Charming

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Twelve : Far Away

Harry blinked slowly, completely stunned into silence. He could hardly credit what he had just heard from Hermione. Hermione willingly spending any time with Malfoy? This was like a scene out of nightmare for him. Perhaps that was the ticket. Maybe this was a nightmare. If it was, he could not wait to wake up.

"So let me get this straight," he said, "you really have plans to go . . . to dinner with Malfoy on Wednesday?"

"I've already said that twice, Harry," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "How many times do I have to repeat myself before you get that?"

Harry pinched himself. Nothing changed. If this was a nightmare, it was an awfully persistent one. "Well, forgive me for finding it hard to believe that you'd want to spend more time than you have to with that ferret," he said. "Don't you get enough of him having to work with him day in and day out?"

"You know, you could be a bit more open-minded," she said. "He has changed a lot since we first met him. And the both of us have him to thank for having this flat to live in."

"Hermione! Will you listen to yourself? This is Malfoy, remember? I don't want to repeat half the things he's called you over the years, not to mention the fact that his dad is still locked up in Azkaban for being . . ."

"I don't think one should hold him accountable for the fact that his dad's a complete bastard," Hermione said.

"His dad is more than that! He's a murderer, plain and simple!"

"I know that, Harry. Trust me, I'm not about to waltz into Azkaban to spend some quality time with Lucius Malfoy. But as for Draco Malfoy . . . he has been decent to me lately, and I think he deserves a second chance. Although I suppose we never gave him a first one."

"That's because he never deserved a first one!"

"Harry! I cannot believe you just said that. Of course, he deserves a chance. Everyone does."

"Not him," Harry spat out. "How do you think Ron will react to this? You know, Ron's always hated the bastard and . . ."

"I know, but again, Malfoy's never had a chance with Ron because who his father is." Hermione leveled a glare at Harry. "I must admit this isn't how I expected you to react. I thought you'd be more open-minded than this."

"It's kind of hard to be open-minded about a bloke who hoped you would be killed when we were at Hogwarts."

"When did he ever say that?"

"Second year, don't you remember? When we used the Polyjuice Potion . . . oh, that's right. You weren't there. You were . . ."

"I know. I'm still trying to forget those damn furballs." Hermione shuddered. "But that was a long time ago. And who knows? Maybe he didn't mean it. Maybe it was just for show."

"It didn't sound like it was for show."

"Well, of course you'd think so because you were pre-disposed to think the worst of him. You still are, I might add."

"Hermione . . . we've been friends for seven years. We've known each other since we were eleven. I wish you'd trust my judgment here. This is a bad move. I don't know what he's up to . . ."

"Maybe Malfoy's interested in some intelligent conversation over dinner?" Hermione sniffed and tossed her head. She hadn't thought that they'd argue over this, but there was a part of her that was thrilled that he was taking it so badly. That part of her had jumped for joy at his dismay when he heard that she had other plans. "I suppose you wouldn't understand that."

Harry stiffened. "What is that supposed to mean, Hermione?"

"Exactly what it seems to mean."

"Enlighten me."

"I didn't say a damn thing, Harry Potter, when you brought that witch home. Considering the fact that you were probably sloshed from celebrating, I doubt that you did a thorough background check before shagging her."

"I don't see how my social life is relevant here."

"I did not say anything to you. I did not scold you. I did not question your choice in witches. But when I decide to spend time with a wizard who is not you or Ron, all of a sudden, you treat me like a blooming idiot who doesn't know up from down."

"That was different. You can't compare Serena with Malfoy. Her father's not a Death Eater for one."

"Oh really? What House was she in at Hogwarts?"

"Er . . . I didn't exactly ask . . ."

"My point exactly." She walked over and stood toe to toe with him, glowering the whole time. "At least I know Malfoy's background. And if I give you the courtesy of not butting in to your social life, as you put it, then you damn well should do the same." She poked him sharply in the chest. "And before you get the brilliant idea of trying to follow me around on Wednesday, let me say here and now that if I catch a glimpse of you or Ron that evening, I will hex you into next year. Have I made myself clear?" Harry could only nod, but that seemed to satisfy Hermione. "If you will excuse me – and even if you won't – I will be going to bed. Good night!" She turned on her heel and exited the room.

Harry sat down on the couch, still shaken by their argument. He had thought he could get Hermione to see sense and at least invite him or Ron along, but apparently she wasn't listening. He had a cold feeling deep in his gut that this would not end well. After all, for all intents and purposes, she was going on a date with the bastard.

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. It was hard to imagine Hermione on a date with anyone. Sure, there had been the Yule Ball when she went with Krum, but after that, she had always been too caught up in her studies to spend any time nurturing a relationship. That inexperience with hers combined with Malfoy's reputation for being a bastard . . . that combination was a disaster waiting to happen. Yet, if he was truly honest about the whole matter, it wasn't that which was troubling him the most.

It was the idea that Hermione wanted to be with someone more than she wanted to be with him.

