Summer

~ Summer - Chapter Six ~

"Crookshanks Meets the Dursleys"

On the way back to Privet Drive, Harry thought his Aunt Petunia would never stop talking, and asking questions. Hermione didn't seem to have a problem listening, and asking questions of her own. They were changing subjects so fast, he had stopped trying to keep up.Then he heard his aunt begin to tell Hermione about the school they had planned to send him to before the letters from Hogwarts began to appear, and Hagrid had come to take him to Diagon Alley for his supplies.

"We always felt Harry could have been happy nearer home, but that man came to take him, and we had no choice but to let him go." Aunt Petunia was saying sadly. He saw Hermione beginning to get that look on her face that he remembered so well from the year before, when she was involved in her campaign against enslavement of house elves.

Harry prodded her in the back of her neck from where he sat in the back seat, making her jump and look reproachfully at him. "Just ignore her," he mouthed silently, and reluctantly, Hermione nodded. He breathed a sigh of relief, but wondered how things were really going to turn out. He looked down at the box beside him and realized he was really counting on Ivy's Coaxing Charm to get them through the evening.

After they arrived on Privet Drive, Dudley insisted on showing Hermione his collection of CD's, and to Harry's surprise she had heard of most of the music, and was soon expressing her opinions very strongly. He suddenly found himself feeling totally left out of the conversation, and dirty besides. Mumbling something about getting cleaned up, he moved toward the door, but immediately heard Hermione say, " Yes, you go get cleaned up, and I'll come help you pick out a good shirt from the ones Mom got for you," then to Dudley she said, " Harry really looks cool in his new clothes, doesn't he Dudley? Everyone at our school thinks he's so great!"

Harry had to swallow hard,and move fast before a huge snort of laughter escaped from him. Not fast enough to miss Dudley's reaction though. He saw Dudley's eyes narrow, though all he said was " Oh, yeah, sure."

Harry tore into the bathroom, jumped into the shower, and took a faster shower than he usually did, even after a Quidditch match, before a victory celebration. Coming out of the bathroom, he heard Hermione saying, "I'll just check on Harry now." a bit louder than was really necesary.

" Um, ready in a minute, Hermione....." he called, as he unintentionally slammed the door to his room. 'Oh, no," he groaned to himself, 'now she'll think I don't want her help.' As quickly as he could, Harry dressed, except for his shirt, and threw his towel around his neck as he opened his door. To his surprise and relief, Hermione was standing there, leaning against the wall by his door, looking very smug.

" That took care of him- for a while anyway", she said as she came into the room, looking around her. "Ooh, Harrry this is AWFUL. Even if you're hardly ever here, we have to do something about this room. Tonight - you, your aunt and I are going to make a list of all the things you need in here. Dudley has a computer doesn't he? and the internet?" Harry nodded, wondering what she had in mind. "Before Mom and Dad pick me up tonight, we're going to do some online shopping. If you have to stay here, they're going to spend some money making you comfortable."

Harry grinned as he thought of the way Hermione had been spending the muggle money when they went food shopping before. The need to watch what she spent had apparently not occurred to her. "Well, I'd better finish getting ready," he said, moving toward his closet.

Hermione reached out and took the towel from his neck and rubbed it across his back." You're still all wet, Harry. You'll get cold if your shirt gets wet." This was not bad, Harry thought to himself, even though he couldn't quite get any words to come out of his mouth. A guy could get used to this. At the same time they both seemd to realize she had been drying the same spot for several minutes.

Harry cleared his throat and said,"Well, let's see what shirt I should wear." He went to the closet and pushed a lot of very ugly and very large shirts to the side then held up two for Hermione to see." Like either of these?" She nodded and took the one that was blue with a lighter blue block stripe around the chest, handing Harry the towel.

"This one's really nice. Soft and a nice color." She unbuttoned the three buttons and handed it back to Harry, who quickly slipped it over his head.

"Ready to go down" he asked. "We need to make sure each of them gets some of the stuff your Mom sent, otherwise Dudley will eat it all, then Petunia and Vernon might not be so easy."

"Dudley!" Hermione exclaimed with a sniff, "I don't think I've ever met anyone so obnoxious . He's just as bad as Draco, in his way, and he's big enough to do his own torture to people."

