Hermione's Letter

Chapter 7

Harry and Hermione arrived in the dining hall just five minutes later. By now, there was a larger number of Gryffindors present; people were waking up with rumbling stomachs, and were proceeding to the hall to remedy the situation.

Harry and Hermione entered the hall and Hermione found them spaces to sit whilst Harry walked over to the food table to get some breakfast; his consisted of a full English breakfast, including ruby red tomatoes, sizzling bacon, hot hash browns, perfectly formed fried eggs, fried bread, mushy baked beans, a couple of long, thick, succulent sausages, and a nice cup of steaming hot tea.

Hermione frowned when she saw the enormous plateful, which was comparable to the size of an elephant's foot. "Harry! You shouldn't be eating all these greasy foods!"

"Hey, it can't hurt once in a while," was Harry's response.

Hermione let it go. After all, he was right. Once in a while was ok.

So she accepted it and moved on.

"So, what's going on?" he asked her.

Hermione explained to Harry what McGonagall had told her about the journey, which was admittedly very little. They knew they were on a massive dragon-based transport and heading to an unknown destination, and that it was for their protection, but little more than that. She had also told Harry that Ginny and Samantha had made friends, to which he had declared himself to be of the opinion that it was a good thing for both of them. Sam needed friends, and Ginny... she did too. Additionally, Harry secretly thought to himself, with looks like that she should be reeling the boys in...

His eyes wandered around the room for a moment as he thought, and then they found Hermione, who of course was sitting in front of him. The pupils adorning the centre of the bright green eyes danced up and down Hermione's body gracefully as Harry admired her perfect figure.

How had he not seen this before? Had he been blind? Hermione was attractive. And he'd entirely missed it.

His eyes found their way to her deep brown eyes, and met her gaze; she was staring at him too.

He suddenly became aware of her bright voice.

"Harry! Have you been listening to me?" She reached across the table and nudged him on the shoulder.

He tried to regain his composure. "Sorry Hermione, you were saying?"

A little voice in his head was speaking to him. Harry, pull yourself together! You're drifting!

"I was saying how your Nimbus 2000 has been given to Ron, as he is now Gryffindor Seeker," Hermione said very calmly and rationally. "Professor Dumbledore made the decision this morning, he said it was for your safety; Professor McGonagall seems to agree with him."

Harry couldn't believe his ears.

"WHAT?!" he screamed out, "Ron is Gryffindor Seeker?" His face went bright red with rage. "That Dumbledore... what made him do that?! Who is he to determine the Gryffindor team? And McGonagall... agreeing with him? I'll see she's thrown off the transport for this!"

Hermione smiled and although she tried valiantly, failed to suppress a little giggle.

Harry saw the smirk on her face, and almost growled at her. "Hermione Granger, you are evil! That was unfair!" His face returned to its normal colour.

Hermione kept smiling. "Just making sure you were still with us. You looked like you were dozing off again. Maybe you've been enjoying your dreams so much you want to fall back asleep."

"No, I want to be with you," Harry said calmly, without thinking.

It was Hermione's turn to go pink. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Ummm... what did you just say?"

"I said, umm... did I really say that?" Harry managed. He started to go bright red again.

"Yes, you did Harry." Hermione had never been so nervous in her life, not even on results day at Hogwarts. Her worst fear had been of getting a bad mark in even one of her exams, until now. "Ummm... did you mean it?"

"Well... ummm..." Harry managed to say, before Colin Creevey came in, quickly followed by a flash of his camera, an item that seemed impossible to live without for the second-year who constantly seemed to be in a state of hyperactivity.

"Hi Harry!" He greeted Gryffindor's real Seeker as cheerily as ever. He also addressed Hermione, although not with quite as much enthusiasm as Harry.

"Hiya Colin," Harry responded. He grabbed a rack of toast from the food table, and went to join them.

Hermione stood up to leave. Harry looked up at her, willing her to stay. He didn't want to eat his breakfast alone with Colin, and he needed to talk to her know.

"I'll see you later, Harry. Bye, Colin," she said quietly, and marched off through the doors, heading towards her shared room.

Harry's head fell as soon as she left, but remembering Colin was still there, he tried not to make it too obvious. He picked up his fork, and twisted a piece of bacon round and round on its points.

Colin started chatting animatedly to Harry. Harry thought to himself, what I wouldn't give for a little distraction, come on, even Malfoy, or Peeves throwing water bombs at me, anything...

As it happened, his prayers were answered. Hedwig, his snowy white owl, had flown in through the window, with two envelopes neatly tied to her left leg.

Harry removed the envelopes from Hedwig, allowing her to eat some of his gargantuan breakfast as he opened them.

The first was from Professor McGonagall.

Harry,

Report to my room as soon as breakfast is over. I need to discuss something with you, Hermione, and Ron, if he's awake.

Professor McGonagall

Harry raised his eyebrows, before it became obvious to him. Their last night at Hogwarts... McGonagall must have known...

He sighed, and tuned out of Colin's speech. Colin had turned to his left now; Seamus Finnegan and Neville Longbottom had arrived, and the second-year photographer had turned his attentions to them.

The second envelope was totally yellow, and a small black badger wax imprint had been used to seal it; Harry knew therefore that this would likely have come from someone in Hufflepuff house, perhaps its head, Professor Sprout.

