Ooooh..chapter 3….it is almost a year since I updated. I was just discouraged by the lack of reviews…but I decided, hey! I don't care anymore… :-) Besides, I didn't have a lot of time writing stories…senior year was harder than I expected…and since it's our vacation already…am now ready to finish this fic… :) har de har. Dedicated to my reviewers! Thanks for wanting to read my story…and now chapter 3: Shopping and Flight!
For the nth time in the morning, Hermione was heard shouting at Harry, this time about his hat.
"I TOLD YOU THAT YOU CANNOT TAKE IT OFF AT ANY RATE!WHY CAN'T YOU FOLLOW A SIMPLE INSTRUCTION YOU BIG IDIOT!" screamed Hermione, while jamming the offending hat on Harry's head. They were at a deserted alley, where Hermione had dragged her companion after he took off his head gear.
The pungent smell in the dumpster is making the usually laid back Harry crack. "Aw, come off it, Hermy! It was just too hot, all right? I only took it off for a second to freshen my poor head. What's with you?" He asked, scowling as he adjusted the brim off the heavy cowboy hat on his head. "Besides, I already have to wear this stupid balaclava, why do I also have to wear a hat and a veil?
"I already told you, it's for your own protection!" hissed Hermione. Her eyes fired up and he dragged Harry away from the alley. "Just shut up and follow my orders. It for your-"
"-own protection. Yeah, yeah, I know." grumbled Harry in an undertone. More than anything in the world, he wanted to peel all of his clothing and throw it away. And the prickling of his scar isn't helping much, either.
Hermione just glared at him, sun reflecting from her spectacles but preached no more. They stepped inside a shop called Flourished and Blots where a man greeted them, bowing low.
"Good morning, can I help you?" he asked, taking a curious look at Harry.
"Yeah, we'd like a set of 2 sets of 6th year Hogwarts books please." Hermione said, stepping in front of Harry.
The shop keeper took the list and scuttled away. Harry took the opportunity to whine at Hermione again. "Look, he's already staring at me on how stupid I look! Can't I just lose the veil? Or you can disguise me by magic?" Harry asked hopefully.
"I cannot do magic too many times, it's against the rules." Sighed Hermione, absentmindedly scanning a book called Advanced Arithmancy and putting it down again. "I can only bend it a little, since I'm supposed to escort you and all. But to perform a disguising spell, the people in the Ministry will get suspicious. An amount of magic to be used for disguising is huge and will not go unnoticed." She glanced at Harry who had a surprisingly serious look on his face. "Are you listening to me?" When he didn't reply, she snapped her fingers in front of him. "Hello? Anybody home?"
Harry looked up away from a particularly beautiful and sexy witch that was strolling by the window. "Huh? Did you say something?"
Hermione groaned and was saved from making a response by the appearance of the shopkeeper with 2 bulging bags.
"Here are your things, Miss."
Harry stopped staring outside the window. "Oh, I'll get them. Never let a beautiful girl like her carry heavy luggage." Harry said gallantly, taking the bags from the shopkeeper. He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes in return.
"Boys."
After several stops at shops and some bickering later, Harry and Hermione went back to the Leaky Cauldron to have lunch. Harry deposited the bags on the floor of the private parlor and threw himself down the sofa. "I'm beat. Hermy what's for lunch?" Harry threw the hat, veil, and balaclava to the floor, then thought of something. "Then again, it's not really lunch cause it's already 6:00. But it isn't dinner yet, cause we didn't have any lunch…so it's a cross between a dinner and a lunch?" His brow furrowed, looking as if a scholar who's on the verge of solving a very difficult problem. "So it's lunchner? Or is it dinunch? What do you think Mione?"
Hermione sighed and flicked her wand. The shopping bags Harry threw unceremoniously on the floor uprighted themselves, while the balaclava, the veil, and the hat hung up themselves on the neat golden hooks behind the door. "I think you better stop thinking about trivial things, Potter. And stop giving me stupid nicknames." She settled at the chair by the table and started opening the mail that came that morning.
Harry pouted and joined Hermione at the table. "Who was that from?" he asked, when Hermione finished reading the mail and threw it down the table. He yelped when the letter suddenly caught fire ('which was odd, since there is no candle on the table' thought Harry) and curled into ashes.
