The Consequences of Buying Sugar Quills by Amethyst

Rating: PG
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 23/11/2003
Last Updated: 23/11/2003
Status: Completed

Harry finds solace in the most obvious place - one he never foresaw finding it in. Slightly
melodramatic, with slightly controversial use of sugar quills.




1. Consequences of Buying Sugar Quills
--------------------------------------

Title: The Consequences of Buying Sugar Quills

Author: Amethyst

Author E-mail: insufferable_know_it_all@hotmail.com

Category: Drama/Romance

Keywords: Harry Hermione Ron Hogsmeade Sugar Quills

Rating: PG

Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP

Summary: Harry finds solace in the most obvious place - one he never foresaw finding it in.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling,
various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast
Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.

Author's Note: Yes, R/Hr shippers, I am evil. Get over it.

Witch Weekly

Volume 230, Issue No. 345

August 31, 2003

Welcome, readers, to yet another edition of Witch Weekly. This week, Amethyst was possessed
while writing (or she was just being more evil than usual). She cannot be held responsible for any
damage caused by this story. Demons, you know - they just pop in an out like shady wizards. If you
would like to flame, our editors are standing by with marshmallows.

The Consequences of Buying Sugar Quills

By Amethyst

Honeydukes was packed that weekend. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing by the shelves of
candy. Hermione was eyeing the Sugar Quills while Ron picked out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every
Flavour Beans. Harry wasn't really in the mood for candy. Even chocolate couldn't make
things any better for him, what with a rather foreboding prophecy and the death of his godfather on
his shoulders. He wouldn't have been there if Hermione hadn't dragged him along, insisting
that a day away from the school would do him good. He wasn't in the mood to fight her off.

"Yes, I think I'll go with the Sugar Quills," Hermione said, her voice breaking
into Harry's thoughts. Harry watched as she rummaged around her pockets for her money and her
face fell. "Oh…I forgot my purse."

Even through his own problems, Harry couldn't help feeling sorry for her. "I'll buy
them for you," he said quickly, wanting to cheer her up as she had done for him…or at least
tried to. After all, he wasn't spending his pocket money on candy for himself…he might as well
use it for her.

"Oh, no, that's all right," she said quickly, but Harry had already picked up a
package of the sweets and headed off to pay for them. Harry didn't notice the affronted look on
Ron's face nor the way Hermione was beaming at him.

Harry returned a moment later and handed Hermione the sack of Sugar Quills. Hermione smiled and
murmured a quick, "Thank you." Harry's heart fluttered strangely. He wondered briefly
if it might be a sign of heart problems….

"Why don't we go have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?" Ron suggested, and
Harry thought he sounded a bit angry. He would have questioned him about it, had Ron not headed off
out the door without waiting for a reply from either of them.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and followed after him in silent agreement - something
had hacked him off while they were in Honeydukes, and they needed to figure out what it was.

Once they were in the Three Broomsticks, Harry headed off to buy the butterbeers and let
Hermione go after Ron. It was, generally, a mistake to leave the two alone when either was in a
particularly bad mood, but Harry was the one with the money, so they had no choice. When Harry
returned to the table, his worst fears had been confirmed.

"Ron, you *know* that's not what's really making you angry, and nothing's
ever going to change until you admit what is! You've been doing this for two years now, and
it's getting old! If you're not going to do a thing about your problems, I'm not going
to waste my energy trying to make things better for you!" And she then stormed out of the
Three Broomsticks, leaving a fuming and startled Ron and a frozen Harry, still holding three
bottles of butterbeer.

Harry sat the bottles down on the table and looked to Ron. "What was that all
about?"

"That's none of your business," Ron snapped, glaring at him. Harry was too much
taken by surprise to make a retort. "Why don't you go chase after her?" Ron added.
"You know you'd rather."

It was Harry's turn to glare. "You know, I *would* rather go after her than stay
here with you when you're like this."

He grabbed two of the butterbeers and followed Hermione's path out of the Three Broomsticks.
He found her sitting on the hill by the Shrieking Shack, sucking on a Sugar Quill. The light autumn
breeze was toying with her hair as she stared off into the distance. Harry sat down beside her and
handed her a bottle of butterbeer. She smiled briefly at him and looked back over Hogsmeade.

