Day Five
Harry flew above the Weasleys' apple orchard, keeping his eye out for a flash of gold that would alert him to the position of the snitch, but he wasn't really giving the match the same attention he usually would. It was divided between his seeker duties and Hermione, who was there watching from the ground, as usual. Even after more than a decade it was rare to see that witch on a broom. In fact, she'd quit playing quidditch entirely and wouldn't be talked into it even when they were down a player.
Her attendance wasn't a surprise. More often than not she was at the Burrow on Sundays for quidditch and brunch, usually only skipping a Sunday when she had plans with her parents. So he couldn't pretend that was the reason for his distraction.
Also, it wasn't like he didn't have other, ample, opportunities to look at his best friend. The only person he spent more time with than he did Hermione was Ron, and that was only because they were professional partners who worked in the same small office. He chose to spend that much time with Hermione.
Maybe it was because of the way she'd greeted him that morning, all flushed and breathy. Hermione blushed just as much as any other person, maybe more because she tended to get self-conscious about how much she talked, but he didn't think she'd ever blushed at him before. Until the previous evening when she'd done it several times, once for simply passing her a container of kung-pao chicken. He had nearly convinced himself that he'd imagined it until she'd greeted him with that same blush in the bright light of day earlier.
She had hugged him and thanked him for the bookmark he'd left for today in her Advent calendar. But she had done that four times this week already, sans blush. So it couldn't be the gifts alone that were responsible.
However, while this development was interesting, he didn't care that much. At least not enough to have him preoccupied during a quidditch match. Especially because, as much as these mornings were supposed to be casual, the Weasleys were vicious about quidditch and usually nothing was worth risking their wraths for not being in top form.
Thankfully, as a professional, Ginny was barred from playing chaser or her back-up position of seeker, because she was on the opposing team today. He would be in big trouble if somebody with her skill was also looking for the snitch. But she was also a vicious beater, which was the position she was playing today, so he was taking his life into his own hands.
"Harry!" Amanda- who was one of the chasers for his team- hissed, circling him, "what is with you? Did Hermione get some bad news or something? Why are you watching her like that?"
Maybe they should ban witches from quidditch entirely.
"Not that I'm aware of," he murmured, redirecting his gaze to something other than Hermione, "and I just saw her last night. And anyway I'm not looking at her anymore than usual." He could have smacked himself in the face for that blatantly bad lie.
"Uh-huh," she said, her voice dripping with doubt, "well look alive. I'll not cover for your arse. Ginny and I have a wager on today's match, if you don't catch the damn snitch I'm telling them all that you were too busy staring at Hermione."
Definitely ban all witches. They could start their own match. And Hermione wouldn't want to play with them either, so she would still watch him. It was a good plan. Except then she'd yell at him for being misogynistic, which would be miserable and insulting and he would absolutely never live it down. Nevermind.
Or.
He could suggest it to Ron.
Hermione wouldn't even be surprised to hear it coming from him. And he probably wouldn't even get a lecture. Because she knew that despite how ridiculous it was, Ron was never going to get over Ginny being a better quidditch player than he was, and she would just chalk it up to that insecurity, but she wouldn't be cruel enough to point it out.
With this last thought, as if to prove that the universe wasn't entirely set against him, he also spotted the snitch and his instincts kicked in. Seconds later he was holding the sneaky bastard and flying back to the ground. He landed in front of her, but it wasn't because he'd been thinking of her. He did this regularly because he liked to see if he could catch her off guard, which he often did if she was absorbed enough in her book.
He knew it frustrated Ron that she couldn't devote her full attention to a quidditch match, especially when they were playing, but it had never bothered him. He just liked to watch her startle and stammer when he- at least from her point of view- suddenly appeared in front of her. Today she was already watching him when he started towards her, but her welcoming smile was just as good as surprising her was.
"Nice catch," she said, putting her new hippogriff feather bookmark into place and accepting his offer of a hand up.
