Harry and Hermione each strode separately out of a set of restrooms near the plaza. Harry's pockets held considerably more money than he had ever laid eyes on in his entire life and he was still slightly dizzy from the previous sight of it.

"I think that amount will suffice. Don't you agree Harry?" Hermione asked him sweetly.

Completely unaware of the exchange rates, Harry gave a weak nod and averted his eyes from Hermione's. "Definitely." Of course, the moment he averted his eyes, he came face to face with one of the security goblins, glaring fiercely about the room. He almost positioned himself in between Hermione and the guard's glare before he realized he was already there. An unconscious shiver ran through his body and he silently prayed for any thief reckless enough to try to break into this Gringotts.

The amount was pushed across the table and into his hands. The goblin in charge muttered darkly the equivalency in several different forms of money and Harry almost fainted. The amount in front of him was more than he had expected. Flipping through the cash, he stuffed it in his pocket, grabbed Hermione's hand and headed towards the exit.

Harry shook his head to rid himself of the memory and realized he had been moving this entire time. Hermione's hand was once again clasping his own and they were entering a clothing store. Hermione stopped leading a moment to look around and he noted just how cute her rosy cheeks looked on her with her crimson coat.

"Let's look over here." She offered, flashing Harry a dazzling smile. He smiled back at her and allowed her to lead him to a section of the store holding ski clothing. She dropped his hand and immediately began to pick through several articles of ski jackets. "Harry, hold out your arms." Her attitude had switched from sweet to commando as her focus aimed at the clothing racks. Within moments, she had piled jacket after jacket and pants after pants in Harry's arms.

This was the new side to Hermione previously unknown to him; he wasn't sure if he found it adorable or something to fear. He stumbled after her, an ever-growing tower in his arms, connecting the dots in his head. After all, she was always like this in libraries. Grinning, he thought to himself, "Just maybe I'll chance the library more often this year." He closed his eyes a moment as an image of Hermione stacking books in his hands, fretting over an essay supposedly due, lingered in his mind's eye. "Oof!" he jolted, apparently having run into a wall.

"Harry!" Hermione frowned. "Stop playing around!" To this he merely smiled and angled towards her voice.

After an hour and a half, Harry peeked behind the load of clothing in his aching arms, Hermione's adorable antics having worn dangerously thin. "Who ever knew that clothes could weigh so much!" He griped silently and attempted to readjust his hold upon the pile. Sweat trickled down his forehead. After searching through the entire store, Hermione wiped her brow as if she were the one exerting so much effort and let out a breath of relief.

"Now that we've covered the store, it's time for you to try on the clothes." Hermione pointed at Harry's nose with a serious expression. Her continual enthusiasm was contagious. "I want you to try on each and every article I picked. Don't think of skipping out either. Trust me. I'll know…I'll know." Harry gulped jestingly but nodded just the same. It wasn't like Hermione to give an empty threat, and even though she never clearly stated one, her silent underlying tone spoke volumes.

Inside the dressing room, Harry gazed wide eyed at the amount of clothes he had to try on. Somehow it seemed much larger than when he was holding it outside, partly due to the smallness of the fitting room. He bit his lip, picked up the pile, and plopped it outside the door, avoiding Hermione's piercing gaze. He grabbed the first set, a red and white set of ski pants and jacket and ducked into the dressing room. He peeled off his over-sized sweater before he started on his shirt. 'I never thought Hermione was the shopper maniac type. At this rate, we'll never make it in time to meet her parents for lunch.' Tiny rapid knocks on the door alerted Harry that he was taking too long. As if she had read his mind, Hermione told him to hurry since they didn't have a lot of time.

He quickly changed into the red ski pants and fastened all the buckles. He had barely managed to throw on the jacket when the door swung open. "Hermione! What are you doing?" he cried, horrified at her sudden presence.

"You were taking too long. All you had to do was put on the clothes I assigned. Now, let me see you." She replied enthusiastically, beckoning him by twirling her pointer finger in circles. She looked expectantly at him and grinned.

"What if I was …." His face flooded red, "you know!" His exasperated undertone was evident in his speech.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Harry." She winked playfully at him, "Besides, we have more pressing matters at hand." Her playful manner melted into a serious expression.

Harry felt cold fear drizzle down his spine like raindrops on a leaf; he unconsciously shuddered. The look in her eyes told him something bad was going to happen and no thanks to Voldermort, his intuition rarely failed him.

An evil gleam sparkled in Hermione's eye as a sharpened tooth rested outside her lip. Though, that detail might have been a figment of his own unleashed imagination. Harry backed up against the wall as Hermione closed the door behind her, trapping the both of them. Her grin widened and took on an evil gleam as she closed the gap between them. "Wh…what are you doing?!" Harry backed away in fear.

"Like I told you before, we're on borrowed time; we need to…speed things up." Hermione gave a sharp tug on his pants, before moving up to fasten his jacket for him. "I'm actually surprised you managed to buckle that right." She murmured, tucking his shirt into the jacket before zipping it up.

Heat rolled off of Harry's face in plumes and he trusted not his voice.

Hermione's gleam, softened somewhat as she took to tying some of the loose buckles. "Harry?" She pressed gently. "Why won't you talk to me?"

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A/Ns: Again, I'd like to thank all of those who have supported me and say that I hope everyone has liked the new chapter.

Will he finally just say it?! How far is she willing to go to find out!? I know the answer! Hahaha!

On another note, I am sorry to inform everyone that I am now instating a review quota of 10 reviews before the next chapter will be posted. I apologize for having to do this and I know a lot of different people's opinions on the matter. However, I wish for everyone to know my opinions on this subject right now. I have been receiving hits to my chapters and ever increasing favorites and alerts to my story. However, I haven't been receiving reviews to match these increases in alerts and favorites. I want and need to know why this story is your favorite, or why you want to read more! I need to know people! I'm not a mind reader! Even if you just say "good work" that's at least telling me you cared enough to say it. Tell me what you liked, what you are looking forward to, or even that you hated it. A review's a review, and again, I am sorry I have to instate this quota, but I feel without it, I will not receive enough feedback to help understand my reader's reactions. Remember, if you don't tell me what you thought, I will never know. I'm not really asking much.