Think Twice

Think Twice

Chapter 1

Hermione left her bedroom and went into the pitch black house, looking around, while checking for a possible sound from her parent's bedroom. But, so far so good.

She picked up her cat, Crookshanks, who had been slithering through her legs to get to her parent's room.

"No, Crookshanks!" she murmured as she scooped the

burnt-orange cat into her arms.

Hermione quickly slipped into the living room, and put Crookshanks onto the couch.

She went over to the fire and through in some powder she had in an envelope, that she got from her parents' study. The powder was some magical powder Ron had sent her so that she could talk to them faster than owl post. All she had to do was throw in the powder into any fireplace, request who'd she like to talk to, and their fireplace would turn purple, even if it didn't have a fire in it. They would automatically know they had a call.

Hermione threw in some of the powder (not all of it, because she didn't want to waste all of it, especially if Ron wasn't there), and stood back.

Flames automatically rose in the fireplace, and Hermione came forward now that it was safe.

She stuck her head further in and called out, "Ron? Hello?"

Hermione waited a few minutes, then finally decided that no one was there, even though Ron had promised to be there if she called.

She glumly turned back to go into her bedroom, leaving the fire going, just because she felt to bad to put it out.

She had wanted to talk to Ron about something she had held inside herself for so long, and now, he wasn't even there to talk to her.

But as she was opening her bedroom door, she heard a voice call out, "Hello?"

There was something familiar about that voice... she just couldn't place it. It wasn't Ron's, or any of the Weasley's.

She turned around and went over to the fireplace.

The head in the fire gave her the shock of her life.

It was Harry.

She just sat there, staring.

It couldn't be Harry. It just couldn't.

"Hermione? You're the one who called?" he asked her.

She finally spoke, sitting down in a chair she moved in front of the fire.

"Yes, I did. I meant to call Ron, but--"

"I'm here at the Burrow."

"You are? How come Ron didn't owl me to tell me? How come you didn't?" she exclaimed, but then said more calmly, "I've really missed both of you this summer... I haven't seen you since June, and it's already July. What's been going on?"

She picked up Crookshanks, who had been slinking toward her parent's room again.

"Hermione, I'm sure he meant to owl you--"

"But, why didn't he? Why didn't you? Harry, this is serious."

Harry stared at her.

"Why?"
"Because you don't just forget about someone," she whimpered, then grabbed a tissue from the table next to the chair she was in, and dabbed her eyes.

"Hermione, are you alright? I mean, you didn't owl us, either..." Harry reasoned.

"I owled Ron," she whispered.

Harry looked down, then back at her.

"Hermione, hold on a second."

He stepped back, and took his head out of the fire, then grabbed a small amount of Floo Powder and through it in.

"The Granger's," he said into the fireplace, and then stepped in.

Soon, he was spinning around and around, through the different grates from different wizarding houses... until finally he came across a grate with Hermione looking back at him.

He stepped forward and went through the grate.

Harry fell onto the carpet in front of the Granger's fireplace, covered with soot.

He quickly wiped it all off, however, and faced a shocked Hermione.

"Harry!"

"Shh..." he murmured, then sat down next to her in the chair.

Hermione was silent, looking at her feet. Then, she lifted her head to his and touched his lips with hers.

Harry jolted, then slowly went along with the kiss.

He knew that Hermione liked Ron... or so he thought she did. Or maybe she liked both of them. He wasn't sure.

But then he pulled back from the kiss.

"Hermione--"

"I know...."

She looked into Harry's eyes, and saw them looking at the clock on the wall, above the fireplace.

She gasped when she saw the time.

"Oh no..." she murmured, and jumped up, leaving Harry sitting alone.

"Hermione?"

Harry jumped with shock. It was Mrs. Granger, standing in her nightdress on the stairs, looking down at Hermione.

"Mum!" she cried, and quickly ran over to Harry with a huge blanket.

She threw the blanket over him, but when he tried to speak, she lunged under the blanket, and gripped his mouth tight with her lips.

Then she slowly let go, and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shh!" she muttered, and then she added, "my mum and dad always get up early to go to the office. I don't want them to know you're here. You can't go back to Ron's without more Floo Powder, anyway, so just stay here!"

She pulled away from him and got out from under the blanket and ran into the kitchen to begin breakfast.

About a half an hour later, Hermione rushed back into the living room, and pulled the blanket off Harry.

"It's okay, they're gone. Now we can call Ron..." she said, and collapsed onto the chair next to him.

"Hermione, about that kiss--"

She looked at him with sullen eyes.

"Let's just call Ron, alright?" Hermione said sharply, and threw some powder into the roaring fire.

She called into it, "Ron! Come on, answer, Ron!"

Suddenly, Ron's head popped into the fireplace.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed, and then his eyes fell on Harry.

He stared.

"Harry?!?"

Hermione began to explain what had happened, and Ron finally said, "Well, I can owl you some Floo Powder... or maybe I can just come through the fire, and bring some with me. Trouble is, I'd have to use some to get it to you... oh, wait a minute! I can just hand you some right here, like this! I'm so stupid...."

Harry looked over at Hermione, and saw that she was smiling.

"You're not stupid, Ron..." she whispered.

Ron looked into her eyes, and they were filled with sadness.

"Come on over, Hermione. You can come with Harry."

She now looked at him as though he was crazy.

"Ron, you know I can't--"

"Why not?" Harry asked then, speaking for the first time in a while.

"Because... I just can't. Mum and Dad will be back soon, and they'll be worried if I just leave," Hermione explained.

Ron and Harry glanced at each other, and grinned slightly.

"Just leave them a note," Ron suggested.

Hermione's face suddenly brightened.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

She got up, and grabbed a piece a paper from her parents' desk near the window.

Hermione grabbed a pen, and wrote:

Mum and Dad,

If you come back while I'm gone, I just want you to know that I'm fine, and that I'm with Harry and Ron at Ron's house.

See you later!

Love from

Hermione

And with that, she set it on the kitchen table, and Ron handed Harry some Floo Powder in a bag.

He threw some in, and stepped into the fire.

"Hermione, come on! We don't have all day--" Harry began.

"I'm not dressed! I'm still in my night clothes!" came Hermione's muffled voice from upstairs.

When Hermione had dressed, she stepped into the fire next to Harry.

Harry had already taken his glasses off, but he still managed to find her, and put one arm around her.

"The Burrow!" they shouted together, and they wizzed off.