"Yeah," said Harry with a grin. "If nothing else he can just sit on them." They laughed together and went back down the stairs to the living room where Vernon was sitting with his evening paper. When he lowered it to look at Harry and Hermione, he still had that look of fury mixed with terror and he said as litle as possible to them. Hermione, getting her first look at Uncle Vernon's face without the frizzy hair, suddenly seemd to find something extremely interesting out the front window, then she exclaimed "Crookshanks is still in his basket!" and she darted from the room

"Attractive girl," muttered Uncle Vernon. "Can't imagine why you've never brought her 'round before."

' Maybe because you've never alowed me to have a friend in this stupid house.' thought Harry. Then something occurred to him. Why not give Ivy's rolls a try?

"Say, aren't you hungry? I saw some rolls out for dinner. Why don't I bring you one?" Harry asked, trying very hard to keep his voice casual and his face pleasant, as if offering to bring food to his uncle happened every day. While he looked a bit suspicious, Vernon grunted a yes, and went back to his paper. Harry sped into the kitchen, and quickly picked up one of Ivy's rolls in a napkin.

"Now Harry, don't spoil your dinner. All your favorite foods tonight, in honor of our guest," said Aunt Petunia, giving him a look he supposed was intended to be affectionate

'How does she know what I like?' thought Harry, but he only turned to her and said, as pleasantly as he could,"Oh, this is for Uncle Vernon.You should have one too, it's very light, dinner won't be spoiled." Then he turned and left the kitchen ,shoulders shaking with silent laughter,and put the roll he'd brought by Vernon's glass of sherry.

"Thanks," Uncle Vernon said, not too rudely, and he picked it up and began to eat. Harry went over, sat on the couch and folded his arms. 'Now, for the fun to begin.' he thought. Hermione came back into the room, holding Crookshanks in her arms, and looked at Harry with a question in her eyes. He nodded and pointed to the table beside Vernon, where all that remained were a few crumbs.

Hermione grinned, and moved toward the chair near Vernon, but Harry found himself shaking his head at her, and pointing to the spot on the couch beside him. Hermione's smile got bigger and he thought again what an amazing difference there was since she had let Madame Pomfrey alter her teeth. But there were a lot of amazing differences, like the way she felt, sitting just a little closer than she would have a few weeks ago .

"Ready?" he whispered and she nodded. "Hey , Uncle Vernon," Harry said in a much louder and more forceful voice, "Hermione brought her cat along. I know how crazy about cats you are, don't you want to hold him?"

Vernon lowered his paper with the beginning of a scowl, but when he looked at them sitting on the couch, a strange calm came over his face. "Oh, nice kitty,here kitty, come to Vernon....." said Uncle Vernon in a voice that made Harry and Hermione look at each other and roll their eyes. Hermione got up with Crookshanks, took him over and dropped him into Uncle Vernon's lap.

With his usual charm, Crookshanks wasted no time in stretching full length across his lap, kneading his claws in and out. Vernon winced at each movement, but seemingly unable to move, he gripped the arms of his chair with white knuckles. After a moment, he was able to take one hand off the chair arm, and began to rub Crookshanks' back. Immediately, huge handfuls of fuzzy yellowish - orange cat hair came out in his hand, and began to drift across the furniture, clinging to the plush plum colored velvet that Harry had always hated, but that was Petunia's pride and joy.

As if she had been called, Petunia appeared in the doorway, "All right everyone....." she began in a shrill voice, but broke off in mid- sentence. 'Oh, no- ' thought Harry, 'She never ate any of the rolls!' This thought was quickly removed when Aunt Petunia squealed "Vernon! What are you doing to that poor cat? Trying to make him lose all his hair? Poor thing, here I'll take him in and get him some supper. Vernon! You clean up this mess. What will Hermione think of us? "

"Actually I think this is pretty hilarious , don't you?" Hermione said into Harry's ear. He nodded, but felt a little shiver go up his spine. Was it because of something that was about to happen, or because Hermione had somehow stayed leaning against his shoulder after she finished speaking.Should he move, or whisper something back? Deciding caution was the best course of action, he slowly leaned back against the couch again, relaxing a bit as he felt Hermione lean back with him. At least he knew that was where she wanted to be.

