'Chapter 11
While Dumbledore was busy running around Hogwarts, searching in vain for Harry, the afore mentioned young man was enjoying a warm hug from his long time friend, Hermione. She had arrived safely at Grimmauld Place, as well as her escort, Severus. The two older men had quietly excused themselves while the two teens were sharing an emotional welcoming.
Hermione had never seen her friend so openly emotional before. Sure, she'd seen him angry, and even sad, and he was quite upset upon returning from the graveyard at the end of the third task with Cedric's body, but even then, he looked like he was holding back the tears, the feelings. Now, he was literally gushing over with tears, and although he was unable to talk, she held him tightly, whispering calming words into his ear, and caressing his back with one hand, while using the other to keep the boy on his feet.
It seemed like forever, but after a few minutes, Harry calmed down and slumped down to the floor, along with Hermione. She didn't want to let him go, so she slid down to the floor with him. She continued to keep one arm around his waist, and the other took hold of his hand. She had been prepared for this, and reached into her pocket for several hankies, and proceeded to clean Harry's face, gently wiping away the tears, and other messes from his face.
"Thanks, Hermione. I honestly don't know what came over me...I...I was just so happy to see you. I'm sorry..."
"Now Harry, don't start apologizing for crying. I don't know everything that's happened since you got off the train, but you can tell me all about it. Now, I'm very happy to see you, too. I really hated leaving you at the train station that day. I knew you didn't want to go with those Dursleys."
She was quick to notice at the mention of the Dursleys, Harry gave an involuntary shudder, along with his pale face losing the rest of it's color. She made a mental note to not mention them again, unless someone else brought up the topic.
"Do you feel like standing up now, Harry? I'd like to see my room and unpack my things. Then we can sit down and talk. Is that ok?"
Harry grinned at his best friend and stood up. He took Hermione's hands and helped her stand up, and without a word, led her upstairs to her room. It conveniently was the next room beside his own, and it had an adjoining door, something that Hermione was extremely happy about. Her face flushed slightly when she thought of sneaking into Harry's room in the night. She then noticed Harry staring at her, and she flushed a bit more, something that didn't go unnoticed by the young man standing next to her.
Harry watched as his friend began unpacking her belongings from her truck that Dobby had apparently taken up to her room, something that Harry had missed. He mentally shook his head at being so unobservant, and proceeded to assist his best friend with putting her clothes away in the dresser and hanging her robes and a couple of nice dresses in the closet. Harry noticed that one of the dresses was the one she had worn at the Ball last year during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He closed his eyes to relive that moment when she had appeared at the top of the stairs. She had looked like an angel. Her normally bushy hair was all done up in a sweeping mass, and tiny tendrils drifted around her face, framing the look perfectly. Harry's breath caught in his throat for more than a moment, as he realized at that moment he wanted to be at the Ball with her, and no one else. Of course, it wasn't meant to be, as Ron was gaping openly at the young woman, and not only that, they all already had dates.
Hermione noticed Harry still standing in the closet, his eyes closed, and his hand still holding the edge of her dress that she had worn to the Ball last year. She walked over to the young man and softly called his name.
"Harry?"
Harry quickly opened his eyes and dropped the gown, noticing that his friend was standing next to him with a knowing smile on her face. His face decided that now was a great time to flush, and so it did.
"Um, I'm...I'm sorry about that. I was just thinking...um...well..."
"What were you thinking, Harry? You can tell me, I promise I won't laugh." She spoke softly and calmly, hoping beyond hope that the moment she had been waiting for had arrived.
Harry looked up at Hermione and found her large brown eyes staring at him intently. He found that as he stared in her eyes, he suddenly felt compelled to just start talking, to tell her everything, and so it began.
"Well, I was just thinking about how pretty, no, how beautiful you looked last year in that gown. I truly do regret not asking you to the Ball sooner. I was sort of thinking that maybe Ron was going to ask you, but, now, um, I'm kind of glad he didn't."
Harry noticed a soft grin appear on Hermione's face, and he suddenly became aware of just how beautiful his friend had become over the years. Her hair had grown much longer, and was no longer as bushy, and even though it was still brown, it was now layered with many auburn highlights. When the sunlight would shine on her, she almost looked like she was totally red-headed. Harry decided that he really liked that a lot.
Hermione was still smiling as she watched many emotions play over Harry's face. She had come to realize that she could easily read his face like one of her books, mainly because the boy could never truly hide his feelings. And right now, she knew that he had something important to tell her, and she wanted to hear it.
"Thank you, Harry. I wasn't really sure if you had noticed me, what, with Cho, and Pavarti, and Fleur..."
Harry quickly placed his hand gently over her mouth.
"Hermione, I know I sort of liked Cho, well, I thought I did, but..." Harry suddenly blushed deeply and just blurted out quickly what he was trying to say.
"Ireallywantedtogototheballwithyou."
Hermione giggled for a moment, having heard exactly what the nervous boy had said. And, she decided to give Harry a break and let him know exactly what she was thinking.
"Oh Harry, I really wanted you to ask me to the Ball, too. I was so disappointed when you didn't, and then I was afraid that Ron would, and then Viktor did ask me, and so I said yes to him. Um, Harry, what are you telling me?"
She noticed that the both of them were now standing very close to each other, and she looked up into Harry's bright green eyes. She could see that he hadn't been sleeping well, and made a mental note to ask about that later.
Harry thought for a few seconds, trying to bring up his Gryffindor courage enough to just tell his friend just how he felt about her. She was standing so close to him now, he could just lean down and...
