Chapter 39: Keeping a Promise
19th September, 1998
They were standing in front of the large empty wall, only a small handful of people knew about the existence of this place.
"Alright. You know the drill. Just think of where you want to be and let's hope to Merlin this works." Harry informed.
Hermione closed her eyes started to think. Right now, all she really wanted was to be with Harry. Probably cuddling in bed. And maybe engaging in a couple of other interesting activities. THINK! She instructed herself. Then she pictured the room, she thought about her friends and people she would like to see.
Harry's gasp made her open her eyes. The large double doors were starting to form in front of them. Harry took hold of her hand, waiting for her to start leading him forward.
They stepped up to the doors and Hermione gently pushed one of them open, stepping inside.
"SURPRISE!"
Just like she pictured. The room looked exactly the way she wanted it. There was a table in the centre of the room with snacks and a large cake. Not everyone from her head was in the room. For example her parents. But there was enough. Just enough to put a tear in her eye. Luna and Neville were both there, smiling up at her. Padma and Anthony came too. Ginny was at the table too, and next to her… was Ron.
"Seeing this place spawn in all the decorations and stuff was really weird," Ron informed, "but it's good to see it still works."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at them all as Harry started to slowly lead her into the centre of the room.
"We're slightly late. Sorry about that. I had to change from my Quidditch gear." Harry told them.
"Yeah right," Padma answered, smirking at them both. Everyone started to form a line, starting with Luna who approached Hermione first.
"Happy Birthday, Hermione. I wanted all of us to sing for you, but Neville said you hate it just like Harry does."
"Neville is right." Hermione laughed, as Luna hugged her.
Neville was up next. He gave her a quick hug and smiled, "I hope you like the surprise. Harry's been planning this day for the entire week. I just hope we can do something even bigger once we're out of Hogwarts for your twentieth."
"Oh, we will, trust me," Harry assured him, smirking.
Padma and Anthony both wished her a happy birthday and then it was Ginny's turn. Hermione saw Ron also shuffling forward.
Ginny gave Hermione hug and it felt slightly awkward at first, but then Hermione remembered that this was one of her best friends and it instantly got better. "Well… a lot has changed since your last birthday. I'm glad I'm still invited to them."
"And you always will be, Ginny. You're my sister forever." Hermione hugged her again, and she knew Ginny was surprised to hear what she said. But when they broke apart, Ginny had a wide smile on her face too.
And then it was just Ron left. He slowly stepped up to her, "Damn. I was way more confident back there." He commented and they both chuckled. Hermione noticed that Harry was gone from her side. He was talking with Neville. This left Hermione and Ron all alone in this small radius of space. This was the closest he's been to her ever since the burrow.
"Yeah. Ginny's right. A lot HAS changed since your last birthday. But seeing you so happy all the time made me realise how wrong I used to feel about everything. After all, you and Harry are the greatest friends I could ask for. And seeing both of you so happy… well, it makes me happy too. So I hope that smile stays with you for all the birthdays to come." He told her.
Hermione smiled and Hugged him. Ron's hugs were always very warm, and very genuine. It's the one thing he had in common with Harry; his hugs made her feel like the most important person. "You'll always be one of the most important people in my life Ron. Both you and Harry will always be my boys, and I'll always be the overprotective annoying older sister."
Ron chuckled, "The golden trio, huh?"
Hermione laughed, "The golden trio indeed."
That was when Harry came back with two glasses of champagne.
Ron patted him on the shoulder, "the stage is yours mate."
Harry smiled and handed one glass to Hermione and then lifted his one into the air. "Hey guys, I'd like to propose a toast."
Everyone grabbed their glasses and the room went silent. All eyes were on Harry. He took a couple steps away from Hermione, allowing for her to be in the centre of the room.
"So… I'm not the best at this kind of stuff. But I just wanted to say a couple of words about the birthday girl."
Hermione's cheeks got hot and her heart started to beat fast.
"This year… has been the most difficult year of my life. And I think most of you here can relate. After the war… I remember looking up at the sky and thinking to myself… what happens now?" My entire teenage life was fit for one purpose. And that was to fight… and win against Voldemort. It's what I trained for, and it's what I was brought up to do. So when he was finally gone… I struggled to find a new purpose to my existence. I didn't know if I could find it in me to have a normal life."
