You Call This A Holiday?

It was still early morning when a beam of sunlight streaked across Hermione's face, waking her up. She didn't even open her eyes, instead she pulled the blankets around her more closely and mentally ran through her jumble of thoughts. While instinct told her that she should be focusing on what Tonks was doing by the cellar door the previous night, another memory competed for her attention. After finding Tonks crying, Hermione and Ron had quietly ventured back upstairs to their respective bedrooms. Before she even had a chance to touch the doorknob, Ron had taken her hand in his, carefully as if he were afraid she'd break. The look in his eyes was unmistakably clear; he was infinitely more sure of himself than he had been earlier. This time when they kissed, there had been no surprises and Hermione relished every second of the memory.

There was a sudden movement on the bed and Hermione felt four small feet attempting to step lightly over her abdomen. 'Good morning, Crookshanks,' she whispered, careful not to wake the other girls. The enormous orange cat purred like a motorbike in response as he rubbed his squashy-looking face against her open palm. Hermione sat up in bed and scratched her contented cat behind his ears. All at once she realize she was very hungry. I guess I didn't drink enough firewhiskey to get a hangover, she mused. I don't feel sick at all. I wonder how Ron's feeling. She was very glad at that moment that neither of her roommates were awake, as they surely would have passed some embarrassing, snide comment about why she was blushing like a beetroot.

Ginny'll never let me hear the end of this, she thought silently. Thank goodness we don't share a dormitory at school.

Hermione flipped off her covers and decided to go downstairs and help Mrs Weasley with breakfast. She paused momentarily before leaving the room to don a fluffy purple bathrobe to cover her pyjamas. The thought of Mrs Weasley seeing her in the moderately-revealing attire she was wearing while snogging her son, loaded on firewhiskey no less, made Hermione feel more modest than usual.

When she reached the kitchen she was surprised to find it empty. Well, more accurately, empty of other people. There was a freshly-brewed decanter of coffee on the counter, the kettle was shouting frantically 'I've boiled! I've boiled!' and several slices of toast appeared to be buttering themselves. As she walked to retrieve a cup from the cupboard, Hermione was startles to see a jet of orange sparks and light shoot around a corner and squarely hit the distressed kettle. 'Thank you,' it moaned wearily, then fell silent.

'Here, keep the cool cloth on it for a few minutes. Yes, that's right.' Voices were talking just outside the kitchen door. Oh great, thought Hermione, Is that all I ever do anymore? Eavesdrop? She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure of if she should pretend she wasn't there or make her presence known to whoever was talking in the hallway.

'Thank you, Molly, I really appreciate this. I think I'm ready to slip upstairs for a few hours sleep now.'

Hermione watched the doorway as Mrs Weasley and Lupin started to walk past.

'You've recruited help this morning?' Hermione heard Lupin ask, then saw his hand gesturing toward the kitchen. Molly Weasley blustered in, wiping her hands on her apron with Lupin following and holding a dishcloth to his temple.

'Dear, are you alright? Hungry, I dare say. Remus, I don't think this one even knows how to have a lie-in!' Mrs Weasley smiled warmly at Hermione, as did Lupin, despite the wound he was tending to.

'Well I thought I could give you a hand with breakfast, Mrs Weasley. I was already awake.'

'I wish mine would take a leaf out of your book, Hermione. No, no, you just sit right there and I'll get whatever you'd like.' Hermione acquiesced to the older woman and obediently sat down. Lupin gave Hermione a strange, searching kind of look.

'Hermione. You didn't happen to be near the cellar last night, did you?' he asked in his usual, quiet manner.

Mrs Weasley turned sharply from the ham she was frying to see the girl's reaction.

'No, I didn't go down that hallway at all yesterday,' she replied truthfully. Granted, she had peeked around the corner, but she didn't actually step into that hallway. She decided to keep this information to herself. Mrs Weasley looked content and returned her attention to the ham. 'Is there something wrong, Professor?'

Lupin chuckled. 'Please, call me Remus! I haven't been your teacher for a few years.' He paused and a puzzled expression came over his face. 'Last night was a full moon, and . . .'

'And you were in the cellar,' she prompted.

