AN: This happens during Harry's Third Year in my universe. I've been trying to write my My Hero story but this little plot bunny wouldn't get out of my Head, so here you have it! Hope you Enjoy.
"A date?" Harry asked with obvious confusion in his voice. He had never been on a date before. In front of him stood Susan Bones who had pulled him aside after dinner to a little alcove not far from the Great Hall's entrance. It wasn't entirely unusual for Harry to get pulled aside by random people, but this was definitely a surprise, to be grabbed by the pretty Hufflepuff in front of him.
"Yes, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" Susan asked, where once Susan had been a shy girl with only a few friends, she was now popular, smart, and had gained a cauldron full of confidence since he had first met her on the boat ride across the Black Lake.
"I've never actually been on a date before." Harry admitted reluctantly while putting one hand behind his head.
"Neither have I, but I want my first date to be with a boy who will respect me and where we can have a good time." She said as she kept her eyes steady on Harry who was finding it more and more difficult to stand still.
"Oh." Harry said simply, not sure how to respond to her straightforward approach. "Well, I didn't have any plans so sure! I'd love to go on a date with you Heir Apparent Bones." Harry said, still eternally thankful Dumbledore had drilled him in the proper way to treat people of different houses in his first year.
The smile he was met with was dazzling and the way Susan's face lit up was something that Harry was fairly certain wouldn't leave his mind for a long time to come.
"Thank you, Lord Potter." Susan said brightly.
"I'm no Lord yet Susan, we haven't been able to get into the treasury room of Potter Manor to find out the Ceremony for me to step up as Head of the Family. Until then I'm just an Heir Apparent just like you." Harry said dismissively as if it didn't matter that he was talking about his own future.
"Well regardless of that, I'll see you at breakfast the day of the Hogsmeade trip, and we can go from there?" Harry nodded at her and was surprised when she moved forward and wrapped him in a short hug, her head resting in the crook of his neck due to his recent growth spurt. She moved away from him quickly and slipped into the crowds heading upward in the castle. Harry stood there for just a moment longer before joining the crowds heading in the opposite direction down toward the dungeons where his next class, potions, took place.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ The Morning of ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
The chatter in the Great Hall was all but deafening, the first Hogsmeade weekend was a big hit with all the new third years and even the upper years were excited as it meant, of course, freedom from the castle for a few hours at least. Harry ate his breakfast in silence mostly, his stomach doing flips at the thought of his date with Susan. He had done some research, asked around as it were, about what a date could include. He had been met with answers that ranged high and low on what to expect the only thing they all agreed on was food and hand holding. Some told him that a kiss was needed others told him to not even think about it, yet others told him that he should treat the girl as a treasure while others told him to keep it extremely casual. Overall Harry had not gotten much help and in fact all it had down was make him nervous.
As soon as he had finished eating, he stood and waved to Hermione who was pretending to read a book while keeping an eye on him, he also waved out to Ron who was sitting with the rest of the Quidditch Team, he was met with an arm raised back enthusiastically. He made his way down to the end of the table and out near the exit of the Great Hall when he was met with Susan who appeared at his side as if from smoke, while giving him another one of those dazzling smiles that he had decided he liked. They walked together out of the Great Hall with the rest of the crowd which drug them out to the entrance hall where Filch was checking names against his master list to see who had received permission to go out to the village. When they made it to the end of the line Harry was beginning to feel jittery and nervous. He was just starting to think this had been a horrible idea when he was met with a quiet voice next to him which shook him out of his funk.
"Easy there Harry, I don't bite, Promise." And an outstretched hand with a pinky held out. Harry exhaled loudly and shook pinkies with Susan and then slowly retracted his hand to his side.
"Sorry, I just… I don't want to mess up your first ever date." He whispered back as they moved further up the line nearing the front.
"I don't think that's really possible Harry, you're always so courteous it would be impossible for you to mess it up, just be yourself." Susan replied easily as they took another step forward. There were only a few students in front of them now.
"You certainly give me a lot of credit Susan." Harry replied poking her in the side which caused her to jump and then scowl at him playfully.
"Mmm, its well-founded I think, after all look at all the amazing things you've done since coming to school. Plus I remember how nice you were to me our first year as well." Susan said as she stepped up to Filch who waved her through after confirming he had seen her slip. Harry joined her on the castle grounds a scant moment afterword.
Several students were loitering around in the courtyard of the castle, while others had already stepped into the carriages that would take them to the village. Harry glanced at Susan who was looking out over the lawn and obviously hadn't noticed his dilemma, he didn't want to seem too eager to go down to the village, but he really was looking forward to it. Thankfully his choice was taken away from him when Susan pulled him to an empty carriage that took off as soon as they sat down in it.