His eyes fixed onto Hermione. "And then I remember seeing her. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but one day… I just looked into her eyes. And there it was. My new purpose. A new goal. All of a sudden, waking up, eating, learning… it all made sense because I knew there was a new purpose to my life. And that was her. It always was. I know that without her, I would have never got to where I am now. I wouldn't survive without her guidance and the strength which she gave me every day."
Hermione was trying her best not to cry. But tears involuntarily rolled down her cheeks.
"So I'd like to have this toast to my beautiful girlfriend. A toast to her bravery, a toast to her intelligence, a toast to her warm heart. A toast to the most incredible person I've ever met. Hermione, Happy Birthday."
"Happy Birthday!" Everyone called and took drinks from their glasses.
Hermione drank from her glass, placed it on the table, and then walked up to Harry and hugged him tightly as if to never let go again.
"Alright guys, can we cut the cake now? Because after carrying it all the way up here, I feel as if I deserve my reward," Ron informed and everyone laughed.
Harry led Hermione up to the centre of the table and handed her a knife. She admired the cake in front of her. The cake was simple and elegant, just the way she liked it. At the top, there was a large book, it had brown icing at the back and it was opened and set to Chapter 19 titled 'The Brightest Witch'. She looked back at Harry and Neville.
"It's not every day you have your nineteenth on the nineteenth, right?" Neville laughed.
"But guys, it looks so beautiful, I don't want to cut it up," Hermione told them.
"Don't worry, the people at the bakery took pictures for me. So you can have it in your family album." Ron answered, making everyone chuckle. "Believe it or not, but I travelled to a huge muggle bakery all by myself and ordered that cake," Ron informed, proudly.
"Yeah, after getting lost on the way there like twice," Neville added and Ginny burst into a fit of laughter.
"Hey, it's not my fault London is so bloody big," Ron said in defence.
Harry smiled, "We didn't know which one to pick up, so we decided to put our ideas together and ended up with this."
"Honestly, I have no idea how muggles can do stuff like this without magic," Padma confessed.
"What book is it?" Luna asked.
"Hogwarts: A History," Hermione answered, smiling. There was a tiny iced golden logo of Hogwarts at the back of the book.
"Alright, let's cut into it. I want the biggest slice, please." Said Ron.
The party was great. Ron managed to spawn a radio and got some music playing, while Hermione focused on spawning a couple of chairs so everyone could sit down after eating the cake. Memories and jokes were exchanged. Ron almost fell out of his chair after he heard about Harry setting a new record. He then continued to curse himself for coming late.
Hermione opened a couple of presents. After an hour or so, Harry stood up and offered his hand to her. She took it and stood up with him.
"Hey guys, I have one more surprise for Hermione. But it's outside of the castle. We should be back in a couple of hours. You're all welcome to stay." Harry informed the group.
"Oh, we will." Informed Ron, taking a huge swig of his butterbeer.
"Ron, Neville. You're in charge." Harry told them.
"Aye aye, Captain!" Ron exclaimed, saluting to Harry.
"Neville, you're in charge of Ron," Harry added as he left the room with Hermione who couldn't stop laughing.
"Where are we going now?" Hermione asked, curious.
"The headmistress' office. I've scheduled for us to leave using her floo fireplace."
They slowly walked towards McGonagall's office, enjoying their time alone.
Eventually, they reached the massive stairwell gargoyle and climbed up after giving it the password.
"Ahh, Mr Potter. It's good to see you. Congratulations on the win. The Gryffindor lineup looks better than ever before." She turned her eyes to Hermione and smiled, "I hope you're having a great day so far, Miss Granger. Mr Potter here has told me about his plan, and I think you're going to enjoy yourself."
Hermione smiled back at McGonagall, "Thank you, professor."
Harry led Hermione to the fireplace, "We should be back no later than seven o'clock, professor." The headmistress looked very busy. There were stacks of papers and books all over her desk. "That's quite alright, Potter. Have fun."
Harry looked back at Hermione "Alright, grab some powder and go to Diagon Alley."
Hermione nodded and stepped inside the fireplace. She took a handful of floo powder and threw it into the flames.
"Diagon Alley!"