And suddenly, their lips met. It was a chaste kiss, but a first kiss, none the less. They leaned back from each other for a moment, then Hermione threw caution to the wind and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and they kissed each other again. The kiss of true love is said to be overwhelming, electric, and all consuming, and they both decided that it was all those things and more. Time truly did stand still for the two young people, still standing in a closet, oblivious to the outside world.
It seemed much longer, but after only a couple of minutes, they stepped back from each other, staring into each other's eyes, both with soft smiles on their faces. Harry broke the silence with a soft contented sigh, which was immediately followed by another identical one from Hermione. Then Harry noticed that they were still standing in Hermione's closet. He giggled, causing Hermione to take notice of their surroundings as well. She took his hand and led him from the closet, both of them still giggling. It was at that moment that Sirius and Severus had quietly found their way up to Hermione's room, to check up on their charges, and when they heard Harry giggling along with Hermione, it sounded like sweet music to the both of them. Sirius turned and shook Severus' hand, and they both, just as quietly, descended the stairs to go back to the potion's lab, both men extremely glad that they had agreed that the young witch should come spend some time with Harry.
The two teens finally sat on the girl's bed, and with a heavy sigh, Harry began the long tale of what his uncle had done to him at the train station, all the way up to the cupboard. Hermione never said a word, but tears poured down her face, her brain in shock from what her best friend, no, her boyfriend, had had to endure just this summer. Harry quietly handed her several tissues and paused long enough for her to compose herself, and then continued.
"Hermione, there's more. It appears that our dear Headmaster isn't so dear. He put some kind of spell on Severus, Sirius, Remus, along with my mum and dad...it made them all hate each other. Did you know that they all used to be friends in school? Then Dumbledore cast his spell and look what happened...mum and dad died not knowing the truth."
Harry stopped for a moment, his hands visibly shaking, his eyes full of unshed tears, his mind overwhelmed with anger and frustration at the injustice of it all.
Hermione, being ever inquisitive, began to ask a few questions.
"How did the spell get broken? It seems that Professor Snape and Sirius are ok now."
Harry smiled and replied, "Well, it seems that Fawkes isn't with Dumbledore any longer. He appeared to Severus and Sirius while they were on their way to save me, and when he sang to them, the spell was broken. He's been right here ever since. I bet Dumbledore is going spar not knowing what happened to his phoenix." The kids giggled again, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Um, sorry to interrupt you kids, but, Dobby has prepared a really nice lunch for us downstairs, so would you both like to join us?" Sirius asked as he poked his head through the door.
Hermione looked at Harry's thin body and nodded her answer. Grabbing Harry's hand, she pulled him to his feet and arm in arm, the two teens walked past a gobsmacked Sirius and down the stairs to the kitchen. There, they saw Professor Snape sitting at the table all ready, and four other plates set up.
Harry looked at the four place settings and asked, "Who's coming for lunch? No one else knows about this place, right?" His breathing began to quicken as horrid thoughts began to invade his imagination. But his question was quickly answered when Remus came up behind the shaking boy and wrapped his arms around his shoulders.
"Don't worry, cub. It's only me. I just popped over to deliver the Prophet to Severus and to see how you were doing. I see Hermione made it just fine. Oh, I also wanted to tell you that Dumbledore has been searching the castle high and low for you. That little scrap of cloth from one of Harry's shirts has the man in a tizzy, and hasn't stopped yet from searching every classroom, all of the towers, even the dungeons. Oh, and Severus, I did as you asked, and cleaned out all of your premade potions from your storage cabinet. I delivered the ones you mentioned to Poppy, and I put the rest in your potion's lab here."
Severus stood up and gave the man a warm handshake. "Thank you, Remus. I really do appreciate that. At least now we'll have a few supplies to work with for a bit."
Remus thought for a moment and then continued. "It seems that Minerva is suspicious about where you are, Severus. She is also extremely upset about Dumbledore for some reason. She actually seems a bit afraid of him, although she hasn't said so in those words. It's getting harder and harder to pretend that I don't know anything about where you are and what's going on with young Harry here."
Severus thought for a moment, while motioning for the others to take their seats at the table. The instant they were all seated, the table was loaded with fresh fruit, sandwiches, soups, and pumpkin juice. The older men were extremely pleased to notice that for once, Harry didn't wait for everyone else to serve themselves first before he took what was there. This time, he dug right in, and actually began eating with gusto, something that none of them had ever seen the child do since he had been at Grimmauld Place.
Severus lowered his voice slightly and began speaking again to Remus.
"Perhaps it's time to show her what her headmaster is capable of. I hate to place her in that position, but if she already suspects that something is amiss, she could be of some help to us, especially this fall when school begins again."
Sirius and Remus both nodded their agreements and began eating their lunch, knowing that once they let Minerva in on this secret, she too, could become a target for Dumbledore's wrath, if he chose to retaliate against any of them. Severus surmised that if she didn't want to get involved, he could always obliviate her, even though that was something he loathed doing.
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Hello everyone!!
Yep, I've finally updated this fic! I'm not going to make some long drawn out speech about why it took me a year to update...I've had problems, and even tho those problems aren't fixed by any means, I'm back to writing.
I must give a huge thanks to Jen, Siriuslover4ever, for betaing this chapter for me and helping get me back on track.
I hope the H/H reunion was worth the wait.
Thank you to everyone who has read the story up to this point...and double thanks to those who have taken the time to review it! It really does make my day to read them!!
Ok...next chapter, Ron will make a small appearance, and Minerva will visit GP!
Until next time, Yours...Nita