The ride from the castle was nice, they got to see the grounds and feel the cool autumn air as they talked about this and that, the excited energy coming off of the both of them was palpable in the air. Before long they were at the outskirts of the village where their carriage stopped. Harry stepped out first and then offered Susan his arm which she took to assist her down to the ground.
"Ever the gentleman, I told you that you would do fine." Susan teased him as she stuck close to his side. They meandered through the village for a time before stopping at the first shop they spotted, Honeydukes. They joined the short line to enter and once they inside Susan separated from him instantly off to look at a few things while Harry made quick work of looking for a certain sweet. After a few minutes of searching he saw his prize high up on a shelf out of reach by all, but the tallest of patrons. With the assistance of a passing seventh year he now had his prize, a small bag of Caramel Pillow Poffs. He smiled to himself as he went to pay for his find, he owed Hannah Abbot a favor, but knowing your dates favorite candy would surely score him big points. He loitered around a little bit after placing his gift in a small bag and was soon met with Susan hurrying towards him and handing him a small sheaf of parchment.
He traded her for the small bag in his hand and was pleasantly surprised to find a voucher for a taste test of different popular candies. He was reading over the list when he was hugged from the side a slender arm wrapping around and resting just above his hip.
"Thank you Harry, I don't know how you knew, but its perfect! These are normally really rare." Susan said as she held onto the bag tightly with one hand while the other was wrapped around Harry.
"Well I did do a little research, just to make sure that I did this right." He admitted as he realized he liked the feeling of Susan's arm wrapped around him. They left Honeydukes shortly after and while Susan did let go of his side, Harry feeling rather brave took her hand in his, and led her toward the Shrieking Shack where they read the informative plaque and loitered around for a little bit exploring the area.
Lunch was the next affair of note, it was already late when they decided to eat, and their choice seemed obvious as the Three Broom Sticks loomed over the town. Madam Rosmerta's was a nice little tavern with delicious food and refreshing drinks. After exploring the menu they decided on a simple lunch of sandwiches, Harry's roast while Susan got chicken. They both enjoyed the food and delicious drinks provided to them, and Harry even managed to pay for the food discreetly before Susan got a chance to even ask about the bill by distracting her with small talk about their classwork. They sat side by side in one of the booths that sat in the corner of the little restaurant just enjoying each other's company once again.
"I still can't believe you managed to distract Draco and make him think the snitch was behind you and then double back around and grab it when it had actually been behind him." Susan said excitedly talking about one of Harry's Quidditch matches against the Slytherins.
"It was nothing, how about that time that you and Hermione got into that debate in Charms and Professor Flitwick just let you two keep going for the entire class period. That was incredible." Harry answered back.
"Oh, please that was nothing, how about the Dueling Club Incident, as it was called, where you managed to trick Terry Boot into stepping off the platform with that smoke spell." Susan fired back immediately.
"Pssh, he was just overconfident." Harry said trying to downplay his achievements in their second-year dueling club.
The two bantered back and forth as time passed and before long Susan let out a yawn and leaned her head against Harry's shoulder. "It's getting pretty late, we should probably head back." She said with an air of tiredness to her words.
They slipped out of the booth and then out of the restaurant, to the sun just beginning to dip in the sky leaving the first shades of purple and red to streak across the horizon. They had spent hours inside sipping their drinks and talking and neither had even noticed the time pass by. The streets were already mostly cleared of students. As they walked they were approached by a sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect who informed them that the last round of carriages would be leaving soon so they had best hurry.
The carriage ride back was not nearly so energetic as the ride down, instead of the excitement that had been there, now there was just a relaxed sort of lazy energy to the pair, Susan sat leaned into Harry, while Harry had an arm wrapped around her shoulder his hand resting on her side and the other in his lap holding one of Susan's. They sat like that the entire ride back, Susan only leaning back up when they passed the gates of the school but did not remover her hand from Harry's. Susan stretched languidly and let out a yawn before turning toward Harry and speaking.
"Thank you Harry, It was a wonderful date." And just as the carriage was coming to a stop she kissed him on the cheek and bolted from the carriage, back into the school where Harry lost sight of her in the crowds.
"Well I wasn't expecting that." Harry said quietly to himself as he stood and hopped down from the carriage where he was met with Ron and Neville instantly grabbing his attention and pulling him into a conversation about their new History of Magic Professor. They talked all the way up to the common room and one thought was running through Harry's mind the entire time. "My cheek tingles where she kissed me."
