Hermione's Plan
Fall Term Part 1 - Happy Birthday Hermione
By Chem Prof
Chapter 24, Fall Term, Part 1 – Happy Birthday Hermione
December 22
Hermione sat in a window seat in the master bedroom at Potter Manor, looking out over the snowy grounds, thinking back over the last few months. It was so peaceful here today, with just her, Harry, and Minnie, and the loyal house elf was giving them plenty of privacy. In a few days it would be a different story, as that was when they would be getting married, and the house would be swarming with their friends. She sighed contentedly. She couldn’t believe it was finally here. The fall term had seemed to go on forever and more than once she had wished that December would hurry up and get here. Of course, they had made it drag out longer than it normally would have with the time turner, adding half again as much time as it should have taken. But they had done what needed to be done. Obligations to Hogwarts and the other students, and more preparation as well, along with taking time for themselves to get away from the stress had all been necessary. But now they could relax and enjoy each other for a while.
She could feel him approach the room through their bond, which had been steadily strengthening, so she was not the slightest bit startled by the hands that began massaging her shoulders when he appeared behind her. She moaned her appreciation, her standard response when he did this, and leaned back into him. Having her shoulders and back rubbed was just about her favorite thing in the world, and he knew it, which of course was why he did it so often. And really, that was what love was all about.
“Hey,” he whispered into her ear as he leaned forward to trail several kisses along the back of her neck. “How are you doing this morning?” She shuddered slightly as he began to pull the warm plush terrycloth robe off her shoulders, exposing more bare skin for his ministrations.
How on earth did he expect her to give a coherent answer when he was doing these delightful things to her? Her lack of response didn’t seem to discourage him in the slightest, and her robe was soon down to her waist, making her entire back available to those magic fingers. If this kept up much longer they’d both end up back in bed and it would be even longer before they got dressed. And that would be a bad thing how, exactly?
His hands were on her side now, his fingers seeking more interesting territory around to the front. Just before his highly trained hands were about capture a snitch or two, she finally decided that it was time for her to take some initiative, and she turned toward him and tugged his own robe apart. Leaning forward to press her bare chest to his, she wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his mouth with hers to express her appreciation for the lovely backrub. From there it was only a few steps over to the bed.
Later, after their desires had been attended to, she sat up and reached out to summon the notebook she had been looking at earlier from the table by the window seat. “I was just thinking about the past few months,” she said, finally replying to his initial question. Harry sat up next to her and put his arm around her shoulder as they scooted closer together so he could look at the journal with her.
-oooOOOooo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 2, 1997
Our new Head of House Professor Lupin (now there’s yet another dramatic reminder of how different this year is going to be) handed out our schedules at breakfast this morning. We discussed extensively which classes we were going to drop and finally decided that I would drop Herbology and Harry would drop Potions. One of his reasons was that he felt I was being unfairly overshadowed in the class by Slughorn’s fixation on him. He freely admitted that I was better at Potions than he was, and this way Slughorn would take more notice of me. In turn, I admitted that I had been too closed-minded about the tips in Snape’s book. Some of them were quite useful. I agreed that I would use his mum’s book as a reference this year. The other reason for us dropping different classes was so that between the two of us we would have more coverage of the subjects.
So I’m taking Arithmency, Ancient Runes, and Potions by myself and Charms, Defense, and Transfiguration with Harry and Ron. Ron and Harry are together in Herbology. Ron also dropped Potions and picked up Care of Magical Creatures, so Hagrid will be pleased. Harry and I agreed to come to Care on occasion if there is a particularly interesting creature being studied. I’m planning on taking the NEWT in Muggle Studies as well, so that will be 7 in all. I’m not nearly as worried about career options as I was a year ago. Frankly, being one of the heroes of the War on Voldemort will get me pretty much any job I want, and if not, being Lady Potter and crusading for more rights for persecuted magical beings are also attractive options.
This is quite an adjustment for me. For more than a year now from our perspective I’ve been with Harry virtually 24 hours a day, and now we’ll be apart for hours at a time. I’m sure we’ll manage – I’m hoping it will make us appreciate the time together even more. He IS going to walk me to the classes that I have that he doesn’t, which will be especially nice for Potions down in the dungeons.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 2a, 1997
Harry and I decided to repeat several days a week and spend them at Cambridge. This is our relaxing time, a chance to get away from it all, and also our opportunity to catch up if we get behind on anything. I’m going to take a college class at King’s College. I’ve long admired the Chapel there, and love to listen to their choir. It was hard to pick which course to take. I thought about chemistry or physics, but prerequisites were an issue. A psychology course was also a possibility, since at some point I want to help Harry deal with the issues remaining from his abusive childhood. I finally decided on a philosophy course this semester, and a literature course next semester, both of which primarily involve reading books and writing papers. (If you’re reading this Mr. Potter, you can stop that smirk right now!) My class meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we’ll probably be here at least for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday every week.
