-1ACCIDENT!

Chapter 3: Shopping

"Hey Harry!"
"Hermione!" He jumped up, abandoning the conversation with Jess. The first real smile he'd felt in a while spread onto his face "How are you?!"
"I'm fine!" She looked to be on the brink of bursting with happiness. "Oh, come here!"
She pulled him into a tight embrace, when she noticed the girl who he was sat on the bench with looking at them curiously. She let him go, and he turned around.
"I don't think we've been introduced…"
"Oh, this is Jess… Jess, this is Hermione, my best friend. Jess is a transfer student."
"Hogwarts? ...Oh!"
"Yes, I can't wait," Jess replied. "I've heard it's huge!"
"It is," Harry said, with a grin. "It will take you a while to get used to the changing staircases and hidden passageways… Locked doors, dodgy teachers…"
"I think you've done enough shaming the name of Hogwarts, Harry." Interrupted Hermione.
"Sorry…" He said and grinned sheepishly. Something inside Hermione lurched.
"Umm… If you guys want to head off, I can wait on my own- a prefect is supposed to be coming." Said Jess.
"He's late." Stated Harry matter-of-factly.
Jess smiled at Harry, who grinned back.
"Let's go, Harry." Said Hermione.
"Uhh… Okay? See you later Jess. If they don't show, you can always come with us, becau-"
"Come ON!" She said, a little more sternly this time, tugging at his sleeve.
"Okay! God!"
She pulled him away from Jess and didn't allow him to look back as she tugged him up the hill.

"What was that about?!"
"I… Uhh…" She stammered- in truth, she didn't know what had come over her. "I really wanted to look at the new…" She searched around the street for the nearest shop. Quality Quidditch Supplies. "The new broomstick!"
"Really?" Harry didn't believe her.
"Yes. Let's go look." She started to walk away, but she found herself being pulled back towards Harry by a strong grip from one of his hands on her upper arm.
"Hermione, what's up?"
She sighed.
"Look- I don't know- I guess I didn't like her out of instinct or something…"
"She's nice!"
"I'm sure she is, and in the future, I will be nicer and get to know her, but today… Well, lets just say that my emotions have been a bit of a shambles. I was thinking some things…"
"Like what?"
"Oh… Never mind. Let's go to Flourish and Blotts- I need a LOT more parchment. Professor Vector assigned me a five-foot essay, and I have only got about one foot of parchment left now!"
She hurried off, rather too quickly for Harry's liking, and he followed her into the shop.

Inside the shop, Harry got distracted by some quills that always assured you had correct spelling and punctuation, and some thesaurus quills which you would tell the word to, and it would write the definitions down on some parchment, whilst Hermione was off buying her parchment.
She was browsing through different weights and styles, and Harry got bored so he left the shop.
Sitting himself down on a bench in front of Flourish and Blott's, Harry waited for Hermione patiently, having forgotten that he needed quills and parchment himself. Luckily, Hermione wasn't as ditzy as Harry, and when she came out she had an extra bag.
"Harry Potter," She called in a sing-song voice as she came out of the shop. "Three Galleons, thirteen Sickles and four Knuts, please."
"What?!"
"I bought you enough parchment to last the entire year, unlike you usually do- it is NEWT year, afterall, and I am NOT having you use all my parchment again- not to mention all the times you needed to borrow my quills and ink. I got you plenty of ink, in three colours, for colour co-ordination of your notes, which you will be taking this year, by the way, and I got you some high-lighting ink, too. You will need it." She dictated, "Oh! Yes- and I got you a twenty quills- high quality! No scraping…That can be so annoying. They were on offer."
"Umm… Thanks, Hermione." It was nice to know that someone was looking out for him- what with his new-found weight upon his shoulders- the prophecy and all. "I don't know what I'd do if it weren't for you."
"Me either." She said absent-mindedly, whilst sorting out her bags. She put her money back into the patchwork bag she wore over her shoulder, and handed one of the paper bags from Flourish and Blott's to Harry. They were navy blue with flashing gold script lettering at the bottom reading the name of the shop.
"Thanks again- where to now?"
"Back inside, actually- we need our books but I had to come out to get you… Have you got your supply list, Harry?
"Yep." He pulled out a thick parchment envelope from his pocket. "Haven't opened it yet."
"Well, open it- you need to know what lessons you're in and stuff, Harry! I can't believe that you haven't opened it merely from sheer anticipation of your OWL results! I mean…"
Harry turned away from her to open his letter whilst she was still rambling on about the importance of knowing your lessons and your OWL results.
He carefully took the parchment out of the envelope and, holding the top of the parchment, allowed it to unfold. It was unusually long, as a result of the OWL results scribed neatly at the bottom.
He automatically began reading the bottom of the parchment first.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results
Harry James Potter

of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Defence Against the Dark Arts written: Outstanding
Defence Against the Dark Arts practical: Outstanding + (Corporeal Patronus Bonus)
Transfiguration written: Exceeds Expectations
Transfiguration practical: Acceptable
Potions written: Acceptable
Potions practical: Poor
Charms written: Acceptable
Charms practical: Exceeds Expectations
Astronomy written: Outstanding
Astronomy practical: Poor
Herbology: Exceeds Expectations
History of Magic: Dreadful
Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Divination: Acceptable