'Precisely. And when I was in my wolf-form I thought I could smell someone through the door. I couldn't be sure, though - with all the people in this house, you know. But-' he paused to take a sip of his water and it dawned on Hermione that the gash along his temple must have been self-inflicted. He sensed somebody nearby and it made him more wild. 'I suppose with those heightened senses I got a little beside myself. No real harm done, of course.' He took a large gulp of water and wiped his lips with a finger. 'Thanks again, Molly.' Lupin smiled at Mrs Weasley and gave Hermione an unexpected affectionate squeeze on the shoulder as he turned to leave the room.

Molly Weasley, ever the mother her, bustles around the room getting breakfast for the household, and slowed down long enough to tip several pieces of fried ham and self-buttered toast onto a plate for Hermione.

'Something to drink, dear?'

'I think I'll just get some coffee,' Hermione responded, remembering the cup she took out before being distracted by the voices in the hall. She started to get to her feet, but Mrs Weasley commanded her to remain sitting. The older woman retrieved the coffee decanter from the counter and began to pour.

'Would you like any milk with that?'

'Er- no thank you. I think I'll try it black.'

Mrs Weasley shook her head in disbelief. 'Not another one! Well, I suppose Tonks will be impressed.'

It wasn't because she wanted to impress Tonks that Hermione decided to take her coffee unadulterated; more like she admired the no-nonsense approach that Tonks took toward her morning brew, as well as her life in general. She appreciated the basic, simple aesthetic. Hermione took a sip of the steaming liquid and was pleasantly surprised. Although the liquid was much hotter without the milk, she found it had a welcome, slightly bitter taste - far more effective at eliminating those early-morning cobwebs of the mind.

As she thoughtfully spread some raspberry jam on her toast, Hermione's mind wandered once more to the events of the previous night. Without a doubt, it was certainly going to take something pretty important to distract her from thinking about Ron all day long. She spied the latest edition of the Daily Prophet on the far end of the table and thought to herself When in doubt, read something. Taking a hot mouthful of coffee, Hermione got up to retrieve the paper. She returned to her seat, engrossed in the headlines and pleased to see that neither Viktor's name nor her own were mentioned. An interesting article about new security precautions at Gringotts bank attracted her attention but as usual, the part which really interested her was continued in a related article on a different page. Oh, maybe Bill will be in this! she thought to herself as she was sorry to have not seen him when she arrived at Headquarters. He went to Mrs Longbottom's house but had to return to Egypt immediately after, apparently.

Just as she was about to turn the page, Hermione noticed the date printed on the top right-hand corner of the front page. July 30.

'Oh no!' She moaned, nearly upsetting her coffee as she dropped the paper to the table. 'How could I have forgotten?'

Mrs Weasley ran to her side, her lined face radiating pure concern. 'Dear, what is it? Have they printed that rubbish about you again?' The kindly woman's face darkened as she reached to put a comforting arm around the girl.

'No, it's not that, thank goodness. But look!' She held up the Daily Prophet for Mrs Weasley to see the issue date. 'It's the thirtieth of July - Harry's birthday is tomorrow. I had completely forgotten!'

'There, there,' Mrs Weasley replied, patting Hermione's shoulder reassuringly. 'I'm sure if you wanted to send Harry something it will get there on time. Although I wouldn't recommend sending anything with Pig or Errol . . .'

'But that's just the problem, Mrs Weasley, we don't have anything to send him. I even meant to buy him a gift when I was in Diagon Alley with Profess- erm. I mean, with Remus.'

Mrs Weasley looked thoughtful for a moment, wiping her hands in her apron. 'Well, I'm not sure who would be available to go and supervise - we'd have to check around of course - but it might be possible for a few of you to go to Diagon Alley for an hour or so. I don't think we should risk any longer than that. And it would have to be cleared by Dumbledore, of course.'

'Oh that would be perfect! Then we could hire an owl to send it. That's a great idea!'

'What's a great idea?' asked a very disheveled looking Ginny mid-yawn as she entered the kitchen with Luna.

'Your mother thinks that if one of the Order members is available, some of us could go to Diagon Alley to buy Harry a birthday gift,' Hermione responded, stealing a glance at Mrs Weasley, glad to see that she was smiling and nodding her head.

'Not all of you, mind. That was an awful chance we took with you lot going down to the library. And you should get an idea of what you're looking for first before you go, so it won't take as long to find something.'

Hermione nodded in agreement and Luna looked politely interested, while Ginny was seated at the table with her head propped up by her hands, eyes shut and breathing evenly.

'Ginevra Weasley! Kindly stay awake at the table, would you?'