This was my first day of class and I just loved it! Harry thinks it’s an odd way to relax, but he accepts that that’s just the way I am. I’m certain that Ron would shake his head and mutter about me being ‘mental’. On the other hand, Harry decided to get a part time job while I work on my studies, and he’s going to be an assistant cook in a local pub! How ironic – the hero of the wizarding world working in a kitchen! Harry, of course, thinks that angle is hilarious. I’ll bet that when we tell Ron he’ll think it’s a dream job – being surrounded by food all day. On second thought, he wouldn’t believe it. In his world, only women cook. I’ve tried to point out to him that most of the best known chefs in the muggle world are men, but he refused to believe me – he was certain that I was having him on.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 5, 1997
Classes are going very well so far but there are some interesting things to report. I stopped by to visit Mum and Dad today to see how they’re getting along. They love it here. They’re fascinated by all the magical things about the castle – just like we were as first years. In one way it’s a shame that we all lost that sense of wonder we had when we first saw everything. Anyway, they’re doing fine. Dobby is here to help them out with any magic that needs doing – opening doors, turning on lights, summoning things, etc. Since Remus and Tonks are here at Hogwarts teaching, no one is living in Grimmauld Place at the moment, and Winky can take care of the Order’s needs there.
Harry has continued to take an interest in some of the first year muggleborn students – it started with Jamie and Cheri, but the group has grown to include some from other houses as well. He stops by to see how they’re doing almost every day. Of course, all of the girls have crushes on him. It’s so cute to watch how flustered they get when he pays attention to them – just like an eleven year old Ginny. He says the boys all have a crush on me, too but – well, perhaps he’s right. …
“So, how are things going for our first years today?” Harry asked as he flopped down next to Jamie at the table where a group of new students were sitting. Hermione smiled as she sat down on his other side. Jamie blushed and the girls on the other side of her giggled. Across the way the boys just stared at the Head Boy with expressions of awe, combined with some furtive glances at the Head Girl. They couldn’t believe that such important people were paying attention to them.
“Pretty good,” replied Jamie after she managed to get herself under control. “We’re finding our way through the castle all right. That’s been the most difficult part so far,” she added, looking toward the others for confirmation. They all nodded in agreement. “The orientation gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect.”
“What orientation?” came his puzzled response.
“You know, the orientation that all muggleborn students have before they come here,” Hermione answered. “Mine was with Professor Vector. Who was yours with?” she asked the new students.
Most of the girls answered either Vector or Sprout; for the boys it was the former Muggle Studies professor. Harry frowned and Hermione immediately realized what was bothering him. He had not had an orientation session since he technically wasn’t muggleborn, even though for all practical purposes he was. She gave a small shake of her head as she realized that this was yet another example of how much more difficult his life was than it ought to have been.
“I guess you could say mine was that day I spent with Hagrid, but I learned almost nothing about Hogwarts from him,” Harry mused. Hermione reached out to give his arm a squeeze, and sent him a sympathetic smile. Then they excused themselves and left to join their other friends at the Gryffindor table.
-ooOoo-
Tonight he gave Jamie and Cheri goodnight hugs before we left the Gryffindor common room to go back to our suite. They both turned bright red and ran up the stairs. The really interesting thing was the reaction from the older girls – they’re actually jealous of the young ones. Lavender was the first to speak up, but she was just teasing. …
Lavender rose from where she and Parvati were sitting by Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville. “That’s not fair,” she pretended to pout. “Can we have good night hugs too?”
To everyone’s surprise Harry merely shrugged and crossed the common room to his fellow seventh years. “Sure,” he replied and gave first Lavender, then Parvati quick hugs. “Nothing wrong with a little hug for a friend now and then.” Lavender merely smiled and giggled, but Parvati’s eyes went wide before she stammered and turned away, her face flushed. Meanwhile Hermione was watching the reactions from the boys. Mostly it was surprise at how outgoing Harry had become, but there was also some jealousy that Harry was getting all of these hugs, and perhaps that they hadn’t thought of it first.
