Chapter 13: Hermione's Party

Shortly after every school year Hermione had her birthday, and she always tried not to make too much of a fuss about it. She claimed that since people had just gotten back from summer break and were settling into new routines it wasn't worth making a big deal about. Harry and Luna had discussed the matter, and both agreed that Hermione was wrong and they needed to do something. After getting together with Ron, Ginny, and Neville they worked out a plan to surprise her with a picnic out by the lake. Harry was going to invite her out to help him study by a nice tree overlooking the black lake since the weather was nice, and they would all be waiting when she made her way out. It took some organizing, but they eventually had everything ironed out. Ginny was in charge of getting some food from the kitchens, since they couldn't trust Ron not to eat half of it on his way back. Neville and Luna were in charge of decorating, and in spite of Neville not being too confident Luna assured him they would be able to get the job done. Ron had a simple but very important task, which was to not be a git to her on her birthday. Asking him for anything else seemed a little too risky so they kept it straightforward. Harry was of course the distraction, all he had to do was keep Hermione from noticing what was going on. Shouldn't be too hard once he got her talking about school.

Soon enough it was time to put their plan into motion, and Harry stopped Hermione when he saw her walking through the common room. "Hey, I'm totally swamped with Charms and Transfiguration work. None of it's making sense! By any chance, could you maybe give me some help?" he asked, looking at her with his best pleading look. Harry and Ron had both asked Hermione for help enough times that by this point he had it down pat. When he saw her start to take the bait he had to concentrate on not giving anything away, squashing the smile as it fought to appear on his face. He knew that he acting wasn't his strong suit, but he was hoping she would assume that any odd expressions were due to the anxiety about his work and obtaining her help to do it.

Hermione rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "By this point Harry, you really should be able to manage on your own. But...I suppose you are my best friend so I can't very well say no, now can I?" she asked him. Harry was bad enough, but Ron was ten times worse so she supposed she should count her blessings. "I'll help you, but I expect any tips you have for DADA. That's one class I can't seem to get the edge on you in." she bargained, and Harry simply chuckled before nodding.

"Awesome, can you meet me out by that big tree overlooking the lake? I need to work, but it's such a nice day out I would hate to waste it staying cooped up indoors." Harry explained. Hermione only hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Great, I'll go and grab my things." he told her, before rushing back upstairs to the boys' dormitory. Since it was still pretty warm, he packed his suitcase in the bag containing his school things and Hermione's present for the party before coming back down. "Hermione must have gone to grab her stuff as well. Oh well, I guess I'll see her outside." he said to himself, before walking out onto the grounds. Hermione knew where he usually liked to go out by the lake so he figured she should be able to find him well enough.

When Harry got to the tree where his friends were setting up for the party he couldn't help but smile, everything looked awesome. Luna and Neville had gotten a small, purple and blue tent that had a table and chairs set up underneath it. There was a matching tablecloth, and it was all decorated with little silver books and orange cats that bore a striking resemblance to Crookshanks. There was a delicious looking chocolate cake with white icing, little sandwiches, stuff for people to get a salad, and fresh ruit for anyone who wanted it. To drink there was punch as well as two large pitchers of ice water. Harry added his present to the pile on a separate table off to the side before going to find Luna. So far everything seemed to be going well and they all needed to take cover before she arrived.

"She should be here soon, we should all go ahead and hide. The tent was small enough that the large tree they had selected should, in theory, hide it from view. All of them hid, and before long Hermione came into sight heading towards them. She was looking in her bag, making sure she would have everything to tutor Harry. They waited until she was close before jumping out. "Surprise!" they all yelled, causing Hermione to trip and fall flat on her butt, looking at them all in shock. It was rather funny, but they all did their best to contain their laughter as she got back up.

"Harry, what on earth did you do? I thought you were serious." she said, glaring at her best friend. Hermione never liked making a big fuss about her birthday but it was clear her friends were having none of it this year. "Well, thank you all. I guess since you went to all the trouble I might as well just enjoy myself." she said, setting her things down before examining the tent. "This is beautiful, you even got Crookshanks right." she said with a smile. It was clear that she was touched they would go to all this effort in spite of her having said she didn't want it. Sometimes emotions won out and this seemed to be the case at the moment, which Harry was grateful for. He'd been a little worried she might be annoyed they'd gone against her wishes.