'Hm. Mum.' Ginny rubbed at her eyes with her fists and yawned deeply. Mrs Weasley gave her only daughter a look of pure exasperation then shrugged her shoulders in Hermione and Luna's direction.

Luna, who had still not uttered a word since entering the kitchen, walked to the counter and poured up a cup of the scalding hot coffee. Wordlessly she placed the cup on the table in front of Ginny. The petite redhead girl regarded the cup for a moment, as if it had appeared out of thin air, then took an enormous gulp of the burning liquid. Instantly Ginny's eyes bulged out and she dropped the cup on the floor, littering the tiles with a burning hot mess of coffee and shattered crockery.

'Honestly,' sighed her mother as she flicked her wand deftly at the mess, repairing the cup and vanishing the coffee.

'Sorry Mum!' Ginny gulped, looking at least somewhat more awake for the experience. 'I didn't think it would be so hot!' Hermione very quickly stifled a laugh as she was once more reminded of Ron's first reaction to the firewhiskey.

She had barely cleared the image of Ron sputtering over the bottle of Ogden's when the real Ron and Neville also joined them in the kitchen. Ron bit his lip, no doubt unconsciously, and quickly grabbed a piece of toast when Hermione caught his eye. Neville quickly sat down at the table and began to inspect his hand rather closely, keeping his head bent toward the table and avoided looking at anyone. Oddly enough, neither boy noticed the unusual behavior of the other, but Hermione and Luna did. The girls shared a quick glance before noticing Ginny yawning into her hand again. Mrs Weasley did not notice any of these things, as she was busy serving breakfast to those who had not yet eaten.

'Tea or coffee, Doormouse?' Hermione jokingly addressed Ginny, referring to the sleepy character at the Mad Tea Party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Neville chuckled quietly and Ginny herself wore a sheepish grin.

'I just can't help it! It's like I can't get enough sleep or something.' She laughed easily, but her eyes retained the glazed appearance of someone half-awake. 'Anyway, I'll try some more of that tar you had, Hermione. Maybe it'll perk me up a bit.'

So Ginny took careful sips of her fresh cup of coffee while they ate and Hermione relayed the plan. They discussed what they should get for Harry and came up with several ideas. Agreeing that it would be a joint-gift, they decided to pool their funds and get him an enchanted picture frame that allowed a person to speak with the person or people in the picture ('Colin could take a picture of all of us when we get back to school,' Ginny had suggested), an assortment of Honeydukes candy, as suggested by Ron, and a Homework Quill.

The last item was Hermione's idea. It seemed as though none of the others had heard of a Homework Quill before, so she obligingly explained the device.

'A Homework Quill is almost like an ordinary quill, but it is especially useful when writing up homework assignments. It is charmed to read what you have written and the ink changes color if there's a mistake or a wrong answer.'

'Brilliant!' Ron interrupted. 'How about getting me one for my birthday, too?'

'No, I already know what I'm getting you for your birthday, Ron. A great big, fat-' She paused for dramatic effect, 'dictionary. Honestly, Ron, you are the most atrocious speller I've ever met.' He goggled at her in disbelief, then saw her barely wink at him. Since when has Hermione acted like this?

'Anyway,' she continued, ignoring Ron's slightly wagging head, 'it's not like it will give you the answers; you'll still have to come up with those on your own. It just lets you know when you've made a mistake.' She paused briefly before adding an afterthought. 'I wouldn't recommend either of you using one for Divination homework, either.'

They continued to chat animatedly for some time, paying little attention to the growing hustle and bustle in the house as more people awoke and began crowding into the kitchen.

'That looks like some awfully strong coffee you ladies have there!' said a voice behind Hermione's chair. She spun around to see Tonks, as cheerful as usual, standing behind her, grinning. She gave Hermione a playful wink. 'Addicted to the caffeine already!'

Hermione laughed along with the rest of the table, but sent a puzzled look in Ron's direction. She knew he had to be thinking the same thing she was - what happened to Tonks last night and why was she acting so happy this morning? They had seen her crying last night; was this cheerfulness just an act? Hermione noticed Ron's eyebrows raided as if her were asking the same question, then he shrugged. Hermione decided there was not much use in pursuing the matter now, as there were other things to be done.

'Have you seen Remus this morning, Molly?' Tonks asked in a casual voice while pouring herself a cup of the increasingly popular coffee.