They sat there, watching Vernon scraping cat hairs from the cushions, being careful not to move and disturb the closeness they had finally reached. Unfortunately, Dudley chose that time to appear in the doorway. When he saw Harry and Hermione on the couch, a scowl appeared on his face."Mum says to come in for dinner. Say, Hermione why don't you come on in with me? I'll make you something to drink with dinner, and you can visit with Mum and I. I've been helping with dinner, but it's Harry's job to turn on the sprinklers in the yard each night. Right, Harry?' said Dudley in a smarmy voice that made Harrry want to stick some of Crookshanks' fur down his throat.

He made himself nod though,and said "Sure, Hermione, you go on in and get comfortable. I'll be along in a bit." She got up reluctantly, managing to put her hand on his arm for an instant and turning to him and rolling her eyes before following Dudley into the kitchen. As he went out the door, he could hear Dudley talking to Hermione in that same smarmy voice, but he grinned to himself as he noticed her replies were either unenthusiastic or sarcastic.

During dinner, Hermione managed to bring up the subject of Harry's room, after she had made sure each of Harry's three relatives had been supplied with more of Ivy's rolls. Harry wished he could have one, they still smelled awfully good, and somehow had managed to stay warm all this time They'd been warned though, and he knew now that Ivy had ben successful with her Coaxing Charm - Petunia was hanging on every word Hermione spoke and even Dudley and his uncle were listening and not interrupting - a first for either of them. To his great surprise she was talking very enthusiastically about Quidditch,and though most of her conversation involved telling about his own parts in the game, he was surprised to hear her choose this subject.

"So, since Harry is one of the best Quidditch players anyplace, wouldn't it be right to decorate his room with things about Quidditch?" He came out of his thoughts to hear Hermione say this, and nearly fell off his chair!

Where were they going to get Quidditch decorations in a Muggle store? "Erm,Hermione, do you really think we can do this?" he raised his eyebrows and hoped she would get the message to move to another subject.

"Oh, no problem, Harry. Ron has a catalogue with all the team decorations. We can ask him to bring it along when he visits. Now, Mrs. Dursley, don't you think Harry could use some new furniture? I don't mean to sound rude, but that stuff is pretty old. Dudley, we can use your computer can't we.You have the Internet? We can look at furniture there. I know Dudley and Mr. Dursley will want to clean up the kitchen after that wonderful dinner you made Mrs. Dursley."

Hermione's eyes were twinkling, and Harry gulped and said in a croaky voice"Um, sprinklersgottaturnemoff!" and he disappeared out the back door, where he bent over, shaking with laughter that he tried not to let turn into huge snorts.. Finally getting a little sobered, he made his way to the side of the house and turned off the water faucet. When he stood up, he realized the kitchen window was almost at this eye level, so he looked in. Hermione and Petunia sat at Dudley's computer desk. Hermione looked almost as small as Winky, sitting in the oversized computer chair his aunt and uncle had had to order specially because of Dudley's size. He knew he should get back inside, but he just stood there for a moment, looking at her. Would she want him to kiss her? Maybe tonight would be.........

"Harrreeee.....!!!" he heard Aunt Petunia's shrill voice,and realized he'd been standing there several minutes. Going in the back door he saw Hermione holding a list of some kind in her hand.He went over and stood beside her,and on a corner of the paper she wrote "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" When he sat down beside her, she whisperd "Five hundred pounds!"

Since Petunia was now at the sink, pointing out to Vernon and Dudley all their mistakes, he whispered back "That's more money than they've spent on me in all the years I've been here, I bet!"

" And don't forget, we still have the Quidditch decorations." Hermione whispered back."We'll have to make another trip to Diagon Alley to get their Muggle money changed."

This reminded Harry of the trip down to his vault, and made him come to a decision. "Let's go outside a few minutes." he said to her, moving the chair back and pulling her up from Dudley's huge chair. Before he could lose his determination, he turned and called across the room,"I'm taking Hermione out to show her the roses. They're looking really pretty tonight."

"Wait, I'll go too!" exclaimed Dudley. Harry felt his heart hit his feet with a thud, but it rose again when Aunt Petunia said quickly," You most certainly will not! You still have work to do. Here, take the scissors, Harry, and cut Hermione all the best roses.