Hermione didn't reply but started putting on her coat. Harry thought she had an angry expression on her face.
"We are going out, again?" asked Harry, making no move. "But we just got here!"
"Look, don't make things difficult for me, OK?" Hermione said, facing him. She looked tired and exhausted. "Put on your balaclava and hat. You can leave the veil if you want to."
Harry proceeded to do so, feeling that it's unwise to contradict. As Harry was putting on his woolen balaclava, he heard footsteps from outside. "Are you expecting guests, Hermione?" he asked.
"Shit, they already found us!" hissed Hermione, pale. She snatched Harry's hand. Harry gaped at her.
"But where are we-"
CRACK.
That exact moment the door opened, and two cloaked men came bounding in the room. They both had their hoods up, and their faces were hidden behind masks.
"Darn, they got away already." The first man hissed, after surveying the inside of the fireplace, under the table, even inside the cabinet. He threw the vase on the table at the mirror, causing an avalanche of glass.
"Reparo." The second man pointed his wand at the mirror, and immediately the shattered glass returned to its frame and looked as good as new. "Don't lose your patience Nott, we'll catch that little Mudblood and her friend Weasel if that's the last thing I do."
His eyes gleamed underneath his mask, revealing it to shine like the finest silver. And in the next moment another crack was heard and the two intruders were gone.
Hermione and Harry landed painfully in an open field.
"Ouch! Hermy I think I landed on cow poop!" Harry said, groaning as he got up on his feet. He glanced behind him, and there was cow poop stuck at his pants. "Great." He held out a hand to Hermione, but she already was on her feet.
"Sorry, I was panicking. Scourgify." Hermione muttered, pointing her wand at Harry's backside. Instantly the cow poop was gone.
"Thanks I-Hey!"
Hermione suddenly grabbed his collar which made him stoop down on her. Their faces were so close that he can see the faint shade of gold around Hermione's pupils which blended quite well with her eye's brown coloring. Harry flushed, his heart beating madly. Hermione was leaning closer and closer to him. Although full of bravado and manly pride, Harry always get cold feet when a girl is that close. Usually, he runs before his girl classmates can do anything to him. But with Hermione's iron grip, he can't go anywhere for the moment.
"Hermy wait! We just met! You can't-"
"The Headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix is at the Burrow." Hermione whispered her lips missing Harry's but instead is very close with his ear. She released Harry's collar, which nearly made him stumble to the droppings again.
"Hermione, what the-"
"Shut up and think about what I just said." Hermione whispered in that same tone, casting furtively around her and still keeping a grip on her wand.
Harry blinked, but fearing that she'll grab him again, he shut his eyes and concentrated on what Hemrione said.
'The Burrow…the Burrow…the Burrow…what the hell is that confounded Burrow?'
As Harry opened his eyes, it was like a 3D magic. A house was inflating right in front of him, with windows, doors and all. Harry blinked, as if he was hallucinating, but Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him to the door.
Harry didn't mind but continued to stare at the house in awe. There was nothing impressive about it, in fact all the houses in Privet Drive look better than this one, which looks like a pig pen with several added floors. 'Yet,' Harry thought uneasily 'Why do I feel like I know this place?' He looked at the door, and was surprised to see no doorknob but instead a bronzed image of a stag at the middle.
"Snuffles." Hermione said to the stag. At first, Harry thought it was a bit stupid of Hermione to talk to the stag, as if something will happen, but something did happen. The stag reared to its hind legs and neighed. The surprised Harry could hear locks and bolts turning inside.
The door swung forward and Harry wasn't surprised when Hermione pushed him inside. "Get in."
The passageway was dim, with no light at all, and when Hermione followed him inside and closed the door, the moonlight from outside was shut off covering the both of them in complete darkness.
"HARRY! HERMIONE! WELCOME HOME!" A shriek followed by a creature of some sort leaped on Harry.
The lamps (Harry mistook them for hat stands) lit up and flooded the area with blinding light. Harry was surprised to see that it wasn't some horrible creature that attacked him, but a red haired girl. Her arms were still around his neck, but he didn't mind, seeing as the face that was smiling up to him was definitely classified on Harry's dictionary, a "total hot-from-the-oven babe."