He carefully opened the envelope, and pulled out a similarly coloured sheet of parchment. He began to read:

Dear Harry,

My name is Hannah Abbott, you don't know me that well as I'm in Hufflepuff but, anyway, what I mean to say is, I need to talk to you. I understand that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff transports are docking with each other later today; I wondered if you'd be so kind as to meet me then? I'll meet you on the other side of the airlock. Let me know if you can make it by return owl.

Hannah

This was certainly confusing. Harry remembered Hannah Abbott from Herbology; she was a pretty girl with long blonde hair, somewhat quiet, but friendly enough.

At first he thought she might have wanted to talk to him about Lord Voldemort; maybe she thought he might be coming back. But he decided that was unlikely, and he made the decision therefore that he would meet the girl.

He wrote back on a strip of parchment ripped from the bottom of Hannah's letter:

Dear Hannah,

Yes, I'll meet you. See you later.

Harry

He tied the note to Hedwig's other leg, so as the left one would be able to rest, and gave Hedwig a pat on the head. She nibbled his fingers affectionately, and flew off back out of the window.

"See you later, everyone," he said to Seamus, Neville and Colin and left the hall, his appetite seeming to have Disapparated.

***

Hermione could not believe what Harry had just said. "No, I want to be with you." She knew he'd felt aroused when she'd slid her curvy body over him, but she thought that was just because he was male, and after all, she had to admit to herself, she was attractive, no matter what people like Pansy Parkinson said.

Still that memory stood out in her mind.

Then, she thought, why did Colin have to come along and ruin things? She could've admitted how she felt there and then. Crisis or no crisis, it seemed to her that love was love. She'd felt considerable surges of emotion simply touching Harry; that hug during first year felt very nice, thought Hermione on reflection. So warm, so comfortable, so right, so perfect.

But now she felt uneasy thinking about him. She wasn't entirely sure why; Hermione, pretty as she was, had never been noticed back in the Muggle world, and until now not in her tenure at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sentiment of uneasiness was not nice; her stomach tossed and turned like a rowing boat on a wild sea; and she was constantly worried that she would decorate the walls of the Gryffindor transport with the Wizard-O's, toast, and coffee she had had at breakfast that morning. The turbulent torrents of emotion had arrived and generated their associated physical effects with alarming velocity.

And, considering she had never experienced it before, Hermione was remarkably clear headed about what she had to do.

She had to go and talk to him.

She reached the door of her room, and opened it, entering to find Ginny and Sam inside, with Ron still asleep on the bed, snoring lightly. She gently closed the door, and walked over to Ron, examining the deep purple bruise carefully. It almost seemed to be fighting to get free of Ron's forehead; the pulses of blood travelling in the vessels underneath the wound caused it to rise up and down on every pulse.

Hermione pulled out her wand, pointed it at the wound, and cast her spell. "Blessa reducta!" The bump shrunk down only a little; not having much experience with medical magic, Hermione couldn't expect to be able to do much.

It was only then that Hermione spoke to Sam and Ginny.

"Hi Sam. Hi Ginny. What've you been up to?"

Ginny clearly had a guilty look on her face. Sam was struggling to suppress a giggle.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Ginny replied, just about managing to stop herself cracking up with laughter herself.

Hermione grinned at them both. You're up to something..., she thought, it had better not involve me! The truth was that she was grateful for any distraction, even if it was a practical joke being planned by Ginny and Sam. Ginny was being influenced too much by her twin brothers, Fred and George, Hermione decided. I need to have a talk with them...

All three of them stirred as they heard a knock on the door. It was such a gentle knock that one might not class it as a knock at all, but rather as a light tap.

Sam got up from her bed and opened the door. She couldn't see anyone at first... till a large brown owl flew over her head and landed on Hermione's shoulder, hooting brightly; it was very proud of itself for having delivered the scroll attached to its left leg to the correct person. Hermione undid the letter, and read it aloud to the girls; it contained much the same material as Harry's.

Since she had already eaten, Hermione set off immediately. Leaving Ron behind, as he was obviously in no fit state for a meeting, she opened the door once more and marched out into the corridor, and straight into Harry, who had set off to see Professor McGonagall too. She lost her footing and fell back through the door, landing on her backside on the hard wooden floor.

"Owww!" she cried.

Harry offered her a hand, and she took it gratefully. She felt a surge of emotion run through her body as he pulled her up; it was as if a burst of electrical energy (a Muggle invention that powered some of their magical alternatives) had passed through her body at the moment, and she felt her ears turn pink.

When she was again standing, he gazed into her bright eyes, and she into his; a moment of pure bliss, pure emotion. It was just a moment, the smallest instant; but it said so much to both of them.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled to Harry. "And sorry, I didn't mean to run into you." She smiled at him, his eyes still focused on hers. She suddenly realised the extent of what he felt for her; his gaze was speaking without words.

Harry smiled back, releasing her smooth hand from his firm grip.

"It's ok. Were you on the way to see Professor McGonagall too?" he asked her.

She nodded her reply, adding that Ron was still asleep.

"OK, best to let him sleep. Madam Pomfrey always makes me sleep when I have an injury. I could have a parchment cut and I'd be in bed for at least an hour, sleeping it off."

Hermione giggled. Shaking her head and still smiling, she said, "Come on. Let's go."

As Hermione and Harry trotted off down the corridor together, Ginny closed the door to their cabin.

"Aren't they so obviously in love with each other?" she said to Sam, who was grinning insanely at what she had just seen.

"They so are," chuckled Sam. "I think our plan... will be a great success."