She stepped out of the fireplace into a small corner just beyond Diagon alley and waited for Harry who appeared a couple seconds after her. He took hold her waist.
"We're apparating now." He informed, "Hold on tight."
She did as he instructed and closed her eyes. She opened them again once her head stopped spinning and she was now in a recognisable alleyway. She couldn't remember where they were. In the distance, she could hear cars passing by and pedestrians talking. Harry took hold of her hand and led her out into the main road. That was when it all came to her. They were now standing in front of the familiar small grey building with a large sign at the top which read 'Dine O'Clock'.
They stepped inside and Hermione started to look around for a free table. The place was fairly crowded today.
"Harry, why did you bring us here?"
"I'm fulfilling a promise I made." He answered. "Where would you like to sit?"
Hermione didn't know what he meant by that, she just started to look for a free table. "How about over there, near the window?"
Harry shook his head, undecided. "Hmm… how about over there?" He pointed to an occupied table. She was about to tell him when the people at the table took her attention. Both of them were smiling at her. Then they stood up and waved. Emma and Daniel Granger were waving at them.
Hermione gasped in shock and looked back at Harry who smiled at her. "The next time you come here will be with your parents. That was the promise, and now we're keeping it."
They walked over to the table and Hermione was greeted by her mother with a bone-crushing hug. "Happy birthday, my beautiful," Emma exclaimed as Harry and Dan shook hands. Harry patiently waited to receive his won hug. "My god, Harry, are you sure you've stopped growing?"
Hermione hugged her dad, "Hey, sweetie. I'm glad the two of you could make it."
They sat down and then Hermione recognised a familiar face approaching.
"My my, look who decided to finally show up in my restaurant after not visiting for a year." Came the older waitress.
"Yeah, sorry about that Maggie, we weren't in the country," Dan explained.
"Well, you're lucky I love your daughter, otherwise it'd be much harder to get my forgiveness." Maggie smiled and turned to Hermione, "Happy birthday, Hermione. I can't tell you how honoured I am to host you here on your birthday. No charge for anything you order today."
"That's so sweet, thank you, Maggie." Hermione beamed back at her.
Maggie chuckled, "I'm glad to see that you followed my advice." She winked at her and smiled at Harry as she placed down all the menus and turned back to Emma and Dan. "If you two ever ghost on me like that again, I will never visit for tea." She warned them, before walking off to take care of other customers.
"Well… that went better than expected. I was expecting more conflict." Dan laughed.
"What do you expect Dan? She's pretty much like a Grandmother to Hermione and she's been a dear friend to our family for so many years. It's only logical she feels like we've abandoned her."
"I mean, it wasn't exactly our fault." Dan reasoned.
Emma shook her head and smiled at Hermione, "You presents are on the way, dear. We sent the owl today morning."
"You really shouldn't have, mum," Hermione answered.
Dinner was amazing. Hermione filled her parents on all the work she's been doing at school and Dan was pleased to hear that Harry was encouraging her to work hard.
She was eating her dessert and just couldn't help but smile to everyone at the table. She was eating at her favourite place, with the people that meant the most to her. Her closest family. The thought of considering Harry as family brought a warm sensation to her chest.
Eventually, once everyone was done with their meals, they bid goodbye to Maggie and left the restaurant. Harry and Hermione agreed to drive back home with her parents and they would apparate back to Hogwarts from there.
The journey home was relaxing. Hermione was resting her head on Harry's shoulder as the calm music was putting her to sleep. She wished this moment could last longer, but soon enough, the car pulled into Hermione's driveway and they jumped out the car. Hermione exchanged hugs with her parents, promising to come back the moment Christmas break started. Then she took hold of Harry's hand and they apparated back to Hogwarts.
They appeared right outside the Castle with none other than Hagrid opening the gates for them with Fang at his side.
"Hagrid!" Hermione called and rushed over to hug him the moment the gates opened.
"Hullo, Hermione! How are yeh?"
"I'm great. Really. I don't think I've ever felt this good." She admitted.
"Well, tha's good to 'ear." He smiled at her, "Sorry about not comin' to yer birthday party. Figured as I'm a professor now 'n all."
"That's okay, Hagrid. I'm just glad I got to see you today." Hermione answered.
"The two of ye' should come to me hut sometime. I could make tea and sum cake, eh?"
