Strawberry Letter 23

Chapter One: The Perfect Plan

***
Hello, my love - I heard a kiss from you.
Red magic satin playing near, too.
All through the morning rain I gaze - the sun doesn't shine;
Rainbows and waterfalls run through my mind.
***

After hours of listening to Ron moan and groan about how the girl he liked would never like him ever, Harry was staring at the canopy of his bed. Harry looked to bed next to him. Ron was now asleep. "Narcoleptic," Harry muttered as he stared back up at the crimson cloth. Boring. He turned on his side to look at his clock and groaned. Two in the morning!...

Grumbling to himself, Harry quietly got up and concluded that grabbing a cream-filled, chocolate-covered scone from the kitchen would be the best solution. He plucked his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk and disappeared under a shower of cloth.

Tip-toeing downstairs, Harry was startled to see a small fire softly crackling in the fireplace - and what was that sound? It sounded like- crying? Harry quickened his steps, narrowly missing the creak in the third stair from the bottom. Slowly - quietly - he approached the back of the couch, where sniffling could be heard.

"It's no use," the voice said sorrowfully. "He'd never consider me...I'm not - not pretty enough for him. I never will be..."

Harry clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping. 'That's - that's Hermione's voice! Who is she - ?' A thought struck him, and he staggered backwards. 'What if - is she talking about me?' he wondered, mortified at the thought. 'And I never noticed? Hermione...' Harry padded around the sofa to look at her.

Sitting cross-legged on the couch with a crimson, rose-print blanket wrapped around her shoulders and legs, Hermione had her hands in her lap, clutching a damp handkerchief. The bushy brown hair she was famous for was tied into a thick, low braid, and her eyes were a deep, painful pink. A small plate lay on the round table in front of her with a slab of Honeydukes chocolate resting upon it with a tall glass of milk by its side.

"O-o-h..." Hermione breathed softly and so achingly sadly that Harry nearly threw his cloak off and hugged her. "You'll never like me, will you, Ron? At least - not that way..."

Harry stood shock still. 'R-Ron? Hermione likes Ron?' He watched her face closely: bloodshot eyes, quivering lips, twisting hands...Why hadn't he seen it before? Amazed, Harry turned away from Hermione and continued on his scone mission.

When Harry came back to the dormitory, Hermione was no longer there and the fire was out - obviously, she had gone to bed. Harry worried about her for the remainder of the night.

*

The next morning found Ron in a conveniently positioned chair. He looked like he was trying not to watch something. "Morning, Ron." Ron turned to face Harry eagerly, but his face quickly fell.

"Oh - morning, Harry."

"Don't strain yourself," Harry said sarcastically. "What're you doing up so early for?" It was currently 7:30 AM; Ron's usual waking time had been five seconds before Harry would yell at him to get up, or they'd be late.

Ron fidgeted. His ears turned pink at the tips. "Oh - just - er - studying."

As Harry couldn't see a single book within ten feet, he got the impression that Ron was lying. "Put all the books away, then, have you?"

"What? Oh. Er, yeah," Ron muttered distractedly with his eyes fixated on a door. The door to the girl's dormitory, precisely.

Sighing impatiently, Harry crossed his arms. "Ron, give it up. Is it Lavender?"

"What - ?" Ron looked up at Harry, confusion etched on his face.

Harry merely raised his eyebrows. "You know what I mean."

Complete silence. Very suddenly, Ron's ears turned a tomato red. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Parvati, then? She's going out with some Fourth Year; is that the problem?"

A fire-engine red was quickly flooding Ron's face. "What're you going on about?"

Harry continued to name nearly every female in the Gryffindor House while Ron continued to flat-out deny every single accusation. "So - it's Hermione then, isn't it?"

Ron went beet red. "Hermione? What about her?"

Although his fingers were itching to give Ron a good smack, Harry settled for an extremely impatient sigh. "Ron - give it up already. I know. Why don't you just tell her?"

The boy in question looked mortified. "After what happened with Krum? - No way, Harry!"

"Ah - so it is Hermione!"

Ron proceeded to look furious with himself.

"Come on, Ron, just give it a chance."

Shaking his head fervently, Ron exclaimed that he just wasn't going to do it.

"Not going to do what, Ron?"

Ron jumped from the chair to face a faintly frowning Hermione. "Er - nothing - just - nothing, you know."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione shifted the large book in her arms for maximum comfort. "Fine, don't tell me. Let's get to breakfast. It'll be too late soon."

Harry examined Hermione very closely while she was talking. On the outside, there appeared to be no alteration in her mood or how she acted towards Ron - the only exception was her eyes, which were very bloodshot.

"Something wrong, Harry?" she asked, catching his eyes.

"Nothing - you okay? You look - tired." He got a smile in return.