"It's always the same fight now," Hermione said after several minutes of sipping
in silence. "Different things, but the same reasons. I know why he's doing it, but
he'll never admit it."

While he would have been doing some screaming of his own this time last year, this particular
fight was a nice distraction from the pain. He was even curious. "Care to enlighten
me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she said. "He's got a crush on me."

Well, that *was* obvious. Harry had never really considered it, though. For some reason,
now that he did...he didn't like the thought. "And do you -?"

"Feel the same way? No. And I think he knows that, and that upsets him. It would upset me
to. But I'm really sick of him taking it out on me when he doesn't even have the nerve to
*tell me!*"

Harry watched nervously as she sucked violently on her Sugar Quill. "I'm sick of him, I
really am."

Instinctively, Harry put his arm around her. He knew well what being at odds with Ron meant, and
it wasn't enjoyable. He wanted to do something more about it - make it stop for her, perhaps
punch some sense into Ron - but he knew that only Ron could make things better between the two.
Hermione leaned into him, closing her eyes. For the second time that day, Harry's heart was
fluttering in a way it never had before - though it was somewhat similar to the way he had reacted
to Cho. Perhaps it was a different kind of heart problem than he had considered.

She looked up at him and smiled. He suddenly wanted to kiss her. It would be so easy just to
lean down and press his lips to hers. Yes, that was definitely a sign of heart troubles. Or perhaps
he was just losing a few marbles. "Thanks again for the Sugar Quills," she said quietly.
Harry nodded mutely, trying to smile. He couldn't help it. He had to kiss her.

"Harry - what -" she started to say, pulling the Sugar Quill out of her mouth, as he
slowly dipped his head, but she ended her sentence with a breathy, "oh" as their lips
met

Oh, Merlin, it was nothing like kissing Cho. He could think of *much* better things to say
about this kiss than 'wet.' 'Mind-blowing' was a good word for it, he decided, as
her mouth opened beneath his and their kiss deepened. She tasted sweet from the Sugar Quill and
butterbeer. Being insane might be rather fun, combined with those heart troubles.

Hermione was the one to pull away first. She looked as dazed as he felt, and Harry realized
suddenly how surprising it was that she hadn't slapped him or turned him into a frog. Even more
surprising and amazing…she had kissed back.

"I was right," she said softly, slowly bringing the Sugar Quill back up to her
mouth.

"About what?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"You're not a bad kisser."

Harry grinned. Hermione snuggled into him, and at that moment, Harry was no longer worried. He
missed Sirius, and he would always feel guilty about his death…but it was hard to be unhappy with
Hermione in his arms, and it didn't make sense to force himself to be unhappy. Sirius
wouldn't have wanted it that way; Hermione would have told him that.

But there was still the Prophecy. He would either kill Voldemort or be killed himself, and he
had no idea how he would do that. Looking down at Hermione, he felt it necessary to tell her about
it. Before, he had been afraid to tell her and Ron…what if they didn't want to be friends with
someone destined to be either a murderer or a corpse? Now, however, he was no longer afraid with
Hermione. He was confident that she would stand by him no matter what happened.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Hermione's voice. "Want a Sugar
Quill?"

"Sure," he said, smiling weakly. Hermione handed him one, and he sucked on it
meditatively for a moment before speaking.

"Hermione, there's something you should know about," said Harry, and Hermione
looked curiously at him. "It's about the Prophecy. Dumbledore knows what it
said."

Hermione nodded. "I knew he must have. It would have been smarter to take it than guard it
if he hadn't. It probably would have been best to smash it anyway…keep Voldemort from ever
getting it."

Harry went on, "He told me what it said."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "He did? When? Why didn't you tell us?"

"He told me when he sent me back from the Department of Mysteries. It…it isn't good
news, Hermione. And I was worried about how you and Ron would react."

Hermione took his hand in an encouraging manner and forced a smile for him. He was grateful for
it. "What did it say, Harry?" she asked.

"It…basically says that I must either kill Voldemort or be killed by him."
Hermione's eyes widened and she squeezed his hand.