"Oh my God, Hermione, I got like…" He cut himself off as Hermione kept talking.
"And, quite frankly: why wouldn't you want to know? It'll affect you future…"
"HERMIONE! Come here and look!"
She stopped talking abruptly and walked closer to Harry's side, leaning to see what he got.
"Oh my Goodness, Harry! You got, like…" Her lips moved slightly as she counted, "Eleven! That's great!" She jumped up and down and clapped her hands as Harry just stood there, seemingly in a daze, with his face about two inches from the parchment, hands grasped tightly around the crisp edges, creasing the parchment quite significantly. "HARRY!" She pulled him into a tight embrace. "Well done, Harry!!!"
He apparently snapped out of his daze, as he pulled back rather quickly.
"I can't bloody believe it, Hermione!"
"You should!" She said, quirking an eyebrow, "Anyway- that's really above average, Harry!"
"You don't think that they got me mixed up with someone else do you?!"
"A someone else who just happens to have an Outstanding + on their Defence Practical? I don't think so, somehow, Harry."
"What did you get?"
She blushed.
"Oh, all O's?"
"Umm… Yes." She blushed more if it were possible.
Harry pulled her into another hug.
"The perfect score." He said.
She smiled over his shoulder.
"Well done, Hermione."
"Thanks," She said, whilst pulling away.
"Come on, I've got my list here and such- we need books."
"Yeah- Look! You got into potions with me!"
"And Snape." He groaned.
"At least you have me to help you with homework."
"I guess. I wonder what Ron got?"
"I don' t know- have you heard from him yet?"
"No…"
"I wonder what's up? If anything…"
"I'm not sure. Maybe we should floo there or something."
"Maybe… Come on, we have shopping to do, and we need to get your money out to repay me."

"I don't think that I have ever spent so much money in my life."
"My feet are killing me."
"You shouldn't wear those ridiculous pointed shoes shopping, then."
"They're new- they need to break in first."
"Stop complaining."
"Normally I wouldn't, but as much as I enjoy shopping, you have to draw the line somewhere."
"Oh, you really are being a GIRL, Harry James!"
He grinned.
"I know!" And with that, he began to run up the hill, with all of his ten to fifteen bags.
She struggled to catch up, but she did when he came to a stop at the top, gazing in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
"Was that supposed to be funny?"
"Me pretending to sound like a girl?"
"Yes, that."
"No, just comical."
"Good, because it wasn't funny." Even so, she couldn't hold back a small grin. She caught sight of the broomstick in the window and made a double-take. "Oooh…" She cooed. "That's gorgeous! Oh, my God. How much is that?!"
"Dunno."
She somewhat reluctantly tore her gaze from the broom to face Harry.
"Seriously- I have been wanting to uh…"
"Spit it out."
"I wanna learn how… Uh… Um… Quidditch."

"What about it?"

"Well," She composed herself, not wanting to sound silly. Harry was a Quidditch player himself, he would take her seriously. "I want to learn how to play."
"Really?!"
"Yes…" She wondered if Harry was going to ridicule her.
"Cool! I can teach you- you're quite a good flier aren't you?"
"I'm average, I think."
"A bit of training isn't useless against flying." He replied. "Oh my God- if you get good enough, you could play on the team!"
She raised her eyebrows.
"Okay, maybe not…" He faded away.
"I want that broom, though."
"It is nice," he said "You have good taste, Granger."
"I want that broom."
"Come on."
"No! I WANT it!"
"Hermione, we don't have enough- they're loads of money! That one is probably three hundred Galleons or something."
She sighed.
"Maybe for my birthday."
"Yes, now come on. It's home time."
"Ugh! I don't want you to go- you can come back to mine for a bit, we can do random things."
"Okay- Can't say I wanted to go back to the Dursley's."
Harry was blissfully unaware of the little box, forgotten in his pocket.

"How do we get there?"

"We'll Knight bus it…" She checked her watch, "Jeez, is it really that early? I can't believe you got me up just to meet you before the Dursleys stirred."

"It's half seven, Hermione. Half the world is up right now."

"That usually would not include me." She still had her glasses on and walked down the hill in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. As he watched her walk away in her fitted blue jacket and orange skirt, he noticed something different about her. It may have been her stance… Or how she walked with that little fluffy beret on top of her head. It may have just been his imagination, and he settled on the latter as he ran to catch up with her.

She sighed.

"Oh, Harry, I can't help but wonder sometimes."

"About what?"

"You," she looked sideways and continued walking. "How you are, how you're so… Fantastic."
He felt odd. Those words sounded wrong. "What are you getting at… I'm not fantas-"

"Yes, Harry, you are… The way you handle things… It would certainly seem so."

"The way…"

"Yes. You act normal. As if nothing happened."

"… That's not handling it. It's denying it." Said Harry.

She stopped dead, and pulled her head back in a puzzled way, turning to face him.

"Well that was a lot easier than I thought…"
"You thought I was running away from it all."
"Well, yes…" He looked resigned to hear this, so she explained "You've been through a lot, and…"

"Shh, you great daft-head… You don't need to explain. I thought a lot about it, and I have it sorted, up here." He tapped his right temple.

"Just- If you need anyone to talk to, Harry… If it's about school or… Sirius…" He looked saddened by his name. "Or rash decisions related to footwear…" They laughed. "Then just come to me. Please."
He pulled her for a hug which lasted about ten seconds. They both thought it was nice, and Hermione's eyes had just started to close when-

"Do you really think my winkle pickers are stupid?" Said Harry in the whiniest voice he could manage.

She hit him on the shoulder.

"Shut up. That was a nice moment until you butted in."
He grinned as they started to walk again.
"For your information, I think they look very dapper." She said.

He grinned even more.