Day Two
Hermione awoke early on the second day of Advent and she had to admit, at least to herself, that was because she was still fairly buzzing with excitement from the evening before. She was more touched by Harry's gift than anything she could remember receiving for a long time. And then to add to that they'd had a lovely but unexpected evening ordering in pizza and just spending some time alone together.
It had been more than five years since she and Harry had resided in the same building (or tent) and she still missed running into him at meals, or meeting casually in their pajamas to talk or curl up with a book. Even though she still saw him most days at work, it wasn't the same. Yesterday evening had left her feeling warm and fuzzy, but amped up at the same time.
The first thing she did was stop off in her living room and open the second calendar door. Inside she found one perfect sprig of holly. She set it aside to grab before she left for work and grinned to herself. She was glad that Harry hadn't gone overboard and filled every box with expensive trinkets. This was simple and most of all thoughtful, which was really all she cared about.
Harry had obviously noticed that she was partial to this particular plant. She had a special set of stationary just for the holiday season which was adorned with it. A few years ago she would have had a hard time believing that he could be so observant, but the war had changed him from a sweet, if rather clueless boy, into a careful and considerate man.
It was Thursday, the next day their charade as a couple would really begin. They had plans to have dinner with Dudley and Amelia. Harry had been making excuses for them for the last month, since they'd run into the Dursleys and the Bertrams at lunch on Halloween. She knew he kept putting it off because of a combination of his own dread and not wanting to burden her. She was finally forced to point out that they had to get it over with eventually, and she suspected they were beginning to hurt Amelia's feelings with their refusals.
It was almost enough to make Hermione feel bad for the deception they were about to undertake, but she consoled herself that they didn't mean Amelia any harm, they just wanted to unnerve the Dursleys. And even that only applied to the older pair.
Harry had made it clear that he didn't think it was fair to blame his cousin for the way that he had been treated growing up, as he had only been following his parents' example, and he had since apologized for his own bullying anyway. Part of Hermione had wanted to argue, even though she knew that, in theory, he had a point, and admired his forgiving attitude. In practice, she despised anything that caused Harry pain.
But even being slightly rude to Dudley would only upset Harry and defeat the whole point of what she was trying to accomplish. So she would be on her best behavior. She was even kind of looking forward to the dinner. She was incredibly intrigued to learn more about the woman who would willingly marry into that family.
However, she'd thus far been ignoring a bigger issue. She had no problem deceiving the Dursleys or a bunch of strangers, but she never intended to lie to her and Harry's friends. Which meant that they needed to tell Ron. Technically, he was already aware that Hermione was attending the wedding with Harry, it had simply been mentioned in passing over lunch one day, but he certainly didn't know the whole story, and they lived too much in each other's pockets to hide it from him.
Even if they wanted to, they would inevitably say something that didn't add up. Then they would have to explain everything, and he would be hurt by their secrecy. It wasn't worth the risk.
Unfortunately, there was no predicting how Ron would react to something so unexpected, he usually hated things that he couldn't anticipate. However, it was possible that he would brush it off without a second thought. Or he might fly into a rage and stay angry with them for weeks. But there was nothing to be done for it, so she was determined to put it out of her mind until lunchtime.
She entered her kitchen to make breakfast and spotted the other thing Harry had left behind in her flat last night. It was a fairly large cardboard box tucked away on a corner of her worktop. He'd given her strict instructions not to touch it or look inside and had simply explained that it contained alternative supplies for her Advent calendar and that she would understand what he meant when the time came.
He knew her well. That would have driven a lot of women insane, but to her it just seemed practical. She appreciated that he trusted her to do as he requested and didn't make a big deal out of it.
They may not have actually been in a relationship, but she really valued the fact that they did not play games with each other. That was important in a friendship as close as theirs, but something that she couldn't say the same of in her friendship with Ron. The difference was partially due to the fact that she and Ron did have a romantic history, but it was mostly just a result of unfortunate clashing of their personalities. It was like they just couldn't help themselves.
It was a productive enough morning, though Hermione could already feel things beginning to wind down towards their holiday pace. She had never understood it; skiving off work now just meant that things would be more hectic in the new year. But she had accepted- or at least tried to- that she couldn't force anybody into her way of thinking. She could only insist that nobody inhibit her own productivity. She left a few minutes early for lunch so that she would be sure to catch Harry and Ron in their office.
Before she left she checked on the sprig of holly which she'd tucked into her hair above one ear. She could be thankful, for once, for thick locks that protected her skin from being pricked by the sharp leaves. When she arrived in their department she automatically moved towards their office and discovered that the door was open. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her, and calling out a quiet greeting.
Harry's eyes immediately met hers and then drifted to the pop of color amongst her chestnut curls. He smiled and she nodded. She turned to Ron to see that he was bent over a piece of parchment, writing furiously, with one hand in the air signaling that he needed a moment.
"Important Auror business, I assume?" She deadpanned when he finally looked up, she could tell by his demeanor that it was anything but.