Harry then looked around and spotted Ginny sitting over by herself, which was surprising for the normally vivacious and outgoing young witch. With Hermione trailing behind him, he walked over to her and reached out to pull her to her feet. Before the surprised girl had a chance to react he gave her a slightly longer hug than the other girls had received. “Night, Gin.” Next Hermione added a hug of her own.
Strangely, Ginny’s heart didn’t really seem to be in it, as though something was bothering her. I’m a bit concerned about her. She hasn’t been herself for some time. We were hoping she would snap out of it once we got back here, but she doesn’t really seem any better. I’m going to have to try to talk to her alone some time and see if I can get her to tell me what’s the matter.
After that I decided that it was time to step in and assert my girlfriend rights before things got out of hand. Good thing, too, because that tart Romilda Vane was starting to get ideas. I shot her down just as she was coming over …
Hermione took Harry’s arm and tugged him toward the portrait hole. “Come on dear,” she purred, smiling sweetly at the rest of the common room, one dark-haired girl in particular. “I think we’ve caught up with all of our friends.” There was a definite emphasis on the last word. “Time to get back to our room.” The ‘our room’ line got some gasps, particularly from the students who didn’t know them very well, and chuckles and groans, mostly from their friends. With a final wave the couple disappeared.
-ooOoo-
As much as I’ve been teasing Harry about being fanciable, it really hasn’t been that bad. The younger girls I’m not worried about; having a crush on a heroic older man is part of growing up. (Note to Mr. Potter if you’re reading this. If I hear any sound out of you that even resembles the word ‘Lockhart’ you’ll regret it.) But the older ones aren’t really causing any problems either. They’re mostly confining themselves to longing looks, ogling, or disappointed sighs. Harry says it’s because they’re afraid of me. Oh yeah. Big bad Hermione Granger protects her turf. Honestly, six years ago could anything have possibly sounded more ridiculous?
What’s surprising to me is the attention I’ve been getting. Suddenly it seems like everyone wants to be my friend. I’m fairly certain that some of these girls’ friendly attitude is because of their interest in Ron, but I know that’s not the case for all of them. At any rate, I’ve become good friends with Padma, much more so than I ever was with Parvati. And interestingly enough, I’m starting to like Tracey Davis too. She has a wicked sense of humor that I’d never seen in her before. The best part is that both of those girls are in all three of my ‘non-Harry and Ron’ classes, which makes them much more enjoyable. How about that? I’m actually hanging around with friends who are girls! It’s interesting to speculate what it would have been like under other circumstances if this Gryffindor-Ravenclaw-Slytherin trio had been in place for all seven years. Certainly nothing like the Potter-Weasley-Granger Gryffindor trio. But I wouldn’t give up my friendship with Harry and Ron for anything.
It’s not only the girls, though. Quite a few guys have been eyeing me lately, giving me appreciative looks. Now that’s really strange. I can count on two fingers the number of guys who have made me feel like I was desirable before now. (And no, Ron Weasley wasn’t one of them. For all the times he acted jealous, he never looked at me like he thought I was attractive.) It’s pretty much confined to my non-Harry classes, of course – none of these guys are stupid. Even though I know that Harry is secure enough with our relationship that he wouldn’t call out a guy just for looking at me the wrong way, they don’t necessarily know that.
So, where were all of these guys when I was unattached?
“Bye sweetie,” Harry said as he gave Hermione a quick kiss outside the Potions dungeon. “I’ll see you after Runes. Are you sure you don’t want me to come back after class?”
“Harry, don’t worry so much about me,” Hermione smiled at his over-protectiveness. “You know I can take care of myself. And Terry and Anthony have Runes as well, so we’ll all go up there together.”
Hermione noted the eager looks that appeared on Terry’s and Anthony’s faces, and hoped Harry either wouldn’t notice or if he did that he wouldn’t get upset. Out of the corner of her eye she caught his slight frown, but it quickly cleared up and was replaced by a smirk. She felt him give her hand a squeeze and she returned it as a small smile crept onto her face. His response had been perfect. Initially he had been concerned, but then realized that he had nothing to worry about. In fact, he had ended up being amused that she was having to deal with the kind of thing he had gone through the previous year.
“No problem,” chorused the two Ravenclaws. Harry gave a little wave to show his appreciation and headed off down the corridor.
Hermione smiled at Terry and Anthony and they followed her into the dungeon. Unfortunately for them she sat down next to Padma. Blaise Zabini gave her his most charming smile as he maneuvered to take the seat on her other side. Reluctantly, Terry and Anthony took seats in the row behind her, glaring daggers into Blaise’s back no doubt. Their dark moods brightened considerably at the next sequence of events, however.