Mrs Weasley moved cautiously around her to tend to the second batch of frying ham, as if she were afraid of Tonks knocking over the scalding decanter (which wasn't such a far-fetched notion). She addressed the frying pan instead of the young Auror when she replied. 'Yes, the poor dear is gone up to bed. Last night was a particularly bad transformation and he had some scrapes to look after.'

Hermione knew that in this case when she said 'scrapes', Mrs Weasley really meant 'nasty, ragged gashes', but she supposed she didn't want to worry Tonks or the others listening. Nonetheless, Tonks's face paled slightly, but she quickly put her happy smile back on again.

'He's alright, though, isn't he? Should anyone go up to check on him?'

'Tonks, he'll be perfectly fine. Here, Have a slice of toast.'

She acquiesced and sat down, taking several slices of toast off the serving tray and prodded them with her wand until they were well smeared with peanut butter.

'Erm. Tonks?' Hermione ventured as Tonks swallowed a sticky bite of toast. 'I know I've asked you before, but do you think you could do us another huge favor?'

'Not planning another excursion to the library, are you?'

Hermione smiled. 'Not this time. I only just realized that it's Harry's birthday tomorrow and we wanted to send him a gift. Mrs Weasley said that if someone was free today, perhaps we could go to Diagon Alley for an hour.'

'I don't have any problem with that,' Tonks replied easily. 'I have duty this evening but if we're only going for an hour, that shouldn't matter. Who's coming?'

They all looked around the table at one another.

'Could I stop in to say hello to my dad?' Luna spoke up for the first time that morning.

Tonks weighed the option in her mind for a minute. 'Where's the Quibbler office?'

'Just off the main street, behind Dervish and Banges,' the blonde girl replied.

'Oh well then, that shouldn't be any trouble at all. That's right across from the Owl Post office - we'll need to go there anyway to post the package to Harry.'

Luna beamed and cast an undecipherable look at Hermione.

Ron was shaking his head. 'You can count me out. More shopping - that's girl stuff.'

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. 'So you don't want to help buy your best friend a birthday gift?'

'Nah, I trust you girls to get something nice. Neville, you'll stay with me, right? I need to get you back for that game of chess.'

Neville smiled self-consciously at Ron's remark about him winning the last game of wizard chess. He took a quick look at Hermione and Luna, the latter of the pair who seemed to be staring off into space. 'Yeah sure, mate. I'll stay.'

Tonks turned to look at Ginny, who shrugged her shoulders and yawned yet again.

'You guys go on without me. I'd like to go, but I'm so sleepy I'll only slow you down.' She stretched her arms above her head. 'Just make sure to get something nice, like Ron said. I'll see you when you get back.'

'Alright, before you get ahead of yourselves, I'll go contact Dumbledore and make sure he doesn't have any objections.' Mrs Weasley walked over to a smallish fireplace on the far side of the kitchen. Hermione surmised it must have been intended for the use of house elf correspondences. The older woman cast the Incendio charm at the grate and instantly bright flames danced there as if they had been burning all morning. Crouching down to be level with the fireplace, she flicked a pinch of glittery powder into the flames.

'Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts,' she addressed the fire clearly, but after a few moment's wait it was not the Headmaster's face which greeted her.

Paying no attention to the merry flames licking at her lined face, Minerva McGonnagal said with a slight frown 'Albus isn't here, molly. Is something the matter?'

'Not specifically,' Mrs Weasley replied with a smile, 'Tonks was offering to accompany Hermione and Luna to Diagon Alley for a short time to get a birthday gift for Harry. We just wanted to hear the Headmaster's opinion.'

McGonnagal looked greatly relieved. 'I see. I cannot imagine Albus objecting to a very short outing, however I cannot say with certainty. He left Hogwarts early this morning with business around London, so it is likely that he will make a stop to see you as well.'

'Thank you, Minerva, we'll keep an eye out for him.'

'Possibly by lunchtime,' McGonnagal deadpanned, her eyes bright and the tiniest hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

'Right. I'll put an extra pot on,' Mrs Weasley said brightly as they broke the fire connection. Turning back to the table she said, 'You've got a few hours to kill. Take your time.'

They abandoned their empty dishes which Mrs Weasley cleaned with a sharp wave of her wand and left the kitchen, Neville picking up the Daily Prophet where Hermione had dropped it earlier, and turned pages to the crossword.