AUTHOR's REPLY- Thank you very much you lot! Uh oh, I forgot what part I was on...
Nevermind I found it now.
When Harry had first visited Hogsmeade, it was in very cold and bitter weather. Now that the days were unusually warm, he and Hermione took their time in taking in the wonderful views that the village offered.
"Did Ron say when he was coming?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yeah, he did." Hermione said slyly. "Apparently, he's going to buy Luna a present, and he wants us to keep her busy."
"Oh, I'm not good at keeping girls busy." Harry said.
"Don't worry, I will," she said patiently. "And you're actually quite good at keeping young women occupied, you know."
Harry was slightly cheered up by this comment.
"How so?"
"Well, you're actually a good icebreaker, no matter what you believe of yourself."
"Icebreaker?" Harry wrinkled his brow.
"You know, when you're nervous, and the girl's nervous, and neither of you know what to say..."
"Yeah, yeah...I get the point." Harry said brusquely, turning red. "Didn't work out on Cho and I's first date, remember?"
"Well, that was one time." she said consolingly.
"Still..." Another thought sprang up from the back of Harry's mind.
"Maybe Ron's right."
"About what?"
"That I'm a bad kisser." Harry said. He somewhat felt more comforted saying this when Hermione was around, most likely due to the fact that she had provided girl advice to him and Ron earlier.
"Don't be silly," she said, rolling her eyes despairingly. "You're not."
"You don't know that." Harry said sullenly.
"Oh, don't I?" she snapped.
Her eyes took on a maniac glint. It reminded Harry of Oliver Wood, his first Quidditch captain, because Wood had the exact same look on his face when he really wanted a win.
This worried Harry, very much so.
"Where do you want to go first?" he asked, after a while.
"I dunno..." her voice trailed off. Harry looked where she was staring at, and saw that Malfoy and several other sixth year Slytherins were pointing at them and snickering.
"Hey, look!" Malfoy shouted at the top of his voice. "It's Potter and Granger! Who's betting that they get their first kiss today?"
A score of people also turned and paused to watch the two. Malfoy grinned triumphantly.
"Uh oh." Harry muttered, his face changing back to goal-light red again.
"Shhh," Hermione stamped on his foot, very hard. "You've got to pretend you're enjoying the attention."
At this, she smiled and waved. Harry followed suit, but his face felt like he was straining to smile, as if his face was being maipulated with string and held in place. But Harry held up a brave front until the people stopped clapping or watching, as did Hermione.
Harry chanced a glance at Malfoy and saw that his grin had dropped upside down and crashed to the floor. A large wave of satisfaction flowed through Harry.
Five minutes later, as they were safely seated at a table in the Three Broomsticks, Harry breathed easy again. He felt better, even though his legs felt like someone had stretched them and sucked all the muscle out.
"That," he said in a strained voice. "Was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life."
"Even after fighting Voldemort?"
"It's a saying, Hermione." Harry said, impatiently. "Honestly, I dunno how you can stand that type of attention - "
"Maybe because I haven't got that much over the past few years?" Her face darkened.
"Oh," Harry said. "Right. Sorry."
"Not your fault, Harry."
" 'Arry! Hermione! Fancy seeing you here!"
"Hagrid? Madame Maxime?" Hermione said.
Harry whirled around so fast his neck made a large cracking sound.
Sure enough, Hagrid and Olympe Maxime stood hand in hand together.
" 'Ou are both well, I 'ope?" Maxime asked, with her usual deep, yet delicate, voice.
"Good, thanks." Hermione said breathlessly.
"So...what are you doing here at Hogwarts, Madame Maxime?" Harry asked her. She chuckled.
"Ah, 'Agrid 'as told me about his brother, and his new 'friends'."
"I wrote to her to come visit." Hagrid muttered.
"Did you see them yet?" Hermione said eagerly.
"I 'avent," the extremely tall woman said, shrugging. "But 'e 'as promised to introduce me to them this afternoon. From what 'e tells me, they are quite formal...."
She seemed to be looking at them for confirmation. Hermione understood in an instant, and said, "Don't worry, Madame Maxime...they're really quite nice."
Her tone was of such sincerity that Maxime smiled again.
"Well, we gotta be goin' now." Hagrid said. "See you!"
The pair of them left the building, accidentally knocking over an extremely jumpy ice cream vendor.
"So Maxime is back!" Hermione muttered.
"Do you think she'll be useful to the order?" Harry wondered.
"Yeah, we were just talking about that." a voice said behind them. Harry looked, and saw that it was Ron and Luna.
"Been having fun without us, you two?" Luna teased.
"If putting Malfoy down yet again is considered 'fun', then yes, very much so."
Ron smiled devilishly. Luna had a bemused look on her face.
"Well, we're off to Honeydukes," Ron said brightly. "Do you two want to tag along?"
Before Harry could say yes, Hermione stepped secretly on his foot and said, "No, we're fine."
As Ron left with Luna, Harry raised a sardonic eyebrow at Hermione.
"Why do you want to stay here?"
Hermione did not speak, but indicated that he should look out the window.
Harry took a quick peek, swore loudly, and sat back down swiftly.
"What is she doing here?"
"Revenge against me, no doubt," Hermione said bitterly. "Our deal's done."
"That's just great," Harry said sarcastically. He peeked again and grimaced. "She's heading this way. Better not let her see us...c'mon, lets get that table behind the big plant over there."
They sat down at the table as the door to the pub banged open with a loud thud, and a egotistical, floaty feminine voice sounded, one which made both cringe.