Tracey Davis burst into the classroom next, just before the bell. “Move, Blaise, I want to sit next to Hermione,” she demanded in a no-nonsense voice. It was quite amusing to see the tall, good-looking Slytherin shrink before the short stocky girl, but she clearly had him intimidated. He gathered up his things, which he had just begun unpacking, and shot one last hopeful glance at Hermione to see if she would intervene on his behalf. She avoided his eyes and soon Tracey was ensconced in the seat next to her. ‘Thank you’ she mouthed at her new Slytherin friend. Tracey merely shot back a wink as Slughorn began to announce the day’s potion.
‘What on earth is going on here? Hermione thought to herself. ‘Do I have some sort of late-blooming Veela powers?’
In fact, no magical explanation was necessary, but Hermione’s sudden attraction to the opposite sex was due to a number of factors. The least flattering was that she was now famous, and associated with perhaps the most well-known wizard alive. That reason alone would have been enough for opportunists like Blaise Zabini. But her attractiveness was also enhanced by a number of physical changes and adjustments in her mental attitude.
Her body had indeed matured and filled out during the more than a year she had lived since the previous June. And her new, form-fitting robes were tailored to show her figure off to its best advantage. She now used modest amounts of the potion Fleur had given her to tame her hair so that it could be more accurately described as curly than bushy. Likewise the subtle use of eye makeup brought out her deep brown eyes more dramatically. Finally, the way she carried herself, more confidently, lifted her shoulders back and brought her chest forward, with most noticeable results.
Not to mention that she now considered herself attractive, which led to some of these changes. Before she had ‘known’ that she wasn’t good looking, so made no attempt to be. Now she knew that Harry, at least, thought she was, and had convinced her, so she acted like it.
Another attitude change was in the way she related to people. She was generally a happier person now, and smiled much more. The other students marveled at this change in her personality. The scolding prefect whose primary method of communication had been a frustrated sigh and an exasperated eye-roll had been replaced by a helpful head girl who felt better about herself and so was less inclined to find fault with others.
Last, but not least, were the things she had learned from Fleur. The way she smiled at the guys when she talked to them, small motions of her shoulders, torso, hips, etc, and little touches during conversations – each of them innocent in and of themselves - all combined to throw the male of the species off balance during a simple encounter.
No, all together it was not the least bit surprising that Hermione Granger found herself with more male attention than she could possibly have imagined.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 6, 1997
Harry and I went out for a run around the lake this morning before breakfast. We need to make sure we keep up our exercising here. We talked about the idea of recreating the fitness course we built at Potter Manor, but then realized that we can just have Dobby move that one here, since no one is using it there any more. Mum wants to start up her aerobics again, but her tape player won’t work here at Hogwarts. I’m going to talk to Flitwick about enchanting it to make it play. We can probably get McGonagall to give us an unused room to turn into an exercise room, and we can promote the whole thing as a Fitness Club, with Mum as the faculty sponsor. It will be interesting to see who joins besides PDA members.
While we were running Dean, Colin, and Justin came out to run with us. Apparently someone had spotted us from the castle and word spread. No one except the PDA members could figure out why we were out here running. These three were the most enthusiastic about it during the summer, so it stands to reason that they were the ones who were brave enough to come out and join us.
While we were running we talked about quidditch tryouts. Justin’s not sure if he will try out for one of the Hufflepuff teams or not. Dean will try out for chaser for Gryffindor again, of course, and has a good chance to be Katie’s replacement. Colin said that he was going to try out for chaser too, figuring that he might have a shot at the reserve team, and that Dennis wanted to try for reserve seeker. Playing with us over the last month at Potter Manor gave them the confidence to give it a go. Ron’s idea of a reserve team to give more students the opportunity to play was a good one.
Ron was pretty nervous at breakfast, being captain and having to pick two teams today, but it went pretty well. Harry and Ginny were big helps.
“Okay,” Ron called out, looking out at the assembled quidditch prospects. “First of all, is everyone here from Gryffindor?” There were quite a few chuckles at that, as the students recalled the previous year’s tryouts. Hannah, Susan, and Luna raised their hands and Ron laughed, as he knew that they were just there to watch. “Well then, if you know what position you’re interested in, join that group. Chasers, go with Ginny, seekers with Harry, and keepers and beaters stay with me.”