It was stupid. It was so stupid the word hadn't been invented to properly describe its idiocy. But that thought was there all the same. Hermione had never rejected his company to spend time with someone else ever before. He had grown accustomed to that. He had come to depend on her always being there for him. Somewhere along the line, things had changed, and he desperately wanted to put things back the way they were . . . the way they should be.

He leaned back on the couch, slowly lying down, trying to think of what he should do. Of course, what he should do would depend on what he ultimately wanted . . . and the scariest thing of all was that what he wanted was her.

That was a very hard thing to admit. He wanted her. Those days that he had been all alone in his flat had been horrible. When she had left, it was as if she had taken part of him with her and the best part at that. Those days when she wouldn't even deign to respond to his owls were heart-breaking. He had been nearly at the end of his chain when she had finally written back. If she hadn't done so, he would have gone over to the Grangers' house, not caring whether or not her scary dad was present.

And these last few days, when they were together again, they had been a relief. He could almost thank his former landlady for throwing him out and giving him an excuse to be with Hermione again. It had felt right to be able to see her each and every day again. If you asked him, Harry would say there weren't enough hours in the day for him to spend with her. Unfortunately, she obviously didn't feel the same way.

Harry exhaled, feeling calmer that he had now worked out what he wanted. He could go on from here. He would apologize to her. It was her life, and he could not tell her who to associate with. All he could hope to do was convince her that she wanted to spend the rest of it with him.

He settled back down into the couch. Starting tomorrow, he was going to do everything in his power to convince Hermione that she wanted to be with him and not any other wizard. He was going to let her know how much he cared for her, how much he needed her and . . .

He hoped that would be enough.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione tiptoed along the corridor, not wanting to wake her roommate up. It had been hard to get to sleep last night after the argument she had with Harry. But really, the boy had no reason to think that he could tell her what she could and could not do with her life. He had been so arrogant last night that she had trouble believing that it was really Harry she was fighting with. And what made it worse was the fact that she couldn't very well tell him what she thought – that he had no damn right to even be upset if she had dinner with another wizard because he had never shown the slightest interest in her.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she finished navigating the hallway without waking Harry up. She didn't want to deal with him right now. She didn't want to have another argument with him this morning.

Her heart leaped into her throat as she caught sight of the couch. Harry was sleeping peacefully there, and she longed to sit by his side and ruffle his hair. It was dreadfully unfair, how she could never stay angry with him. It was awful how he could get to her every single time. Perhaps that was why he always took her for granted, because there was a part of her that couldn't bear to leave his side. Hermione didn't want to wake him up, but she knew if she didn't then he'd be late to practice. Very well, she thought. I have to face him some time. Might as well make it sooner rather than later. I'll only worry more if I put it off. She gently shook his shoulder.

"Hermione?" Harry said, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get up," she replied. She bent over to straighten his glasses. "Did you spend all night on the couch?"

"Yeah . . . I guess so." He sat up, yawning. "I'm sorry, Hermione."

"You're what?"

"I said I'm sorry. For last night. For acting like a prick." He groggily got to his feet. "Can we get some coffee? I don't think I'm making much sense here."

Hermione bit her tongue. The boy had just apologized to her, and there was no reason to start another fight by saying that he wasn't making any sense last night, not this morning. She followed him to the kitchen, taking a seat at the table as he set about making a pot of coffee. He plopped a cup down in front of her when he was finished, before taking a long drink out of his own.

"That's better," he said, taking a seat across from her. "I am sorry about last night . . . but think of it from my end, Hermione." Hermione looked suspiciously at him. She hated conditional apologies, where a person would apologize but not really get to the heat of the matter.

"Please don't look at me like that," Harry said, catching her eye. "At least give me a chance to explain."

"I'm listening."

"I was worried last night . . . and don't you go on saying how you can take care of yourself and how I shouldn't worry. It's like . . . well, think of it this way . . . if I suddenly said that I was busy this weekend because I was going to see Pansy Parkinson, you'd—"

"Ask if you had a lobotomy recently," Hermione said, then bit her tongue. Damn. Maybe Harry does have a point, she thought.

"Exactly. It would be surprising if I did want to see her given everything that happened at Hogwarts."

"I see what you're saying, Harry, but this is different. You haven't seen Pansy since we left school—"

"Thank Merlin, I might add," he added.

"Yes, I agree there. But to get back on track, I've been working with Malfoy for almost a month now. I have seen him since Hogwarts, and I know he's changed—"

Harry held up a hand, stopping her. "I'm not going to doubt you when you say that, Hermione. It is hard for me to believe, because remember, I've not had any contact with him. Maybe you're right, and I hope you are, but I can't help worrying about you."

"You don't have to worry, Harry."

"You worry about me, don't you? So why can't I do the same?"

"Because this whole big brother act is getting tiring," Hermione blurted out. Damn, damn, damn. I did not want to say that.

"Big brother act?" Harry laughed, almost bitterly to Hermione's ear. "I assure you, Hermione, I do not think of you as a sister."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"It means exactly what it seems to mean," he replied, borrowing her words from last night. "I don't think of you as a sister. " He shrugged. "Why? Do you think of me as a brother?"