"Very," he nodded, "apparently Harry didn't kill Voldemort at all and he's actually been knocking around Diagon Alley committing petty crimes."
Harry snorted and Hermiome rolled her eyes. "I'm not even sure I want to know if somebody actually made a complaint like that."
"You don't, it'll send you into a tailspin. Lunchtime?" He snapped his fingers which was Ron's signal that he was ready to get a move on.
"Yes, but Harry and I have something to tell you first."
"We do?" The other wizard piped up.
She looked at Harry and it was clear that he had no idea where she was going with this. She wished that she'd thought to warn him, but if she took him aside now it would just put Ron on his guard, and she wanted to handle this as casually as possible. Because it really was no big deal.
"We do, you know, about our plans for the wedding?" She hinted.
"Your cousin's wedding?" Ron interrupted. "You already told me about that."
"Did we tell you it was on Christmas Eve?"
Ron snorted. "Well that sucks, but it doesn't make me feel bad enough for you to volunteer to tell Mum that you're both going to miss Christmas Eve at the Burrow. You're on your own there."
"And that I'm going as Harry's girlfriend."
The room went completely silent. Hermione peered at Harry out of the corner of her eye, he was staring right back, open mouthed.
"Come again?" Ron finally sputtered.
"It's not a big deal, Ron," she reiterated her earlier thought.
"You started dating and you didn't even tell me!" He could have been speaking to them both, but he had turned to Harry and was glaring at him, his face growing redder by the second.
"Of course not," she replied crisply, sometimes if she pretended not to notice an impending explosion, he would grow flustered that she, too, wasn't losing her temper, and it could be avoided altogether. "We saw the Dursleys along with the bride and her parents out for lunch a few weeks ago. The bride just assumed Harry and I were together- you know how people do that- and I didn't want to correct her and leave poor Harry to have to go by himself."
That was...mostly the truth.
"Well, he could have taken a real date," Ron retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.
Hermione understood what he meant, but it still made her feel like a rejected teenager when he said things like that. She sighed and luckily Harry found his voice- she'd have to apologize later for dropping this on him.
"This is a family thing Ron, I'm really not comfortable exposing some random witch to the Dursleys. I trust Hermione and I can't think of anybody else who could handle going to a muggle wedding anyway. Especially because as part of Dudley's family, I'm expected to attend some other things leading up to the wedding. Don't be mad that I want my best friend along for moral support, and don't tell me you're available for the job."
Ron managed to look sheepish, appeased, and horrified by the suggestion all at once. "Well she could have said it like that."
"Yes, she could have," Harry agreed, giving her a sharp look.
"What?! I thought he'd know that we were just using this opportunity to mess with the Dursleys. It certainly didn't occur to me that he'd think that we'd started seeing each other and were hiding it from him," she turned back to Ron, "how exactly do you think we'd manage that?"
"Well when you put it like that," he continued to grumble, all the wind had gone out of his sails. "Can we at least go to lunch now?"
"Yes," they answered in tandem.
He stood up and walked past her, Harry following at a slower pace. They made their way to the cafeteria in silence and remained that way until Ron started muttering to himself, trying to settle on his meal order.
Harry took the opportunity to lean into her, bumping their shoulders together. "Smooth. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? And thanks a lot, I'm going to be fielding questions from him for the rest of the day."
"Sorry," she said, but while she did feel guilty, she was still having a hard time making her apology sound sincere. "But we had to tell him," she added.
She could only imagine the conversation that they would be having once they were alone again, and she suspected it was going to be a very entertaining afternoon to be a fly on their office wall. She'd have to cajole him into telling her all about it later, maybe she'd offer to help him with his filing as a combined apology and way to soften him up.
"Sure you are. And for future reference, maybe you could refrain from using the words, 'I,' 'Harry,' and 'girlfriend' all in the same sentence when talking to Ron, unless you're just trying to get him to kill me. I mean," he turned his head so that she could see he was smirking at her, "it would be the most creative way I've ever seen somebody try to murder me. But then again, you never do anything halfway."
She pretended to think about it. "Nah. I've put a lot of effort into keeping you alive over the years."
"Right, of course, wouldn't want to undo all your hard work," he quipped right back, without missing a beat.
She grinned and shook her head as he bumped their shoulders together again. "I really am sorry, Harry, that wasn't well thought out.," she whispered, much more sincerely this time.
"I can forgive you this once."
She was pleased to hear that he really didn't seem upset. "Thanks," she said with a laugh.
"I see you already opened the calendar for the day."
"I did, it made for a good morning. Thank you."
"You're welcome, though it looks like I'm the one who really benefited from it, so it seems wrong to accept thanks."
She gave him a questioning look.
"Having a good day makes you look especially pretty, and now I get to enjoy it."
This time when their shoulders brushed she reached out and hooked her pinkie finger around his and they stood like that until it was their turn to order.
Author's Note: Thank you all for the ideas for the Advent calendar. It was really interesting to see what you came up with, and a few of them I'd actually thought of myself, so it was nice to see I'm on the right track. Keep them coming if you like! And, as always, thanks for reading!