"Harry…that's…how do they know it's about you?"

"It said the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord would be born in the seventh
month to --"

"But that could be a lot of people," Hermione said hastily, as though desperate to
discredit the prediction.

"Yes…but it also said the Dark Lord would mark the one, and he did," Harry explained,
pointing to his scar. "Trust me, I've thought long and hard about it…but there's no
way out of it. It's me."

Hermione's bottom lip quivered, and in the next moment, her arms were around him.
"It's going to be okay, Harry," she said, her words muffled in his shoulder.
"You're not going to die."

Harry hugged her, feeling that she was more in need of comfort than he was. Still, there was one
last fear he needed to voice.

"How can I just…kill him, Hermione? I mean…I know, he's evil, and the only way to stop
him is to kill him, but…it's still murder, isn't it?"

Hermione shook her head, backing away just enough to look him in the eye. "It won't be
as simple as that, Harry. It won't just be a killing curse. If it were that easy, it would have
been done a long time ago - probably by one of his own servants. Evil can't be stopped with
evil. It's going to take something different…something unexpected - something special that only
you seem to have. There's something extraordinary about you…maybe it's always been luck
that's gotten you through things, or maybe not. But I really believe that you're an
extremely powerful wizard…more powerful than you'll ever know. And you'll defeat him, and
it's not going to be by murder."

For the first time in his life, Harry pulled Hermione into a hug. He held her to him, truly
realizing for the first time just how much he relied on her, and just how much she eased his
soul.

"Thank you, Hermione…. I'd be lost without you."

They were still wrapped up in each other - both literally and figuratively - when a throat
cleared loudly, catching their attention.

They sprang apart to find that an angry Ron was glaring at them from the bottom of the hill. He
obviously hadn't calmed down any - or if he had, he had gotten himself angry again.

"Now I see how it is," he said, walking up the hill. "I was worried that you
would still be mad at me, but obviously, you two have been having plenty of fun on your
own!"

Hermione stood, getting into what Harry thought of as her battle posture. Harry stood quietly
behind Hermione, butterbeer bottle clutched in his hand. He really didn't want to get embroiled
in this one, but he had a feeling he didn't have much choice. He was right.

Ron turned to him. "I *knew* it. I knew you'd just love the chance to get alone
with her and -"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Hermione interrupted. "And stop
acting like Harry was plotting against you. I'm sure he's got much more important things to
think about."

Ron's eyes flashed. "Of course! Perfect Harry never does *anything* wrong!
He's too busy being a hero!" Harry squirmed. If I hadn't felt uncomfortable before, he
did now.

"At least he's got the nerve to let a girl know how he feels about her instead of
moping about it and making her life a living hell!" Oh, and it only got worse.

Ron looked as if he was about to explode. "Are you happy now, then? You finally got what
you wanted! Now you can *openly* worship the ground he walks on!"

This was really going too far, but Harry had never been very good at playing the role of
peacekeeper between the two, and he had a feeling that getting involved could only make things
worse.

"Yes, I am happy!" Hermione nearly shrieked. "And why shouldn't I be? Just
because *you* love misery doesn't mean I have to!"

"I love misery, do I? You know, that makes sense! Because it explains why I've stuck
around *you* for so long!"

Harry was fairly sure she was going to slap him, but luckily, Ron wasn't stupid enough to
stay where he was - or perhaps he was just so angry that storming off down the hill was necessary.
Hermione was shaking and breathing heavily through her nose, fists clenched. She had snapped her
unfinished Sugar Quill in half.

Harry put a hand on her shoulder, wanting to calm her. She was still trembling, and now trying
very hard not to cry.

"It's all right, Hermione," Harry said consolingly. He hated it when girls cried,
especially Hermione. He wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it. "You know how Ron
is. He'll come around."

Hermione nodded, smiling slightly. "Besides, we've still got each other for
now."

Harry took her hand. "And we've still got Sugar Quills."

~ Fin

A/N: I'd like to advertise for Witch Weekly, where clever witches post a new ficlet every
week…in theory. To read the works of all of our writers, past and present, you can head on over to
the SpellbookFics Yahoo! Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpellbookFics/) where creativity more
often than not leads to insanity.