By far the largest group was the chasers, and Ginny had them do some simple stationary passing drills, then moved on to passing while flying in formation. Dennis and two younger students that Harry didn’t know, a boy and a girl, were the only prospective seekers, and Harry talked about search strategies for a while before having them practice catching some bright orange golf balls that Dan had given him. After he had satisfied himself that they could handle that, he released a snitch and let them go at it. From her spot in the chaser line Hermione waved him over and he came to watch her fly.
When Hermione had announced at breakfast that she was going to join the quidditch tryouts, it had caused quite a stir. “Hermione, you hate flying!” Lavender had protested.
“That’s not true,” Ginny pointed out matter-of-factly. Didn’t you notice that she played with us this summer?”
“Well, I thought that was just …” Lavender stopped, realizing that she shouldn’t say more about their summer training.
“You thought that was just because I’m with Harry now?” Hermione had picked up smoothly. “Well, it is true that flying with Harry is much more enjoyable than I had ever imagined it could be.” She managed to put a sultry tone into this sentence, which made some of the listeners choke on their pumpkin juice, and Romilda Vane turned slightly green.
When her turn came up again Hermione managed reasonably well. Flying came pretty instinctively to her by now, so she could concentrate on catching and throwing the quaffle. This time it was her turn to try to score at the end of the run, and she shrieked with delight when she managed to put the quaffle through the left hoop. After one more run, though, it was clear that there were at least six players who were better than she was and she flew up alongside Ginny on her way back to the line.
“Don’t hesitate to cut me; my feelings won’t be hurt,” she informed her friend. “I just came out to have a bit of fun and set an example for the others.” Ginny nodded with some relief and excused her from the group, so she joined Harry and flew up with him to watch the seekers.
In the end Ginny, Dean, and Demelza Robins were the first team chasers, as expected, and Colin did make the reserve team along with a third year girl and a fourth year boy. Harry picked Dennis as the reserve seeker. All in all, Ron was happy with the team, as it was largely intact from the year before, and the reserves included some promising players for future years.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 7, 1997
We had the first meeting of the ‘official’ PDA today. McGonagall doesn’t want everyone to know about the Room of Requirement so we met tonight in the Great Hall. Eventually we’ll divide up into smaller groups and use classrooms. The place was absolutely packed! I’m pretty sure that more than half of the school showed up. If word gets around that it’s an effective class, I’m sure that there will be even more interest. On the other hand, some will most likely drop out as the work gets more difficult.
As usual, Harry started with simple spells, which some of the upper year students, particularly the Ravenclaws, grumbled about. It’s amazing, though, how many were doing them wrong. We’ll spend the first few sessions mastering Expeliarmus and Protego. There was much more complaining when he started talking about physical conditioning, even after we illustrated how important it was to be able to dodge or evade spells. The younger students, though, were more enthusiastic about this, especially when he used Dennis Creevey, who’s only a 4th year and small for his age, as an example. They recognized that this was something that they could be as good at as the older students.
All in all it was a success. We’re going to start off by evaluating where everyone is in terms of skill level and sort them out. Two or three core PDA members will be assigned to each group. Harry and I will roam among the different groups overseeing things and helping out if any problems arise. With any luck, by the end of the year most of the students will at least be able to defend themselves in an attack.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 8, 1997
This morning was our first Transfiguration class. Professor Karl seems reasonably competent, although I think she’s intimidated by Harry and me. She’s nice enough, but it was a strange experience. Quite a contrast from Professor McGonagall who I think could even intimidate Dumbledore if she wanted to. Ron and Harry claim that I intimidated some of our other professors too, but I’m not sure I believe them. Well, Umbridge for certain. She was intimidated by both of us.
The problem today happened when Professor Karl announced that we were going to work on animal transfiguration this year – human to animal as well as inanimate object to animal. She asked us to demonstrate what we were already able to do, and well, I guess I shouldn’t have taken her quite so literally. Harry and I started transfiguring things and I got carried away. I made some birds like I did during our duel this summer, Harry made some snakes, I made some dogs, and then of course I had to show the difference between dogs and goats. Then Lavender said she wanted to see a horse and other students started making requests. I should have noticed that Professor Karl was just standing there dumfounded, I guess, but I’m used to Professor McGonagall who always has control of her class. I think between the two of us we made seventeen different animals. (Harry says that he only did two and I did fifteen, but I don’t think that can be right.)
The Transfiguration class was the dominant topic of conversation among the seventh year Gryffindors in the common room that evening. Ron reminisced fondly about Moody (actually Crouch, Jr.) transforming Malfoy into a ferret and everyone had a good laugh. Then Seamus teased that Ron would make a good weasel, which got a sofa cushion thrown at him. Then they moved on to speculating what would be the most suitable animal for each of them.
“I think Ron would make a good Irish setter,” Hermione offered. When pressed for an explanation she continued, “it’s a dog with bright red hair, like Ron’s, and very loyal.” There was general consensus on that one, and Ron was much happier with that characterization than with being a weasel.
“In that case, I want to be an Irish wolfhound,” declared Seamus, drawing more laughter.
“Neville would be a bear,” Parvati suggested. Indeed, given his dark coloring and the way he had bulked up during the summer, combined with his generally placid demeanor that could turn into a fierce fighter when provoked, the analogy seemed apt.
“What about Hermione?” Neville asked. They could tell he was embarrassed, though pleased, by the complimentary description of himself and wanted to change the focus to someone else.
“Oh, that’s easy,” Harry responded. “She’s an owl.” Before anyone could answer he gave her a wink and pointed his wand at her, mouthing an incantation. Realizing what he was doing Hermione transformed herself into her owl animagus form.
“Wow!” “Wicked!” “That’s awesome!” were just a few of the reactions from their startled classmates. Hermione hooted at Harry and he flicked his wand again to ‘turn’ her back.
“So what would Harry be then, a lion maybe?” Dean wondered.
Hermione grinned at Harry. “Nope,” she corrected. “He would be a black panther. Let me show you.” Harry was a little puzzled, but she knew he would go along with her. She made a standard transfiguration motion with her wand, and he changed to his jaguar form. However, instead of just doing a fake spell, she transfigured his fur to make it black before he even finished his transformation. Voila, instant panther. Panther Harry looked down at his black paws in surprise, then pretended to growl threateningly at her. The other students began backing nervously away, but Hermione just smiled and knelt down in front of the panther and hugged him, just like she often did with Crookshanks. Harry responded by licking her face.
Once the laughter had died down and Hermione had wiped the slobber off her face and glared at him for good measure, she ‘transfigured’ him back and they all resumed their speculations. Hermione, sticking with dogs, decided that Dean Thomas would be a Great Dane and suggested a French poodle for Lavender.
“I think Ginny would be a fox,” Dean announced. This, of course, got a glare from Ron due to the double meaning. Harry jumped in before he could object. “I don’t know, I’ve always seen her more as a cat. Maybe a tiger or a cheetah.”
“She sure has the temperament for a tiger,” Ron agreed, trying to turn the thinking away from how attractive his little sister was. As luck would have it, Ginny appeared at the portrait hole just at that time. When she walked by the seventh year group she noticed all eyes were on her.
“What?” she stopped and demanded.
“We were talking about what animals different people would be, and I said you were a fox, but Harry thought you were more of a tiger,” Dean explained with a grin. Ron covered his face with his hands and groaned. Ginny brightened momentarily at the pair of compliments, and even gave Dean and Harry small smiles, but then shrugged and walked away, leaving a puzzled group of seventh years behind. The Ginny they remembered would never have let a line like that go by without a witty comeback. Hermione once again resolved to have a talk with her to try to find out what was bothering her.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 10, 1997
Professor Flitwick said that we would be working on Protean charms and warding this term. Later in the year we will focus on conjuring. Of course, Harry and I are already pretty skilled at warding and … well, when he mentioned Protean charms everyone in the class who was in the DA turned and grinned at me. I blushed – I couldn’t help myself – and Harry reached over and gave my arm a squeeze. Once Flitwick was clued in on what everyone was grinning about he asked me to give a brief description of how they worked. The others in the room all groaned at that. The prats seemed to think that I can’t be concise about anything. I showed them – I managed to give a thorough explanation in only 15 minutes. Then I made Harry join me as we told about some of the wards we’ve learned and how to cast them. Professor Flitwick was very interested when Harry mentioned that he now owned Dumbledore’s ward detector, so we invited him to come by the Head Suite to look at the modifications we’ve made to it.
Afterward I asked him about enchanting Mum’s tape player. He had an even better suggestion – he offered to tutor us in enchanting so we can do it ourselves. It would be an extra credit NEWT project. Of course, I couldn’t turn down an opportunity like that!
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 14, 1997
Rita Skeeter strikes again! She wrote a very detailed expose on Umbridge’s trial. Apparently the foul toad had agreed to a plea bargain without any public trial and Scrimgeour was trying to sweep it under the rug. The sentencing is tomorrow and he was going to recommend that she get off with a warning and probation.
Of course, Rita had all of the facts exactly right, even ones from secret testimony that was never released (evil smile!). As one might expect, the public reaction was a demand that Umbridge be punished much more severely. Both the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler stories that have mentioned Harry during the past month have been generally quite favorable, and when people read what she and Fudge had done to Harry they were outraged.
The Daily Prophet ran an editorial on the page following her story calling for Scrimgeour to disassociate himself from her completely or consider resigning as Minister. He’s very fortunate that Director Hammer and Chief Auror Robards are doing such a good job. Because of all the Death Eaters they captured and convicted (mostly due to Harry and me, but we don’t want people to know that), he is being perceived as being effective against Voldemort. And since his position is so shaky now, they will have even more free reign to do their jobs as they see fit.
-ooOoo-
From the Journal of Hermione Granger, September 19, 1997
Wow! What an amazing birthday. Harry and I decided to stay in Cambridge an extra night because he said he had some special things planned for my birthday. So we did my birthday there first and then repeated it back here at Hogwarts.
It started first thing in the morning. I knew Harry was going to do this, but somehow he managed to get my knickers off and start my massage before I woke up. He had faithfully studied the ‘sensual massage’ video tape and he was a very good student. The first thing I knew, I was lying on my stomach, completely nude, and had a heavenly scented oil being worked into my feet. It felt so good, but it was soon to get much better! Next he did my calves. Mmmm, that was nice too. Then he started working his way up my thighs and things really started getting interesting. The video tape said that a woman’s entire body was an erogenous zone, and they knew what they were talking about. I was so turned on by the time he started on my bum that I could hardly stand it. Then his finger moved down to ‘touch’ me and I lost it immediately!
It was so good I nearly passed out. Afterwards he lay down next to me and I fell back asleep in his arms. When I woke up next I was lying with my head in his lap and he was now massaging my forehead and scalp. I could not believe how good that felt! Then he went on to my shoulders and arms. Exquisite! But when he moved down to my breasts, oh my! He spent a very long time and lots of massage oil there. By then I was excited again and I knew what was coming next. He slowly worked his hands down to start touching me again and I just closed my eyes and rode out the waves of bliss. After he finished we cuddled up and I fell asleep again!
When Hermione woke again Harry kissed her thoroughly, then pulled back. “Happy birthday,” he murmured softly, gazing into her eyes.
“I love you,” she responded, just as he had on his birthday.
“Are you ready for some presents now?” he asked. Hermione smiled and nodded. The first package she opened contained two brand new tunics of a style that she recognized immediately. Harry explained that he had picked them up from Chantico when they were in the Yucatan at the end of August. One was for Hermione and the other for him, and Hermione’s had beautiful hand-sewn multicolored embroidery and a matching sash. When she held them up she noted with a raised eyebrow that hers was considerably shorter than his. His response was an innocent look while he pointed out that it was probably just because he was taller than she was. She rolled her eyes at him to let him know that she wasn’t fooled a bit, but then smiled and went on to the next package. This contained the leather ankle boots that completed the outfit. After that was a much bigger package that held a large garment bag.
“Harry?” She turned to look at him, puzzled. These were the formal dress robes that she had picked out before they came back to Hogwarts. Why was he wrapping them up for her now? Then she noticed that he was holding a small box and grinning at her. As her eyes dropped to the box he opened it and she gasped. Lying there were the most beautiful necklace and earrings she had ever seen!
“Harry!” The necklace was a large star sapphire (her birthstone) in a setting surrounded by smaller teardrop sapphires and diamonds, and the earrings were also tear shaped sapphires. The combination perfectly matched the periwinkle blue color of her new dress robes. He had insisted that she get the same color as her robes had been fourth year, but the cut and fit of the new robes was more appropriate for the nineteen year old woman she was now, compared to the fifteen year old girl she had been then. And without even trying them on she knew that the necklace had been made to fit exactly with the low neckline of the new robes.
“I wanted something extra special for you this year, so I sent your new robes in to the jeweler and had them put something together to match it. They took some of the pieces we found in the Black family vault that you thought were hideous in trade, so it didn’t really cost that much,” he added. She relaxed then and even managed a smile at the thought that he knew her so well that he had already countered her objection about the price before she even raised it.
“Harry, they’re beautiful! I just can’t believe I’ll be wearing something so incredible.”
“You already look incredible in that gown. These will just make you look even more so.”
She decided that he deserved a passionate kiss for that remark. After she finished with his reward he gave her an even bigger grin and pulled out another jewelry box.
“Harry, stop! This is already too much.”
“Oh. All right, I guess I can save this one for Christmas.”
She gasped, then realized he was teasing her and hit him on the shoulder. “You prat!”
Harry grinned at her and explained. “Now, this one is actually a wedding present, but I thought you should have it before you pick out your wedding gown.” Hermione barely heard the end of this explanation, because her mind was fixated on the breathtaking emerald pendant on display before her. It was similar to what was currently her favorite piece of jewelry (intentionally so, she was sure), the jade pendant he had bought her on the way home from Hogwarts at the end of sixth year, except it was larger and, of course, emerald instead of jade. The chain was platinum instead of silver. Once again she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him for all she was worth, tears of happiness running down her cheeks. When she finally managed to collect herself Harry explained that the emerald had come from the Potter family vault and that he had instructed the jeweler to set it on the platinum chain exactly the way their beloved jade pendant had been.
Although Hermione was eager to try on her new outfits, Harry pointed out that she was still coated with massage oil, which might stain the fabric. His solution was for them to take a shower together to wash it off. There he proceeded to rub all of the oil off by hand. It took quite a while, but he was VERY thorough. Needless to say, she wholeheartedly appreciated his efforts.
-ooOoo-
Harry went all out to make it a perfect day for me. After I finished admiring how the necklace looked with my new dress robes (while he admired the part of me the necklace was resting on) and I modeled the tunic for him (I teased him by illustrating how short it was by bending over to pick something up. I could tell that I had caught his attention when I heard him try to stifle a moan behind me.) he took me out for the day. We spent several hours wandering through old bookshops in Cambridge, then in the afternoon he took me punting on the Cam River on one of those flat bottomed boats. It was so romantic, lying back in the boat watching him propel us along the water with the long pole. Well, it was until he lost his balance and fell in, tipping us over. I was only annoyed for a bit. Honestly, how could I stay mad at him when he was trying so hard to make it such a wonderful birthday for me? We were cold and wet at first, but a couple of discreet warming charms kept the chill off until we could get home and dry off.
He finished up this fantastic day by taking me out for a romantic candlelight dinner. Of course I wore my special white dress and the jade pendant. (I’m saving the emerald pendant for the wedding, of course.) The restaurant was located in a medieval wine cellar in a building just opposite King’s College. We started with French onion soup and mussels in garlic and white wine with a cream sauce. For the main course Harry had the beef fillet while I ordered the vegetable pasta. For dessert he had the chocolate torte and I had the crème brûlée (but he let me have a bite of the chocolate torte too).
I love this man so much! By the time we got home I couldn’t keep myself from snogging him senseless. Then he slowly, sensuously undressed me and laid me down on the bed and ran his hands all over me so softly I couldn’t stop shivering. I swear the man has magic in his hands (yes, that kind too). Then he ‘touched’ me again. It took all the will power I had to hold to our decision to wait to make love until we get married.
-oooOOOooo-
Back at Potter Manor, Hermione leaned back and closed her eyes to savor the memory, then turned to see Harry smiling at her. “Thank you so much, Harry, that was the most incredible day I’ve ever had. She leaned in to give him a soft kiss to show her gratitude. “But I don’t know how I’m going to top that next year for your birthday.”
“Well,” Harry pointed out with a raised eyebrow, “we will be married then.”
“Oh, I see,” she grinned, her eyes sparkling. “You have something in mind perhaps?”
“Hmmm,” he leered back. “I’m sure I could think of something.”
“You know,” she leaned up and whispered into his ear. “I bet we’ll be really good at that by then.”
The playful bantering paused for some passionate kissing. Eventually, Hermione noticed that they had knocked the notebook to the floor. She reached down and picked it up, marking their place. “The next part wasn’t too good,” she commented quietly.
“What do you say we shower and get dressed and have some breakfast – er – lunch, before we continue?” Harry suggested.
“Good idea.”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
The restaurant Harry and Hermione ate at is an actual dining establishment in Cambridge named ‘No. 1 Kings Parade Bar and Restaurant’. The description of the restaurant and its location were taken from its website, and their dinner selections were taken from one of the posted menus.
If you’re wondering how Harry got a job in Cambridge, the goblins at Gringotts provided them with all the identity papers they needed. (Goblins’ motto - anything is possible for the right price.)