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(A/N This is a little strange, but there are two options for the next part. I'll post them both and you can decide for yourself. Personally, I can never decide, it just depends upon my mood. As they say, choose your poison.

(The Hormonal Option)

When they were outside, Hermione asked, "When did you develop this sudden interest in roses? I don't remember you spending a lot of time admiring the ones at Hogwarts, and being enchanted they're really nice."

"Come on Hermione, give me a break for once." Harry held both of Hermione's shoulders and turned her to look at him. When she did, he saw her eyes dancing in the moonlight. He also noticed two other things. There were small twinkling lights in her hair, above her shoulders and her arms in the sleeveless dress were very cold. "I ....thought we could both use a break from my family. C' mon, lets go sit on that bench. I've spent enough time painting it over the years, we ought to enjoy it."

He rubbed her shoulders as he guided her to the bench that was under a plane tree."Sorry I brought you out so quickly. You didn't even have time to get your sweater. And Hermione, what are those lights? Where are they coming from?"

Hermione giggled and said," Oh, those are my fairies. Mom gave them to me as an early birthday present. Here I'll show you..." She pulled her hair back, and from each of her ears Harry could see a tiny golden fairy, swinging on a small chain with an even tinier blue bead.

"Nice!" said Harry, thinking how great it was for Hermione to finally be able to enjoy knowing her Mom wasn't a muggle. "But why didn't they light up before?" He leaned a little closer, touching each of the fairies, and receiving a small tingle in his finger.

Hermione shook her head slightly, making the fairies dance. "They only light up in, um, certain circumstances. Kind of like a sneak-o -scope, only in reverse. They light up when you're near someone you trust, someone who'll be important in your life for a long time."

For a moment Harry wasn't quite sure what to say. Hermione's words could be taken in a lot of different ways, and they had been best friends for years, he , Ron and Hermione. Harry gave himself a mental kick.Why did he have to think about Ron right now. He pushed the thought aside and whispered, "So....I'm important? I know that, but the question is, how important?"

" I..I think I'm getting really cold, Harry. We may need to go in, but I don't want to." She looked at him with a question in her eyes."Ooh, that's better," she said as Harry slid both arms around her, pulling her close to him." Do you really need to ask that question? Do you see anyone else spending all this time at my house? Do you think I'd be spending all this time with these Muggles?"

"You know anyone who's close to me isn't going to be entirely safe. I don't think I could stand knowing you, or your family were hurt because of me," said Harry, holding her a litle closer.

"And when have I ever not been in danger then? We just aren't like other people, Harry. We never will be. Can you actually see me spending hours worrying about what bracelets I'm going to wear with what dress?" She shook her head, and leaned on his shoulder."No, we've always been different. Mom knows that, she wouldn't have decided to return to the wizarding world without good reason. My parents have been pretty happy all these years in the muggle world, but Mom said you need all the protection we can give you. The Dursley's house isn't going to be safe much longer, but no one knows how much longer. But for now....am I really wrong, did we come out here for a reason besides looking at roses and my fairies?"

"Maybe so," said Harry softly."How would you feel if I did this?" Very gently, he took her face in his hands and bent his face to hers. Their lips met and Harry felt a shiver go through him that had nothing to do with the chill of the evening. He felt Hermione's arms go around his neck, and she shivered too. This time when they broke apart neither of them laughed, and Harry had the strange sensation that he had just taken a very deep dive on his Firebolt and was soaring back up. Looking at Hermione's face in the moonlight, he could tell she wouldn't pull away from another kiss. He pushed her hair back and was amused to see the fairies twinkling and dancing much faster.

Just as their lips touched, and he felt his legs begin to feel like jelly, they heard the back door slam.And a light came on. "Harreeee...." Aunt Petunia's voice cut shrilly through the night.Harry and Hermione looked at each other, dismayed. Then Harry whispered, " This is only the beginning, Hermione. I promise you that."