"No, no. I'm fine. Come on, you two! I really need to read up on this before our Defence Against the Dark Arts class -"

The portrait opened and the Trio descended. Hermione was chatting animatedly about kelpies and how dangerous they had the potential to be, while Ron was asking what in the bloody hell it mattered as they hadn’t taken those yet and weren’t going to this year. Naturally, a small argument broke out between them. Harry grinned. Why hadn't he seen it before?

"- but it'll be important to know, Ron!" Hermione was exclaiming as she thumped the large book on the breakfast table.

Ron rolled his eyes and looked at Harry. "Can you believe this? Useless information! - Watch, we probably won't learn it until Seventh Year - in the Advanced class!"

As was usual of late, breakfast was waiting for them. Ron piled on bacon and helped himself to a copious pile of pancakes; he also dumped some very large strawberries on his plate. Harry looked at him. "I didn't know you liked strawberries."

"I hadn't tried them before, but this summer Ginny went fanatic over picking fruit. Seeing as how it was either pick fruit with Ginny or get in trouble for the discovery of a very large frog in the kitchen, you can guess which I did." Ron grinned and began eating.

"A very large frog in the kitchen?" Hermione looked disapproving. "Who did that?"

"Who else? Percy's moved out - you both got my letters about that, right? -" Harry grinned widely. He'd gotten that letter, all right - the writing was so messy and excited that he could barely read it. "- so he's not around to scold us anymore, it's just Mum. And she's lightened up a bit since Perce isn't there to back her up anymore."

Clearing her throat and looking at Ron down her nose, Hermione said, "You still haven't answered my question."

"All right," Ron raved, waving his fork dramatically and spraying Harry with bits of bacon, "- sorry, Harry - it was me. Well, George helped a bit. Fred couldn't, as he was visiting Angelina again -"

Hermione smiled coyly. "He was? Are they going out yet?"

Sighing dramatically, Ron gave Hermione a look. "You didn't notice that? They're within inches of engagement! - Well, I'm exaggerating a bit, but yes, they're going out. Started at around the end of their Seventh Year. You were too busy studying to notice anything."

Hermione drew herself up in indignation. "Studying is very important, Ron. I had to focus all my attention there!"

"Yeah - neglecting your friends, too."

"I was not!"

"You were, too! Right, Harry?"

Shaking his head, Harry quickly expressed that he didn't want any part of this.

"There - see! Harry agrees!"

"He did not!" Hermione exclaimed in exasperation.

"Yes, he did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

Another squabble. Harry was beginning to notice Hermione hiding a smile behind fervent claims - and Ron acting overdramatic to the point that it was silly. As he looked at an uneaten strawberry lying on Ron's plate, a most fabulous plan formed in Harry's mind.

*

It had taken him all night long to perfect it. At first, Harry had thought simply of putting pictures of strawberries in Hermione's textbooks, bag and etc., but he soon thought of a better idea: letters. He would send love letters not just to Hermione, but to Ron as well. In that plan, however, there was a single flaw: his mind found it very hard to think like a girl. The only option Harry could think of was to ask a girl to help him write letters...and his chance came the following night in the Common Room.

"I'll be back in a minute," Harry had muttered to Ron and Hermione as they were doing their homework. He jumped up and rushed over to Ginny before she could disappear into the girl's dormitory. "Ginny! - I need to talk to you," Harry explained, seeing the surprised look on her face. "It's about - about Ron," he whispered. "And Hermione."

Ginny giggled. "So - you've noticed it, too? Ron's been getting teased something awful about her at home. I'd feel sorry for him if he didn't tease me about - er - stuff." Her ears went very red.

Tugging slightly on her robes, Harry directed Ginny over to a spot in the corner. "Exactly - I've got a plan. Both of them are too stubborn to ask the other out - I overheard Hermione, and she sounds like she's given up. Ron won't do it because he's got too much pride, I figure."

"What's the plan?"

In hushed tones, Harry explained about the love letters and how he'd thought of sending strawberry pictures along with them.

"Great idea, Harry - but let's take it a step further. One of the girls in my dormitory has got a sort of Muggle skin spray - she stinks up the whole place with it - but the thing is, it's strawberry scented. We could spray that on the letters!" Ginny offered excitedly.

Harry looked at her in amazement. "That's brilliant, Ginny!" Ginny flushed in pleasure. "We'll have to do that. But listen - I need your help with writing Ron's letters. I don't know how to - to -"

Ginny grinned. "- write like a girl?"

"Exactly! So - do you think you could help me with that?"

"Of course!" Ginny beamed. "I'd be happy to!"

"Great! Thanks, Ginny -" Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione who were craning their necks to look at him. "- but listen, I've gotta go. Ron looks like he's going to bite me. I'll talk to you tomorrow night - maybe you could write a sample by then? If you can't, that's okay," he added quickly.