"Thanks," he said, sticking the snitch in his pocket so that it wouldn't get away and he could replace it in the Weasleys' set later.
"And thank you for not making me pull my hair out in terror this time." Her mouth pulled up at the corners as she fought a smile.
"Only for you," he bumped their shoulders together. "Since I didn't terrorize you, would you like to go for a ride?"
"No thanks," she said immediately.
It was a routine of theirs. He would offer to take her up on his broom, she would refuse. He wouldn't ever stop asking, but he had stopped expecting a different answer, and he never pushed her.
Except today she blushed, and Harry was more intrigued than ever about where that had come from. And the last thing he wanted to do was return to a house full of people where he would have significantly less opportunity to figure that out. Or to simply spend time alone with her.
"Come on, I think I deserve a reward," he said, allowing his voice to take on a slight whine.
"For not terrorizing me? Try again Harry Potter," she responded with a scoff. "Not terrorizing me is just normal behavior, although I realize you aren't particularly well acquainted with it. But it doesn't deserve a reward."
"If you want me to learn this so-called normal behavior and turn it into a regular occurence, I'd think you'd reward me for it when I do it," he argued right back, proud of his logic.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You want me to train you like one of Pavlov's dogs?"
He laughed. "Fine, no, but that wasn't what I was talking about anyway."
"Okay, what then?"
"The bookmark," he pointed at the book she was still holding. "You were clearly in need of a new one, and I provided one for you."
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his face as expressionless as possible and just hoped it would work. If she said 'no' this time he wouldn't press further. He hadn't had any ulterior motives in giving her the Advent calendar, and while he thought teasing her just a little bit with it would be acceptable, he wouldn't take it so far that she began to feel indebted to him.
"It is a very pretty bookmark," she admitted with a shy smile and he almost sighed with relief. "Is it a hippogriff feather?"
He nodded. "Don't worry, no hippogriffs were harmed in the making of your bookmark. I got it from Buckbeak. I went to see Hagrid a few weeks ago, stopped in to see Buckbeak while I was there. I told him it was for you, and he plucked it out especially."
"Harry!" She gasped. "I can't believe you thought of that! And you should have told me you were going to see Hagrid!"
"Well that would have ruined the surprise, wouldn't it? And, I suppose it was the least Buckbeak could do, you did save his life."
"We did," she corrected, but she looked very pleased. "How did you turn it into a bookmark though?"
He just shrugged. "I took it to Flourish and Blotts, where I also threw your name around," he winked at her, "and they set it in a magical resin and attached the tassel, 'just for Miss Granger,'" he lowered his voice to imitate the old proprietor of the bookshop.
"Right," she rolled her eyes, "I'm sure Harry Potter had to resort to throwing my name around."
"Believe me, your name carries a lot more weight in that place than mine does," he laughed lightly.
Hermione didn't understand the mark she so easily left on people. As soon as he'd told them what he was up to, and specifically who it was for, the entire staff had nearly fallen all over themselves to help him.
She shook her head. "I don't know what to say other than thank you, again. It's double the treasure now," she stroked the tassel and smiled up at him. Then she sighed dramatically. "So I suppose if all you want is for me to allow you to take me on a slow, safe ride on that thing," she wrinkled her nose at his broom like it was a pile of pixie dung and not a world class racing broom, "then I suppose I can accommodate you."
"You trust me don't you?" He asked without giving it any thought.
Her face relaxed into a smile again and her eyes softened. "Of course I do, Harry." She visibly gathered herself as if she was preparing for an exam and not a lazy ride around the Weasleys' property, set her book on top of the bag she'd left laying on the ground, and gestured impatiently. "Let's get on with it."
He gave his broom a quiet command, held it steady, and then gestured for her to climb on, up front, where he knew she preferred to ride. She believed that she had less of a chance of toppling off, if it meant that she'd be bringing the person controlling the broom with her, given that their arms would be wrapped around her.