"And so I said to him, 'You really have no taste in drinks, do you?'. And then he goes and says 'Uh, no. I guess not.' So I fire him."
"Same ol' Rita." Harry said, his mouth souring as if he had eaten a very young crapapple.
Hermione nodded, her fists clenched.
Harry tried to ignore the all-annoying voice, but he deemed it impossible after some time.
"And a year later, I managed to interview a half giant, of all people. Of course, it was a brute. His name was Halfred or something, I can't remember..."
"Harry!" Hermione whispered urgently.
Harry found out with a start that he had subconsciously drawn his wand and was pointing at Rita Skeeter's head.
Hermione soothingly touched Harry's shoulder, and Harry lowered his wand, seething silently.
"Why is she mocking Hagrid again?" Harry snarled.
"I don't know, Harry..." Hermione said urgently, tugging his arm to keep him out of sight. "...don't let her see you with me, OK? It'll go bad for both of us."
"Maybe if I convinced Rawth to cave her skull in with that great hammer of his..."
Hermione shook her head crossly, despite herself.
"You go now." she said quickly. "she's up front, ordering a drink. Hurry!"
Harry did as she said, nearly tripping over his chair in his haste to get to the door unnoticed.
When he was outside, he ran and hid behind a small alley.
Hermione huffed outside, a full two minutes later.
"Did she notice you?" Harry asked anxiously.
"Thankfully, no." she said, trying to regain her breath. Harry helped her to her feet.
"What took you so long?"
"Robes got stuck underneath the chair." Hermione indicated a rip near her legs.
"Real smart, Hermione."
She smiled sardonically and rolled her eyes.
They wandered aimlessly around the streets until they met Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, Harry nearly bowling over the latter.
"Sorry, Professor!" he said concernedly, reaching over to set their miniscule teacher upright.
"Quite all right, Potter, quite all right." Flitwick squeaked, brushing his robes off. "Ah, and you're with Miss Granger, I see."
Harry looked at Hermione and shrugged. "Yeah."
"Potter, Granger," Minerva McGonagall said. "I would've expected you two and the rest of the Gryffindor team to be practising before the first game of the season."
"Oh." Harry said.
He had nearly forgotten completely that their first Quidditch game was the next day. Ironically, Hermione frowned at him. "Don't tell me you've forgot the game, Harry."
"Oh, ah...." he laughed nervously, looking from his Transfiguration teacher to Hermione.
"Just as long as you feel confident, Potter, I'm not worried."
"Yes, Professor."
She nodded and them and left. Flitwick trotted off after her.
"How did you forget the game tomorrow?" Hermione said crossly, once the two Hogwarts teachers were out of earshot.
Harry grunted non-committally.
"Want to try and find some others?" she asked after a while.
"Sure, I guess."
"What happened to your enthusiasm, Harry?"
In response, he made an "I-don't-know" noise from his throat.
Hermione closed her eyes, and very slightly, shook her head.
They met Ginny and Dean near Honeydukes, eating hazelnut toffee.
"How are you?" Ginny asked, swallowing.
"Good." Hermione said.
"Horrible." Harry said.
Ginny and Dean glanced at each other.
"Make up your minds yet?" Dean grinned.
"No," Harry said. He swiftly changed the subject. "Have you two bumped into McGonagall yet?"
"Nope. Met Hagrid and that Maxime woman though."
Harry scratched his head absentmindedly.
"Well, she got annoyed when I told her I didn't practise."
Dean stopped in midstride.
"You haven't?"
"Nope." Harry said disinterestedly.
"Harry, we really want to win." Ginny said testily.
"So do I." Harry growled. "I can handle it, don't worry."
But Ginny and Dean merely lapsed off into disgruntled silence.
"Have you met Ron and Luna yet?" Hermione asked lightly.
"Nope."
She shrugged. "Well, we're off this way, then. See you!"
They waved goodbye to Ginny and Dean, and set off for Honeydukes, deliciously sweet smells assailing their noses.
"Anything in mind?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Don't make me choose."
"I'm not made of money, OK?"
She shook her head frostily at him and patted her pocket, where a full pocket of presumedly money jingled.
"You don't have to pay for everything, you know."
He moved closer and muttered in her ear.
"I thought you might've spent half your Gringotts vault on that flashy outfit of yours."
She grinned reminescently.
"Yep, that was a good night."
Harry shrugged. "It was OK. I didn't like having to carry you up the stairs though."
"How many flights of stairs after I fell asleep?"
"Er.....four, I think."
She laughed again. "My knight in shining armor."
"Shut up, Hermione...." Harry said.
"What now?"
"I don't like being referred to as a hero figure."
She pouted. "Not even me? Not even Ron?"
"Especially not you or Ron! You're my two best friends, after all. If you started thinking of me as a hero, I'd...chuck a bucket of water in your face, and tell Grawp to try and sing for you!"
She just snickered, something that annoyed and pleased Harry at the same time.
Harry bought himself a fortnight and a half's supply of Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizzbees, Every Flavour Beans, and Cauldron Cakes, while Hermione bought a whole jar of gourmet lollipops.
These were not ordinary suckers, obviously. Each different one came with it's own unique type of animal noise when one sucked on it, and tried to talk.
He watched as Hermione did. A second later, she pulled it out, looked puzzled, and screeched like an eagle, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump, look, and laugh.
They left Honeydukes in a considerably lighter mood than before.
"Harry! Hermione!" A voice hailed them.