"No," she said, "I don't. At least we agree on that much."

"I thought we agreed that I was a prat last night as well."

"Oh, definitely."

"So can you forgive me?" He smiled hopefully at her.

When he asked like that, so innocent and pleading, there was very little that she would refuse him. "Okay," she said. She felt a smile tugging at her lips. It did feel good to make up with him. "And by the way, have you realized that you have about twenty minutes to get yourself over to the practice—"

Harry leapt up, cursing, almost spilling his coffee all over himself in the process. As he ran from the kitchen, Hermione sighed. There had been a moment there, when he had said that he didn't think of her as a sister, when she thought that perhaps he might say that he loved her. Foolish thought, that. I really should have known better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione fumbled with the lock, not quite being able to put the key in. Maybe I've got it the wrong way, she thought. Maybe it would help if I had some light . . . of course! I'll just-- But before she could pull out her wand to cast Lumos, the door had opened. Harry was standing there, smiling at her.

"Had a good time?" he asked.

"Yes. But I'm starving," she said, pushing past him and making her way to the kitchen.

"Okay. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had dinner with Malfoy."

"I did. The restaurant was beautiful. It looked like an enchanted rose garden, but—"

"But what?"

"But the portions were too damn small. And expensive, I might add." She began searching through the fridge, looking for something to eat. "It would take several entrees to feed a small child there, and I didn't feel right ordering those, not on Malfoy's tab. Not to mention the fact that I already felt like a pig there, as all the other witches were so thin you could almost see through them."

"It sounds like you had fun."

"Fun?" She snorted. "It was nice, and I suppose I enjoyed the company, but . . ." She sighed. "I wouldn't call it fun. The décor was nice to look at, and the food was good, but I don't think I'd go there again. I could feel everyone staring at me."

"See? It would have been better if you spent the evening with me. Because no one would stare at you, as they'd be too busy gawking at this damn scar." Harry tapped his famous scar.

"Better with you? I hardly think so." She turned to look at him. "Did I ever tell you that I still get the occasional piece of hate mail from your fans?"

"You do? Damn. Sorry about that, Hermione."

"Why? It's not your fault."

"I wish I could get them to stop it. Do you think a letter from me to the Prophet to all of them would help? Maybe a general letter asking everyone to stop pestering you about . . ."

"No, it wouldn't help. I am sure that the editors at the Prophet would edit that letter so that it'd seem as if you were soliciting more hate mail from me."

He scowled. "I wish you weren't so right."

"I wish I weren't so hungry. Did you cook tonight?"

"No, I grabbed a bite to eat before coming home."

"Damn."

"Would you like to go out?"

"At this time of night? I hardly think any place is open."

"The Leaky Cauldron would be. I'm not sure what else they have left there, but there should be stew."

Hermione pursed her lips, considering if she wanted to go out a second time that evening. She had to go to work early in the morning, and they wouldn't be back until almost midnight if they went. Then her stomach growled. She winced, hoping that it hadn't been too audible. "Sounds good to me. Let's go."

Author's note: The next chapter will be up on Friday again. ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this one. If you could let me know what you think by leaving a review, I'd really appreciate that.

And thanks to Carolyn (sorry for not emailing back sooner, but it's been a crazy week), Rebeca, LeslieGladly, TheLaguna, sheepdog, star19, HarpeeLady, Danski, lucy, Shawn Pickett, Candy, Fatima, Chelsie, v-weasley, mikeus, MasterDeath, monkeychika2006, myman-harry526, Trapped in Icy Flame (I like your username ^_^), Daintress, Blood57, Leah6, Emma-Lee14, sally, avada kedavra (for me, these chapters are long as my first ficlets were under 1000 words), Disco Duck, Kage Miko, Mistress Desdemona (in some ways, she's grown but as for others . . . well, you'll see), ravenclaw's heir, LilyEvansPotter3, Padawan Learner (I'm glad someone doesn't mind the H/Hr relationship growing slowly), malu, ears91, Seakays (Two people who don't mind slow! Yay!), Cool Like Ice, Grace, brazilianfan, sweetheart87, anonymous9, ILUVRONWEASLEY (your review is cute ^_^ And D/Hr is nice, but I wouldn't have expected that'd be your favorite), TheSilverLady, EuphoniumGurl0, Mage Gurl 05, mutsumi, M4x, Tiffie101, Nev/Wormtail, Ramy, becka5, Pinku-koneko (thanks for all the reviews! I'm surprised you're bothering to read everything though), Megan, zidane3, Jen (I try to mention everyone b/c I really do appreciate all the reviews-- if someone's not there, that's because I didn't get it), and GingerAleGoddess (if you want to go ahead -- am blushing because you even suggested it) for their reviews of the last chapter. I am very sorry about not responding to everyone, but it's been a very busy week for me and I'd like to get this posted before I go to bed. One general thing I guess I can say is that I can promise steady updates for the next three weeks as I've the next three chapters finished -- and that the one H/Hr shipper I've run those chapters in front of seems to like them. ^_^ Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed!