A Winter Scene

Elves and Cocoa Mix

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They tramped through the hallways of the school, dripping snow as they went. Oh, Filch would just love this. Harry tightened his hold on Hermione's hand and quickened his pace. "C'mon. We've got to get back before Filch sees us."

Hermione looked amused. "Because he won't be able to follow the footprints back to Gryffindor Tower and take points off."

Harry stopped. "Oh, bloody hell." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to come up with another option. "Let's go to the kitchen. We can dry off a bit and nip some food while we're at it."

Hermione seemed doubtful. "I can just dry our robes right now, you know. We don't have to give the elves more work."

"We won't give the elves more work," Harry insisted. A detour to the kitchen meant more time with Hermione, and that appeared to be a very appealing prospect indeed. "We'll just stand in front of the fire and I'm sure they've already made some food. Dobby will be happy to give us some of the extras. He is our friend after all."

Hermione's eyes softened. "Harry, that's wonderful. I'm so glad to hear that you think of Dobby as a friend." She moved and enveloped him in a warm hug.

Well, Harry certainly hadn't been expecting this, but he wasn't going to argue. He wondered what Hermione would do if he told her all the elves were his friends. Or that he viewed Dobby as the short, masochistic, bald brother he never had. He filed these possibilities away for later use.

He carefully disentangled himself from Hermione and smiled down at her. "I should have known that a mention of the house elves would make you go all soft," he teased.

Hermione blushed slightly and looked away. "Come on, then, we need to get to the kitchen."

They made their way down to the kitchen and laughed at what Filch would think, seeing two pairs of footprints suddenly disappear in front of the rather ordinary (for Hogwarts) painting. Dobby greeted them with his usual enthusiasm and quickly set about gathering extra food for the two of them when he heard their request. They moved over to the fire and Harry watched as Hermione chatted with the other elves, subtly and not-so-subtly reminding them of their rights. He shook his head and grinned as Dobby came back to them.

"Dobby is very sorry, sir, but Dobby cannot make too much food for Harry Potter and his..." Dobby looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, unsure of himself, "friend. Dobby hopes you will accept this and not be too angry with Dobby." He then produced an extremely large basket overflowing with food. Harry bit back a laugh and thanked him for his hard work. He motioned to Hermione and they set off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"That's a little food?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Harry looked through the basket as they walked. "Well, it's really not as much as you would think. I mean, there's an awful lot of--hang on, is this cocoa mix?" he asked as he pulled the packet out. "Dobby gave us cocoa mix?"

Hermione plucked the packet from his hands and looked at with interest. "Maybe the house elves are trying to cut down on some work. Good for them! This tastes just as good as real hot chocolate. No need for them to do all that extra work."

Harry raised an eyebrow as they went through the portrait hole. "Tastes just as good as the real thing? I'll have to disagree with you there."

"Really? Well, why don't we find out?" Hermione challenged. "It's late and no one's here right now. I'm going up to get something to boil the water in."

"You've a teapot lying around?"

Hermione looked at him with a slightly outraged look on her face. "To quote Ron, am I witch or not? I can transfigure objects, you know."

Harry grinned at her. "Sorry, sorry. But why do you have to go to your room? Surely a witch of your exceptional abilities can transfigure any old object."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Because sitting about in wet clothes is not my idea of comfortable. I like dry clothes so I'm going to go change." She frowned, walked over to him and ran a hand down his robes. "I suggest you do the same. I'd hate to see you catch a cold."

Harry inspected his clothes, but as usual, Hermione was right. The kitchen fire hadn't really dried his clothes all that much. He nodded and shoved the basket underneath a table. "I'll meet you back down here." He caught her hand and was surprised to feel how cold it was. He began rubbing it between his two hands and then brought it up near his mouth and huffed to warm it. "Wear something warm," he murmured, his lips just brushing the tips of her fingers. Hmmm. What an exceptionally wonderful feeling. Harry flushed as he realized that he was still brushing his lips over her fingers and stopped immediately. Hermione looked at him, surprised, then blushed and nodded her head. She gave him a searching look, then drew away from him and silently ran up the stairs.

Harry resolved to never again wiggle with Hermione beneath him. Clearly, it had caused him to go mad.