By the time the girls had listened to the entire album's 13 cuts, the dress was finished. A dark, rich green that was interwoven with golden threads…it made Hermione feel like a princess. She beamed at her reflection, and while Ginny put her own special kit of wonder witch make up to work on Hermione,she sat in a chair and slipped on a pair of gold strappy three inch heels, againvery un-hermione, but definitely sexy.She slipped the dress on, and then Ginny took some of her brown curls and plaited them with golden ribbons, leaving the rest to cascade down her back. Hermione was a vision. Ginny grinned as she looked over her good work.
"Do you think he'll like it?" Hermione asked nervously. Ginny beamed back at her.
"If I was the boy who lived-excuse me, the man who won, well…I'd jump your bloody bones! You look like royalty, love. Now, don't worry about Draco, I'll take care of that bugger. We know he's cute, but you and Harry, you're ironically the sweetest couple I've ever seen." Hermione could feel her ears turning an alarming shade of red.
"I can not believe that sodding idiot liked me for two years and never told me! Harry's been my best friend since we were eleven. Surely he could have told me, couldn't he Ginny?" Ginny walked her to the door of the shop and said gently to her "Well, that's not an easy thing to tell anyone, let alone your best mate. Plus you and Harry and Ron have never exactly fallen into the normal category." She giggled as she held the door open.
"Good luck! I hope you shag his bloody socks off!" Hermione grimaced and glared at Ginny as she strolled into Diagon Alley. She walked almost to Gringotts before she spotted Ron. Ron was waving her down jovially, with a flower boquet in one hand and a stuffed crepe in the other. When he finally laid eyes on Hermione, he took a bite out of the flowers by accident. Hermione immediately started laughing, her eyes tearsing up and her whole face aching from her mirth.
"Good lord, Ron, are you okay? Lucky you're not allergic to flowers. How do they taste, by the way?" She gasped out before she burst out laughing all over again. Ron looked extremely grumpy as she focused on his face once more.
"Look here, love. I spent all last night ringing the tellys so you could have this wonderful day. You need to appreciate what i've done for you. My sister did too good a job, I think i'll keep you company tonight, myself." he wagled his eyebrows suggestively and grinned...until he saw luna exit the sweets shop, with a bag full of candy and a placid expression as always on her face.
"Well, it seems that i'll have to eat this bag of chocolate frogs by myself. You look wonderful, Hermione." Luna smiled serenely at her. Hermione smiled back as Ron thrust the flowers at her and rushed to Luna's side. They linked arms, and pointed to the card in the flowers.
Mione,
You don't need a locator charm to find me (as usual)
just follow the path to where misers live.
I'll be waiting.
yours,
Harry
She immediately set off down the street towards Gringotts.
He was wearing a handsome set of black wizard's robes and a nervous, slightly puce expression. When he looked upon Hermione, she couldn't read his face.
"Mione. Are you surprised? Do you like it? Your dress, I mean. I like it, but-bloody hell, Mione!" She smiled and raised a hand to his lips to cut him off.
'Why didn't you tell me, Harry? I would have been so happy. We could have had our first date two years ago." His countenance relaxed, his crooked grin slid firmly into place. He trapped her small hand in his own, and kissed the fingers as he murmured into her ear.
"I've felt this way since we were twenty and we lived together. Do you remember? You, Ron and I in a single flat?" She nodded.
"Of course. You were always busy, Ron was completely bonkers, and I was in school. But when we did spend time together" she trailed off, and Harry finished his thought.
"It was the most wonderful time I can remember in my life. Everything felt right, It was natural, even normal to have people around that loved you and wanted to see you. You'd always leave me a dinner plate, you wanted to make sure I didn't waste away. You even did my laundry when I was away for weeks at a time. I've never felt so loved, do you understand me? It broke my heart when you went away. I want you here always. Even if you don't want to be mine, I need you in my life."
Hermione was taken aback by the sureness of his tone. This was not the boy Harry Potter she had left not too long ago. This was a man who knew what he wanted. As he stared into her eyes unflinchingly, waiting for her response, she drew a deep breath and let her heart lead her words, instead of her mind for once.
"Oh, Harry. I don't see how anyone could not love you. Yes I did little things for you, I couldn't help myself. Who will wash his robes? I would ask myself, then I'd realize I needed to do it, because there was no one else. I didn't know it would endear you to me so much, but it was perfectly normal to me. Haven't your girlfriends been doing that since I left? Not that I don't want you to depend on me-that is to say-Merlin! How can we get so tied up trying to talk to each other? I love you Harry James Potter. I'm willing to try to be yours, if you promise that we'll always be best friends, no matter what happens with us"
He leaned down until they were touching foreheads.
"I promise that you will be my best friend for as long as I live. I don't want to ruin our relationship. I want to take it further." He wrapped his arms around her and she folded her arms around his neck. They fit so perfectly, it hurt. He leaned in, and she closed the distance, sharing their first real kiss ( pecks on the cheek and such don't count.) He moaned into her mouth as he tasted her sweetness for the first time. His reaction to her sent a shiver down her spine. Harry's mere touch made her body react in ways that she's never encountered before. He suddenly broke their kiss and looked at her oddly.
"What? What is it that couldn't wait?" She said, nonplussed.
"Did you ever kiss Ron like that? I know I owe him for setting this thing up today, but I'll kill him if he-" Hermione kissed him again, stopping his diatribe. Harry sighed and changed the subject. "Look, down below the dragon security, the goblins have built an opera theatre. I thought we might go see Phantom of the Opera?"
Hermione beamed as he opened the door for her and stepped inside, blushing from the crown of her forehead down to her neack. She felt rather like Ron, having blushed so many times in such a short period.
A small house elf appeared at the entrance to Diagon Alley, pointing and jumping up and down excitedly.
Curious, Ginny closed her shop and walked towards the small elf, and when the bricks opened to let another wizard into the street, she saw what she had expected. None other than Draco Malfoy. Ginny stood in his path, with a sneer.
"How pathetic. Don't tell me-you come to stop Hermione's happy ever after, right? Not today, wanker." She stood in a very Molly Weasley position, with her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes.
Draco looked her over with a cool, appraising eye.
"I don't want one of your bat bogey hexes, alright? Why don't we discuss this civilly, over a drink, maybe? You'll see my perspective better, I assure you." Ginny accepted, cautiously, and led him back to the leaky cauldron, so the she could be sure Harry and Hermione could make their escape.