Luna smiled at Hermione's compliment, feeling herself blush a little. "Yeah, it took a while to get the first one right but after that it was easy. Come on, we should get something to eat before Ron takes it all." she told her friend, grabbing a plate for each of them that both quickly filled up. Everything tasted great, the fresh fruit being rather refreshing on the hot day. It wasn't long before Luna spotted Ron getting ready to slice off a piece of cake and she nudged Hermione. "Maybe we should go ahead and get the cake out of the way." she said, pointing to Ron and Hermione let out a laugh, nodding.

"Seems like a good idea." she agreed, and went to stand in front of it. Luna produced some candles and lit them all with a box of matches she'd brought for the occasion. She could try the incendio spell, but that really had a bit more power than what they needed right now. They all gathered round and sang her Happy Birthday before she closed her eyes, making a wish before blowing out the candles. Her wish this year was for Ron to just tell her how he felt. She knew it was a lot to ask for, considering he had the emotional range of a teaspoon. But, it was her birthday and that was what she wanted more than anything. It wasn't until Harry and Luna had started dating that she'd realized just how much she wanted something like that for herself. It hadn't even been that long but the both of them were becoming more comfortable with themselves and the world in general. As much as she tried not to let it get to her, she was a little envious of her best friend. After a few moments of thinking she snapped herself out of it and focused on the task at hand. "Thanks everybody, now dig in." she said, cutting off the first slice of cake after removing the candles and doing the same herself. The group spent the next hour or so simply relaxing together, enjoying all the food and each other's company as well as the beautiful early fall day.

None of them had noticed Harry disappearing before he returned in his swim trunks and smiled. "Come on, we should get out and enjoy the water while it's still warm enough to." he said. Luna quickly joined him in changing, having worn a blue and white polka dot bikini under her clothes so she merely had to shed her top layer. The rest took longer to get ready, but Harry and Luna didn't wait as they both dove into the water and began splashing each other, laughing as they did. They didn't go out too far yet, staying where their feet could touch the bottom if they wanted. Hermione, having not known there was going to be a party naturally hadn't brought her swimsuit with her. She wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing though, and after a moment to think on what she wanted she transfigured her clothes into a tasteful red and gold one piece swimsuit. By the time she dove in Ginny, Ron, and Neville had already joined as well.

As they all started swimming, splashing each other for good measure, and sometimes simply doing the dead man's float as they soaked up the sun Hermione had to admit this was turning out to be one of the better birthday parties she'd ever had. You didn't need anything overly fancy or expensive when you could spend time together with good friends like this. She had loved the birthdays with her parents growing up, but she had never really had friends to join her before the incident with the troll in first year. That had been a terrifying experience, but overall with the way it had bonded her, Harry, and Ron together she'd never really minded. There were always some dangerous or peculiar happenings going on it was true; however, she knew they had her back. After last year, she was beginning to rely on Ginny, Luna, and Neville as well...even if they weren't quite as close yet.

After a while all of them were starting to feel the sun start to burn and retreated to the shade under the tent. They dried each other off with some charms because they'd forgotten towels, and by the time they were all done they felt much better. Harry looked at Hermione and the pile of presents before nudging her gently. "I think it's time you start opening some of those presents now, don't you?" he asked her, his best friend laughing a little and nodding in response. With the food and then the swim the presents had almost been forgotten.

"Okay, okay, I'll start. Before I do, though...I just wanted to say thanks to all of you. This has already been a fantastic birthday, and I'll admit you were quite successful in surprising me. Using the studying ruse was clever." she told them, before reaching over to grab the first present. Neville's gift turned out to be first and it was a rare book on unusual but useful Charms. As Hermione briefly scanned the contents she couldn't keep a large smile from appearing on her face. "Thank you, Neville. It's perfect." she told him quietly. There were only so many spells you could jam into lessons during the year, and they could accomplish a wide range of tasks that she wouldn't have even thought needed doing in the first place.

Neville could tell that he'd done a good job and shrugged sheepishly. "Don't mention it. This book was just sitting in our library collecting dust so I figured it was about time I gave it someone who would put it to use." he explained. There were a lot of thing he simply didn't have interest in, and his grandmother had already read just about everything they owned. Seeing it put to good use by Hermione was something he was more than happy to get behind.

The next gift she selected was Luna's, and her mouth hung open as she stared at a beautiful rose gold chain that had a pendant in the shape of crossed wands underneath. Hermione looked over at Luna before getting up and giving her a big hug. "Oh thank you so much, it's gorgeous. But I have to ask, what do the crossed wands mean?" she asked, a little stumped by that part in all honesty. At first it made her think of dueling, but that didn't quite fit and she was curious what the girl had been thinking about when she'd picked it out.

