grandmother continued," it's been a long time since our Hermione had a boyfriend." This statement caused both Hermione and Harry to turn pink, and to mumble.
"Actually, dear, that's right," her grandfather chimed in, causing Hermione to feel a bit of dread as to what was coming next, "yes, remember that neighbor boy she used to chase around and make kiss her?" Hermione gasped and hid her face, which was now a bright shade of red, in her napkin, while Harry sat and laughed, not bothering to keep his amused chuckles quiet. "Oh yes," her grandfather continued, seeing that he now had the attention of the whole table, minus Hermione since she was still hidden under her napkin, "yes she used to chase after that poor boy, knock him down and make him kiss her. What was his name Hermie?" He was now addressing Hermione, using the same pet name she had always hated, however had never had the heart to pretest against.
She figured she might as well answer, since she did in fact clearly remember the incident in question. Plus, since her parents were nodding their heads, she couldn't very well say that her grandfather must have gone 'round the twist in his old age. She looked up and squeaked "T.J.," in a very small voice, refusing to look at Harry. Her grandfather nodded and proceeded to tell the story of her Christmas pageant, how her hair had caught fire, and how the other little girl was standing by had screamed bloody murder and had to be dragged offstage. Privately Hermione had always felt that the girl was a crybaby, and when she got up the nerve, she whispered this to Harry who merely chuckled and winked at her. She blushed (again) and turned away. All in all, the rest of dinner went fairly smoothly, except that her grandfather told more stories, including the Easter when Hermione had left eggs in her room, where they proceeded to go bad, and smell. So, naturally Hermione was pretty much stuck with a permanent blush the rest of the evening. To be truthful, Hermione was rather glad when her grandparents announced that they had to go. She told them goodnight, and they all headed up to bed.
Once there, Hermione sat on her bed in her nightclothes, even though she knew she would not be able to sleep. Dinner had been so embarrassing, those were thing she'd rather Harry didn't know. While she was sitting with her head in her hands, Harry had come into her room, she looked up to see him standing in the doorway, a sheepish expression on his face.
"I'll just wait," he said, starting to back out of the door.
"No, no come in," she said, calling to him. He came back towards her. She noticed he looked nervous, which was not normal for him, especially around her. Hermione scooted over on the bed and motioned for him to sit next to her. He sat on the end of the bed and looked at her. Suddenly he smiled at her.
"I liked meeting your family tonight," he said, "they were really nice, and your grandfather was very funny," he continued, giving her one of his little half-smiles she loved. "I still find it hard to believe that you did some of that stuff though," she shook her head and opened her mouth to argue with him, only to find that Harry had quickly pressed his mouth to hers. He was kissing her, she realized with a start, and as she relaxed into him, she also realized that this was nowhere near what she had imagined. It was better.
When she and Harry pulled apart, she found that she had moved to be considerably closer to him, and that he was smiling nervously at her, so she smiled back, trying to hide her blush. "You're not mad?," he asked quietly. She shook her head, and mumbled that she had felt the same for some time. "So does that mean we are...," he trailed off, and she nodded. He laughed, and gently pulled he closer, kissing her softly again, this time she was prepared and she realized with a start that he was actually quite good at this. They were just beginning to get comfortable when they heard the tapping of an owl at the window. Harry sighed and went over to the window, "it's addressed to the both of us," he said, opening the letter, while Hermione got some water for the owl. "It's from Tonks," he said, sitting down on the bed. When she was done with the owl, he pulled he down to sit next to him and looped his arm around his waist, she smiled and leaned into him. "They're coming to talk to us tomorrow, I think something happened..., "he trailed off, looking at her. Seeing her suddenly scared expression, he pulled her close and whispered, "it'll be okay," before he kissed her again.
Okay, I hope you all know how sorry I am that it took this long to update, but I just got my summer reading list, and it looks like I'm going to be busy this year. Anyway, thanks to all the wonderful review and a big thanks to everyone who put me on their author alert and favorites list. You have no idea how much that means to me. By the way, I made a decision about the whole Sirius thing after thinking it over (you'll just have to read on to see what exactly I decided to do) and I also tried to play with the formatting on this chapter, if anyone knows how to get double spacing to come though, I'd be very thankful if you could e-mail me and explain it. Please read and review on this chapter, so far it's one of my favorites.
