We Belong Together
Chapter 1: Meeting at Diagon Alley
She wore a scarlet camisole under a bright yellow beater. A denim mini skirt with ruffles all along the bottom fitted her perfectly and showed off her tanned legs that came from spending her summer in Greece with her family. On her feet she wore a pair of red flip flops with yellow polka dots streaming an outline along the edge. It was a pretty warm day, with the sun's rays beating down on everyone in Diagon Alley, but with a slight breeze that made the air around her seem just perfect. Hermione Granger was tapping her foot impatiently outside of Ollivanders while waiting for her two best friends – Harry Potter and Ron Weasley – to show up. They were supposed to buy all their school supplies for the upcoming year today, before heading back to the Burrow, as they were to leave for their final year in the morning, but as usual, the two boys were undoubtedly and inexplicably late.
"Hermione! Hey Hermione, over here!" yelled a young boy with messy black hair, round glasses that were crooked, and a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt just barely visible on his forehead.
Hermione snapped her head around in the direction of the deep voice, her skirt being blown in the slight wind. A wide smile crept across her tanned face as she saw Harry emerge from a crowd of wizards and witches all staring and gawking at the new broom on display – The Dragon's Tail – and she started to giggle, temporarily forgetting how impatient she was that he was late.
"Harry! It's been so long! How are you? Where's Ron, and Ginny? Why are you laughing?" she exclaimed as she ran towards him and threw herself on him. "You're late!" she added as an afterthought as she remembered waiting for nearly an hour for them to show up.
Laughing, Harry hugged her back. "I'm fine, what about you? Oh, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the Weasley's are on their way. They just stopped off at Gringotts, they should be here soon. And I'm laughing because you haven't changed at all 'Mione and it's good to see you too. Although, you do look different, but you're personality is as it was 6 years ago." Sighing, he added, "Can you believe that it's our 7th year already? It seems like just yesterday when Hagrid came knocking down my door, literally I might add, and then I met you and Ron on the Hogwarts Express. I'm going to miss that school, but I don't think we will lose touch. At least, we better not; though as long as Ron passes his apparition test we can all see each other as often as we wish!" He grinned at Hermione as she started laughing.
"True Harry, but I'm sure he'll pass. I'll makesure he does!" She replied grinning back. "Wait a minute, what do you mean I look differently? I haven't changed that much, have I?" she added confused at his comment.
It was true, Hermione had changed. Her shoulder-length brown bushy hair was no longer bushy and short, but long – down to the back pockets on her skirt – and in soft delicate curls that shone a chestnut colour, that complimented her bright, sparkling hazel eyes. She still didn't believe in wearing a lot of make-up, but an intense bronze dusted her cheeks to give her a flushed appearance and a pale pink gloss made her full lips shine. A thin line of black was drawn under her eye and a bit of bluish-black eye shadow gave her eyes a smoky look. Whether she believed it or not, Hermione looked gorgeous, and the summer had been good to her.
"Well… your hair is grown out and you're wearing some makeup, your eyes are twinkling more than ever, and you have an aura around you. You've grown a little taller than the last time I saw you and you're tanned. So yes, I'd say that you do look different, but in a good way, don't worry. You look beautiful, I must say," he responded, "Too bad I already have a girlfriend, one that I love dearly and wouldn't let anyone or anything get in the middle of it!" His smile grew so wide, she thought his face would split in two.
"Oh Merlin, Harry! You… and who? Oh, Harry! Is it Ginny? Please tell me it's Ginny! Thank you for the compliments." She blushed just as Ron and Ginny appeared by their sides.
"I heard my name! What happened? Hermione, you look stunning! It's so good to see you!" Ginny squealed as she ran up to give Hermione a big hug and then settled herself beside Harry, who instinctively put his arm around her waist, drawing Ginny closer to him. Ginny had changed a lot too. Her short, bright red hair had turned almost dark burgundy, was flat-iron straight and reached down to her waist. She had side bangs that reached down to the side of her face and she had lost nearly all of her freckles. Her brilliant blue eyes shone bright as she looked over at Harry in awe.
"I knew it! I knew you guys would get back together. Oh, I'm so happy for you two! Harry was just telling me about him finding himself a girlfriend when you two showed up. And thanks Ginny, I really didn't notice that I looked that different."
"Well, you do, you look wonderful 'Mione and it's great to see you!" piped up a certain tall, muscular, red-head with a few freckles across his nose as he walked over to give one of his best friends a tight squeeze. Not to mention his ex-girlfriend.
Hermione blushed again as she hugged Ron back. "Thanks guys, really, but can we please stop obsessing over me? We still need to get our school supplies and we're running late. Ron, where's the rest of your family?"
"They went back home. Mum wanted to cook a large dinner for the arrival of you two," Ron replied pointing at Harry and then Hermione.
"And she figured that we could handle ourselves. Though, she did warn us to 'be careful and watch out'," Ginny cut off her brother while imitating Mrs. Weasley perfectly.
The whole lot of them started laughing at Ginny's imitation as they started walking off to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to gather their dress robes and such. After that, they headed in the direction of Flourish and Blotts to get their school books. A long day of shopping forced the four teenagers to enter the Leaky Cauldron and order four butterbeers, one for the each of them. They sat down at a table in a near by corner and started talking about their summers, how Ginny and Harry got together, and their upcoming year.
"Well, I went to Greece. It was absolutely fantastic there! It was only for a month, but I wished I could have stayed longer because time just seemed to fly by so fast! But it was beautiful, just dazzling! I met a lot of nice people there-" started Hermione before getting cut off by Ginny.
"-Any boys? I mean, I've heard that there are quite a few hot boys out in Greece," she said nudging Hermione, though Ron and Harry just rolled their eyes.
"Ginny, can you think of nothing else? It's always got to be about b-"
"Actually, there was this one that I liked a lot. He took me touring around and we hung out a lot. It was really sad when I had to leave, because I really didn't want to," interrupted Hermione, as Ron just glared at her for cutting him off so rudely. Harry just laughed as the girls giggled and moved on to the topic of gossip – the latest fashion, stars, and what people they knew from school were up to these days. Ron on the other hand, was not finding the humor in any of this.
"Just look at her go! It's like our breakup meant nothing to her! I mean, we just broke up before the summer and there she goes all happy and cheery, meeting new guys and acting as if nothing happened between us. Is she not hurt at all?" fumed Ron.
"Ahhh mate, calm down! You're looking kind of freaky. May I remind you, that you both decided to break up? It takes two, and I'm sure she's hurting but she's got to move on, and so do you. Remember why you broke up? To protect yourselves and each other. The war was approaching fast and you couldn't bear losing each other. Now we've made it through, but you need to relax. You're way better as friends anyway, you know it's true. Don't worry, you'll find someone. Give it time, but in a while you'll feel happy about Hermione meeting guys too."
Knowing that it was true, Ron just nodded. He couldn't forget all the times with Hermione, all the times he laughed with Hermione, cried with Hermione. He couldn't forget how much he loved Hermione, but he knew what Harry was saying was true. He had let her go, believing it was the best thing for the both of them, believing he was protecting her, and because of that, he had to let go, he had to be happy for her, he had to move on.
"Oh my, guys! It's five o'clock! You're parents are going to want us home soon Ginny, Ron. We better go!" Hermione shrieked. She as always, was the punctual and responsible one.
"You're right, let's go," replied Harry and with that, they walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and towards a wizard's taxi that immediately brought them to the welcoming house of the Burrow.
A/N - Thanks, Natalie! You did a fabulous beta-ing!