"I'd love to," Hermione informed.
They walked slowly towards the castle, appreciating the sun setting in the horizon. Hermione looked down at her hand, fingers entwined with Harry's. Then she looked up at him and kissed his cheek. "You're the best person ever."
Harry chuckled, "I try to be. But I do fail. Sometimes miserably. Like today with that prank."
Hermione laughed, "I don't even remember it anymore. And honestly, for all it's worth. I'd take torture any day to experience something like this."
"Don't joke about that," Harry told her but smiled regardless.
They walked up to the seventh floor and entered the empty corridor, straight towards the empty wall at the end. Before they were halfway, the doors started to form on the wall, as Neville and Ron stepped out. Ron looked slightly off balance, clearly affected by the amount of butterbeer he had.
"Oh hey, guys. I'm afraid the party is over." Neville informed.
"Yeah, I expected as much," Harry answered. "Two hours shifted into four somehow. Sorry about that."
"Come on, no need to be sorry. For all it's worth, the party was amazing. You should've been there when Ron started dancing." He turned to Hermione, "Oh yeah, Ginny wanted me to tell that she took all your presents up to the common room. She said she'll leave them at your door."
"Sounds good."
"Does anyone know the way back home?" Ron asked.
Harry and Neville both laughed and Neville took hold of Ron's arm. "Don't worry, Harry. I'll make sure to floo him back home safe."
"Thanks, Neville," Harry answered as he and Hermione watched them walk off. "Alright. Back to the dorms then."
They walked back to the common room at a slightly hurried pace. Hermione could sense that Harry was eager to go back. She couldn't help but wonder why. He looked nervous.
They climbed up the stairs and Hermione saw the pile of presents at her door. She told Harry to go into his room while she sorted them out. Once she organised them next to her nightstand, she went back to Harry's room and found him pacing all over the place.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Just… I have one last present for you."
She smiled and sat down on the bed, he followed her and sat down too. "I thought for days what I could possibly get you. I didn't want it to be something random or a short-term use type of thing like a book or a box of chocolates. I wanted it to be something special." He explained as he reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a rectangular box with a golden symbol she didn't recognise. She also noticed how quickly her heart was beating. Her face felt very hot.
"And so, I ended up in the one place where things are made that last forever. The Diagon Alley jewellery shop." He opened the box to reveal a beautiful silver chain connected to a small silver locket. He carefully pulled out the necklace and Hermione automatically grabbed her hair and moved it out the way for him. Harry moved the locket over her head and locked the chain. The locket rested just above her chest. She took hold of it and noticed the letter 'H' beautifully engraved on the silver casing of the locket. She noticed a small button on the side and pressed it.
The locket opened and revealed two pictures on both sides of the locket. The one on the left was Harry, smiling up at her with those glistening green eyes. And the one on the right was a picture of Hermione, also smiling. She was about to say something when a blue light started to form just above Harry's picture. It swirled until a tiny stag formed right in front of her.
"Harry, this is your…"
"My patronus yeah. The jeweller at the store said that the locket's magic can store and sustain patronuses inside as long as the person wearing it is Happy. You can also add your own one." He explained.
Hermione reached for her wand and pointed it at the locket. She thought about today, about her friends and her parents smiling at her. And she thought about Harry. "Expecto Patronum." She whispered and the same blue light erupted from her wand as it swirled and formed a tiny otter which flew into the locket and started to fly around the stag as they chased each other. Harry took hold of the locket and closed it. "Now the patronus won't leave. See."
The engraving at the front started to glow blue. "Now I'll always know when you're happy," Harry informed and smiled.
She turned around to properly face him and then cupped his face in her hands. "I love you." She told him and then kissed him on the mouth.
Harry's arms wrapped around her as he kissed her back. "I love you too."
"Thank you for organising the best day of my life."
"Ahh, but you see… that's my new purpose. To make every day the best day of your life. And fortunately, it's only nine o' clock. So until midnight, today is still all about you." He told her as he pressed his lips to her neck.
A/N: Fun fact, this chapter was actually written twice because my first draft went corrupt and had to be re-written. Nevertheless, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. A bit of a filler, but worry not. We'll be back on track in the next one. It's Christmas again! So you can hope for some more updates during this upcoming week.