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(The other possibility for how it might have gone - the humorous option)

Leaving Dudley with a sulky look on his face, Harry and Hermione went out the back door, and over toward the bench Harry had painted so many times in the past. Hermione sat down, and Harry walked over to the rose bushes."Want a couple," he said, a bit nervously. Now that they were out here alone, he wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Sure," answered Hermione, rubbing her arms. " I really ought to go back for my sweater. You were right, Harry, it is pretty cool tonight."

'Yeah, ' thought Harry. 'My perfect chance and what am I doing? Cutting flowers like an idiot!' He gritted his teeth and continued until he had cut a few of the nicest ones, then walked back over to the bench, dropping the roses in Hermione's lap. "Um, still cold?" he asked hopefully.

"A little, not too bad. Want to walk a little?" asked Hermione. "I'll warm up that way."

" No! Hermione I wanted to come out here because....." Before Harry could get any more words to come out, they heard a loud bang, followed by an exclamation, and saw a flash of yellow streak across the garden.

" Crookshanks !" cried Hermione." Someone has let him get out!"

'I wonder who,' thought Harry, with a frustrated shake of his head. He walked over to the door as Hermione darted after Crookshanks, spilling the roses on the ground."All right, Dudley, come on out here and help us! You know you let him out!" To his delight, Harry saw all three Dursleys standing in the kitchen, one of Ivy's cakes in each hand, apparently making complete pigs of themselves.

At his words, Petunia shoved the cake into Dudley's mouth, doing the same thing with hers, and choking it down. " I told you to be careful! The cat probably isn't used to being outside in a strange place!"

Harry's eyes lit up as an idea hit him."Yeah! and Hermione loves that cat more than about anything (he realized, unfortunately, he was being truthful there.) There's no telling what she'll do if he's lost!"

At these words, a look of fear apppeared on Uncle Vernon's face, and he shot out the back door as fast as his size would allow, with Dudley lumbering behind. Aunt Petunia wiped her mouth with a napkin, and she and Harry followed more slowly. Harry wasn't about to get involved in this chase, unless he knew Hermione really needed him!

The scene that met Harry's eyes when he walked into the garden was enough to make a far more serious person roll with laughter. Uncle Vernon's coat had been thrown off, and was hanging over a bush. He and Dudley were attempting to catch Crookshanks who kept running back and forth across the garden, bottle brush tail held high.'That cat knows what it's doing!' thought Harry, grinning. He could hear Vernon and Dudley's panting and muffled curses as Crookshanks continued to elude them.

Hermione was now standing by the bench, a look on her face that showed equal amounts of concern and amusement. Suddenly Crookshanks gave a great leap and flew up the plane tree near the garden bench. "Oh, no," Hermione cried "Now we'll never get him down, and Mom and Dad will be here any minute! I don't know what they'll say. They love Crookshanks as much as I do!"

At this Vernon's look of fear and confusion changed to one of absolute terror, and he gave Dudley a hard shove toward the tree. " You let him out, you great lump! Now get the blasted cat down before........" he stopped here, and looked furtively at Hermione.".....s-something happens," he finished weakly.

When Vernon gave Dudley the great shove, he tripped over the hose Harry had neglected to roll up earlier, in his haste to get back in the house. Dudley fell headlong across the garden, making the ground shake as if there had been a small earthquake. The garden bench fell over with a crash, barely missing Hermione's feet, and cracking in half. The strangest thing of the evening happened next. As Dudley fell, and the ground shook, so did the plane tree. When it did, Crookshanks fell from the tree, landing right in Harry's arms, without his claws extended.

"Harry! You caught him!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around him. He could tell she was about to kiss him on the cheek, but some instinct made him turn his head, so that their lips met. Although the kiss only lasted seconds, it was enough to make Harry know it was something he'd like to try again.

When they had moved apart, he carefully put Crookshanks in her arms and grinned at her. "Still a little cold?" Harry put an arm around Hermione's shoulders and continued,"We'd better get inside. Your parents will be here soon." With that they turned and walked into the house, feeling happily that the evening had turned out almost exactly as they had hoped, even with a little bonus.

Dudley, Petunia and Vernon continued to stand in the garden, arguing loudly over whose fault all this had been, while lights began to appear in windows across Privet Drive. Heads began to crane out of windows as neighbors attempted to get a better look at the fight the "oh-so-normal " Dursleys were having in their back garden.

To be continued...............