Luna's feet shifted a little nervously, wondering if her friend would think it silly before she spoke. "Well, all of us fought together at the Ministry, and I know we have the DA tokens and all but I thought this would serve as a reminder. We're better off fighting together than apart." she said quietly, blushing a little at how cheesy that sounded when she said it aloud. As her friends let that sink in and began to nod she let out a sigh of relief and tucked a stray hair back behind her ear.

Hermione turned it over thoughtfully in her hands, nodding to herself before she unclasped it and fastened the pendant around her neck. "I think that's a brilliant idea Luna." she told her friend, before going back to the pile and selecting a gift that turned out to be from Ron. There was really no telling what the redhead would get her, and she held her breath as she unwrapped the present. She was shocked to find a beautiful pair of silver book earrings. Since it was rather small she had been guessing jewelry but she hadn't expected anything like this from Ron. "Thank you Ron, they're perfect." she said, trying them on. Hermione didn't care that they didn't match her pendant at the moment. Ron must have been saving for a good while to get her something like this, and that alone meant the world to her. Not because of the price, but because he'd thought of her ahead of time and planned something for her.

"You're welcome, 'Mione." he told her with a grin, glad to see that she liked them. "They're enchanted too, when it's dark they give off a soft light so you can read at night if you wanted to without going to the trouble of holding a Lumos charm or lighting a candle." he explained. The birthday girl nodded, more than a little impressed with how good a job he had done this year. Ron was pleased that she seemed to like it, and after a moment's thought cut himself another slice of cake to celebrate as he watched the rest of the presents being unwrapped.

"That's great. Who's next?" she asked, reaching over and pulling Ginny's gift from the pile. As she unwrapped it she smiled and laughed a little, pulling out a wide arrange witch haircare products. "These are dead useful, thanks Ginny." she said, smiling at her friend and going over to give her a hug. Without help like this her hair was nearly impossible to tame. She thought she was starting to get used to it though, and as long as she kept on top of things it usually cooperated with her.

Ginny hugged her back. "After I saw what you did with some at the Yule ball I figured you could use some more. Hopefully next time you want to wow a guy they'll prove helpful." she told her with a wink, giggling. Hermione giggled as well, setting it aside as she went back to the pile. Hermione was confident that it would be useful, even if still a little unsure of wowing a guy.

The only present left was Harry's and she looked over at him curiously before taking it. She carefully unwrapped it and stared at it for what felt like ages before looking over at her best friend. "How did you know I loved him?" she asked quietly, as she clutched a book to her chest. After a few moments she held it out so they could see. "It's a first edition copy of The Wizard of Oz. This was my favorite book to read growing up, and I never told anybody so how on earth did you know, you prat?" she asked Harry, waiting for an answer.

Harry just scratched his head, laughing a little. He was glad that she liked his gift it had taken him a while to track one down. "Well, you see...I wrote your mum. She was more than happy to fill me in, after that I just had to find it." he explained, making it sound simple. Either he didn't realize they were incredibly valuable or he had been too determined to care and done it anyways.

Before he could say anything else Hermione set the book down and gave him one of her patented bone-crushing hugs. "Thank you Harry, you're the best." she said, holding on until Luna appeared behind her and coughed. Hermione blushed a little in embarrassment and let go, gathering her presents into a neat pile. "Sorry, Luna. This had to have been hands-down one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Seriously, thank you all so much." she said, smiling at all of them. "Now, I'm going to go back inside and get a shower, I need to wash the lake off of me." she said, taking her things and heading back towards the castle.

It didn't take long for the rest of them working together to clean everything up, and they went back inside as a group before Harry and Luna let the rest of them go ahead. They stopped and leaned against the cool stone wall, looking at each other. "You're clearly a great gift giver, but you'll have to make sure you get me something even more special than what you did for Hermione. After all, I am your girlfriend and that comes with certain perks." she told him, giving him a wink.

Harry let out a laugh at that, shaking his head. "I have some ideas bouncing around but it's a ways off so I haven't settled on anything yet. What perks are you talking about, though?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her since she'd been rather vague. "Is it the brains, the beautiful hair, how cute you are, or how you make me see everything in a different light?" he questioned, knowing he was laying it on a little thick but enjoying himself.

Luna just smiled and leaned forward, wrapping one of her hands in his hair as she pulled him in for a heated kiss. She let it go on a bit longer, teasing him a little before finally pulling back. "These perks, of course." she said, before shocking Harry by grabbing his bum briefly. "Now go and get cleaned up, I need to as well. We both smell like lakewater. And remember, flattery is nice but more important than that is just being there for me when I need you." she told him, giggling as she began to skip away and leaving a dazed but happy Harry in her wake.