He'd always thought it was too dramatic to tell her that he'd rather die than let her fall. Especially because he liked holding her and so he wouldn't encourage her to ride any other way.
She did, and he quickly got on behind her. She immediately leaned against his chest. "Don't tell everybody where we've been when we get to the Burrow, I don't want anybody else to get any ideas."
What she wasn't saying, but what he knew that she meant, was that Ron would take this as a personal affront and he didn't want to open that can of worms anymore than she did. "Your secret is safe with me."
He took her on a peaceful ride around the orchard and then over the pond where they'd spent many happy summer hours swimming over the years, just as she liked. Though she definitely would have objected if she had any idea that he spent a lot more time with his eyes trained on her face than he did in front of them, but he had this route memorized. He would never put her in danger.
He placed his chin on her shoulder, just to see how she would react, for science. Pavlov's dogs indeed. And sure enough, she blushed. She also momentarily froze in his arms, but she almost immediately relaxed again.
"We should probably head inside," she said eventually. "Before they call the aurors to search for us. I can imagine that would be rather embarrassing for you."
"Haha," he answered dryly. "But you're right, I don't want to hold up brunch."
He landed and regretfully let go of her so that he could climb off of the broom and then he helped her do the same. And then he waited for her to gather her things.
"Okay?" He asked when she was done.
"Yes, thank you, that was actually sort of fun."
"Don't hurt yourself admitting that," he said as they began walking. "So, I just wanted to warn you, I was going to tell Molly that we're going to miss Christmas Eve, if you wanted to hang back. You know, because I'm nice, and I warn people instead of just springing things like that on them."
"I know, I know, I said I was sorry!"
He laughed.
"And thank you," she exhaled loudly. "But I'll come with you, it's not fair to make you take all the heat."
Harry just nodded gratefully. He knew that despite Molly believing that the Dursleys were appalling- and he knew very well exactly how appalling she found them, she would never say it to him, but her voice carried- she would admit that they were family and she wouldn't dream of asking him to skip Dudley's wedding. However, she would be displeased. Hermione, who had significantly more experience handling a mother, would be able to extract them from the situation much more quickly than he would be able to on his own.
When they approached Molly, she immediately began trying to feed them. They both turned her down politely by reminding her that they were staying for brunch. Then Harry took a deep breath and began to explain the situation as concisely as possible. He intentionally avoided any use of the words 'girlfriend' and 'date,' as well as referring to any of the Dursleys by name, which always made her twitch in a way that was oddly reminiscent of the way many people reacted to hearing Voldemort's name.
"Well," she answered with a sad smile when he was finished, "you'll both be missed, but I understand. I'll be sure to save you some food."
"Thank you," they both answered politely, refusing would only insult her and would prove futile anyway.
She turned to Hermione. "You take care of him."
"I will," Hermione said.
Oddly, Harry felt himself bristling. "She always does," he hastened to add, "\you don't need to worry about me Molly."
Molly looked back and forth between them for several long moments, "okay then. Be good Dears and take a few things out to the table?"
They both quickly agreed and she handed them a couple of dishes each, she was very insistent about not levitating food, unless she was the one doing the levitating. Harry was certain Fred and George were to blame for that.
"Was that strange to you?" He asked Hermione once they were out of earshot.
"It just seemed like Molly to me," she answered, "why?"
"I don't know, something about the way she was looking at us."
"Well you know how Molly is, she's probably just worried about you being around the Dursleys and all, and she can be a little funny about the muggle world. I wouldn't worry about it."
"Probably, yeah," he agreed, "that makes sense."
It did make sense, except Harry didn't think that was really it at all.
Author's Note: I keep forgetting to say: Happy Hanukkah! I'm not Jewish, but several of my best friends are. Unfortunately, it's been many years since we've all lived close enough to be able to share our respective holiday celebrations the way we did when we were kids and I miss it every year. So I'm sending virtual love to you all, and especially to any Jewish readers I may have out there!