"Welcome back, mate!" roared a red haired guy, clamping him on the shoulders. Another one who looked just liked the tall, lanky guy popped what look liked a regular party popper but emitted a dragon firecracker. It filled the hall with so much noise that he can't hear himself think.
Another red haired guy ('Is red hair the fashion here?' asked Harry suddenly aware of his messy jet black hair.) but a bit stockier and a big scar running across one of his eye just beamed at him. The guy next to him with equally vibrant red hair was wiping his eyes with the back of his robes.
A girl with blonde ('Not red.' Harry said to himself, relieved) was waving a red and gold banner with "WELCOME HOME HARRY, HERMIONE!" on it. An embroidered lion on it was roaring realistically. She was standing next to a guy with a round face and soft eyes. He smiled and waved.
There were several other people, but Harry can't crane his neck as the girl hugging him has a strangely strong grip. Harry wondered whether all girls are taught to have iron grips.
"That's enough, Ginny, you'll suffocate Potter here." The girl named Ginny released him, but she gave him a kiss on the cheek before doing so. Harry's face burned as she did so. 'She's so attractive…'
Harry turned to Hermione, whom he was surprised to see, wearing a rare, genuine smile on her face. "Potter, I'd like you to meet the people of the Order of the Phoenix."
Harry tried to smile back, but inside he felt a pang that he can't remember these smiling, friendly faces around him. "It's nice to meet all of you, but…um...what's the 'Order of the Phoenix'?"
All smiles left the faces of the people. He could feel their heavy disappointment, and Harry felt he wanted to kick himself. After their hearty welcome, how can he squelch their happiness like that?
After several minutes Hermione sighed, and said in a brisk tone "Ok people, back to the dining room. The meeting will start in a couple of minutes. I'll be with you, all right?"
The troop flooded to the room mumbling, some of them sneaking a glance back at Harry, and once again, the hall way was silent.
"This sucks."
"Hmm?" Hermione gracefully got out of her coat and hung it up on the coat hanger. "What 'sucks'?"
"This." Harry waved his arms around as if to express his point. "Not being able to…you know…" He stared at the floor, feeling as if he was totally lost.
"Remember?" Hermione asked quietly. She turned around and faced him her eyes dead serious. When Harry didn't reply and kept staring at the floor, she continued. "Potter, it's not your fault. They all understand your situation. Anyone who had undergone to what you experienced will experience some emotional trauma. Dumbledore was right to erase your memories."
"But what it is exactly that I undergone?" Harry asked, lifting his head and placed his hands on her shoulders, his green eyes meeting auburn ones. "I want to know, Hermione. I feel so, incomplete without them."
"That's my job. That's why I'm here." Hermione smiled again and gently brushed off his hands from her shoulders. Then she took off Harry's hat and his balaclava. "I'll never leave you again, I promise."
Harry stared at her for a moment, neither of them speaking. He felt a warm rush of gratitude for the girl he had been teasing a while ago. Hermione flushed and looked away from his intense gaze.
"We should also head to the dining room so that we can start the meeting early. Then I can properly reintroduce you to our friends." She muttered, clearly embarrassed by the emotion she showed a while ago. She hung up the balaclava and the hat next to her coat and motioned with her head.
Harry nodded and both of them started walking. "Hermy?"
"Yeah?"
Harry reached for her hand by her side and held it. "Thank you."
"Sure."
For some reason….I was able to finish chapter 3…(surprised) but before I completely log out, I want to thank the following people
sally…
Actually, it's kinda based on the book, it's more of a
sequel to the series…:) thanks for your insights and review!
mmm…
there you go, a little bit of a background…but I think it
made the story more confusing than ever…:) but here. I kinda like a
suave Harry…I think suits him…tall dark and mysterious…enough
of the good, heroic boy:) And thanks for your review!
lovemedo…
I
can't really make long chapters…it stresses my poor head…:)
please don't lose interest in me! In the following chapters…I'll
let you know everything:) sorry for updating this long!
ocpawnmaster1…
yeah,
I think this one's interesting too…thanks for the review!