"No, no - I could do that. Professor Flitwick's class is visually distracting - I could do it then."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "'Visually distracting'?"

"You know - things everywhere. No one would be paying attention to me," she shrugged.

Harry's face cracked into a huge smile. "Thanks a ton, Ginny, this'll work out perfectly! See you tomorrow night!"

"Bye!" Ginny grinned, hopping up the stairs to her dormitory.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked as Harry plopped down on an over-stuffed chair.

"Yeah, Harry," Ron inquired darkly, "what were you talking to my sister about?"

"Asked her out, Ron. Invited her to accompany me to the Astronomy Tower tomorrow night for a little bit of -"

Ron threw a random, fluffy pillow at his head. "You had better not have!"

"I didn't, I didn't!" Harry laughed, tossing a couple pillows back at Ron who threw three more back at Harry. Hermione was yelling over their small pillow fight.

"My homework! Your homework! Watch the ink bottles, you two! - Hey!" she exclaimed as Ron bounced a pillow off her head. She glared at him and tossed a small pillow at his head. "I'm going to bed!"

But Harry could see the smile Hermione was attempting to cover as she looked at Ron's tousled hair and dishevelled clothes. That is, until she was smacked in the back with another pillow.

"Honestly!" she cried, tossing it back and hitting Ron square in the forehead. She ran, giggling up the stairs before either of them could retaliate.

Ron was shaking his head. "We've had a bad influence on her, Harry."

Grinning, Harry gathered up their homework. There was no doubt in his mind...

*

Harry was desperately attempting to catch Ginny's eye without looking too obvious. Suddenly, two brown eyes stared back, and flaming red hair swung in the direction of a secluded corner. Harry nodded and got up.

"Here - I wrote it when Colin accidentally set Flitwick's hair on fire," Ginny grinned, handing him a folded piece of parchment. After raising his eyebrows - "Colin, huh?" - Harry read it:

'Dearest - The hours are long, and the time is tedious without you. I'm waiting so close to you; why can't you see? I burn for you. I long for you. Please set me free from the spell you've cast upon me. - Love, A Secret Heart.'

When he had finished, Harry looked up at Ginny. "I'll say it again - brilliant. Do you think you could slip into Hermione's bedroom and put it on her bed?"

To Harry's surprise, Ginny was shaking her head. "Nope - Parvati or Lavender might see me. They'll put two and two together - everyone can see us talking here. I could ask a teacher to hand it out with her corrected homework, or something -"

Before Ginny could finish, Harry had snapped his fingers. "That's it! - I can stick it in Hermione's bag! Of course she'd see it there!"

Unfortunately for Harry's plan, Ginny was shaking her head again. "Harry - she could see you. We need to be really careful about this; she might think it's the wrong person!"

"Oh...yeah, that's true. Hmm..." A thoughtful silence descended upon the pair. Ginny was chewing her lip and Harry was tapping a finger on his leg. Suddenly - it hit them.

"Owl post!" they exclaimed in union. "Brilliant!"

"We could send an owl off -"

"- not Hedwig, though, can't use her -"

"- to deliver the mail!" They grinned at each other. Ginny gave a sudden gasp, her eyes shining. "The last letter - for Hermione - oh, we could use -"

"Pig!" Harry shouted happily. A bunch of Second Years gave him a weird look. Harry stepped closer to Ginny and lowered his voice.

"This is brilliant!" he laughed. "We'll start right away! Can you go spray the letters? - Here's mine from Ron -" he handed her Ron's letter. "- And then bring them back to me? I can take hers up tonight. I'm just going to set Ron's on his bed."

Ginny nodded. "Right." She ran up the stairs and was back in a seconds. "Here," she panted. "God, I hate those stairs..."

After sniffing them, Harry grinned. "Just like strawberries. Could you do another one by Friday?"

"Sure thing. Gives me Wednesday and Thursday - more than enough."

"Great. Thanks, Ginny," Harry smiled.

"Anytime," she beamed. Harry watched her walk back over to her friends. She was really quite smart, Ginny...

*

Later that night - around 12 AM, if you care to know - Harry set off under his Invisibility Cloak with Hermione's letter in hand. When he got up to the Owlery, Harry carefully avoided Hedwig. As he worried about being ignored - or worse, hated - by Hedwig, Harry decided to simply avoid her seeing him. Thus, Harry made his quiet way over to the completely opposite side of the Owlery. Stopped in front of a tawny brown owl, Harry lifted his cloak up and rested it on top of his head, so his back was invisible to the other owls.

"Hello there," Harry said softly. "Need you to send a letter to Hermione Granger." The owl stuck out his leg obligingly. "Thanks." Quickly, Harry tied the letter and watched the owl fly off. Hermione would have a surprise waiting for her next morning...

Harry grinned and dashed out of the Owlery. Those two would be sure to fall for those letters - and each other!