More Important Than Any Broomstick [Harmione]

39. Love

"It's well worth it to stop someone from unjustly ruining someone's reputation," said Cho as she sat down.

Harry smiled at her and continued on toward his seat as everyone stared at Cho Chang, including her boyfriend Cedric Diggory. As he sat down next to Hermione, he was facing the other tables, and noticed Madam Maxime was standing next to Fleur with an angry expression on her face. He watched as the part-veela followed her Headmistress out the doors with a worried expression on her face. "Hi Hermione," Harry said, "Sorry I took so long."

Harry finally turned to look his girlfriend in the face. He was glad to see she looked amused. "It's all right. At least some entertainment was provided. I must admit I was surprised that Cho stood up for you."

"So was I. I can't believe Flitwick took points from her! She was only trying to help me."

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The weeks went by quickly, and both Fleur and Viktor avoided Harry and Hermione. Soon the lake was unfrozen, and Harry (with Hermione) used some of his extra gillyweed to explore the Black Lake ahead of time. One thing they noticed that they hadn't in the swimming pool was that the cold water seemed to warm up as the gillyweed took affect. They took note of where the grindylows were located, and managed to catch a glimpse of where the mer-people lived. Hermione said they were starting to run out of time, so they swam back to the shore. They stayed just below the surface and waited for their gills to disappear as they snogged without needing air. As they were leaving, they noticed Krum diving into the lake.

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January turned into February, and soon it was Valentine's Day, which happened to fall on a Friday. Hermione walked down the stairs to find that many couples were sitting together on the furniture showing their affection. She also found that Harry wasn't there. She decided to wait for Harry before going to breakfast. Before she'd waited two minutes, a model helicopter with a card clamped under it flew straight to Hermione. It hovered in front of her head until she took the hint and pulled it out. It was an index card that simply said,

'HJP requests that HJG follows the helicopter.

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day.'

Smiling brightly, she grabbed her book bag and did just that as the helicopter flew toward the exit. If students were watching Hermione following the helicopter through the halls, she didn't notice as she kept following it happily, until she wound up in front of a picture of fruit. As she looked at the picture, it opened and the helicopter flew inside. She was surprised to see no house elves and a table set for two. She also didn't see Harry.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" came Harry's voice from behind, startling her. She turned quickly and saw Harry taking off his invisibility cloak with one hand and holding a remote control with the other. I borrowed the helicopter from Fred and George, and I've been following you all through the castle. I hope you don't mind."

She walked up to her boyfriend and kissed him thoroughly. When they separated, she said, "I don't mind, but I'm surprised I didn't hear your footsteps."

He grinned. "I did a silencing charm on my boots. I think it would be a good idea if we all did that. Anyway, I thought we could have a private breakfast here." He then pulled out one of the chairs for her and she sat down. The moment he sat down, two plates filled with each of their favorite breakfast foods appeared along with silverware and glasses of pumpkin juice.

"Thank you for this, Harry. Where are the house elves?"

"In the next room. They told me I could use this room until our first class. I just wanted privacy to try to tell you how much you mean to me. I want you to know that I really do love you, Hermione. It's not just a phrase I use to get you to snog me." Hermione chuckled at that. "I noticed that our initials almost match, and hope that maybe one day they will." Harry blushed nervously. "But until then, I want you to know that I don't think I could make it through the day without you."

"Well, Harry. I'm thankful that you feel that way, because I know that I couldn't make it through the day without you." She took his hand in hers. "I love you more than I could ever say. I-I didn't really think you would ever...ever love me. You were this great celebrity, as well as the most caring and brave people I've ever met. And I was just the buck-toothed, bushy-haired know-it-all who..."

"I never thought of you like that!" said Harry earnestly, "Never! Not even when I didn't fancy you! Not even when we weren't friends!" Harry grinned. "I thought you were a bit annoying, but I always knew you were a nice person. The first time I met you, you were helping Neville find Trevor, and you'd never met him before. You ought to get a picture of that. You were always trying to help when you corrected people in their classes."

"If I get a picture of the first time we met, I'll have to get a picture of when you fought that troll for me."

"No thanks! I'd rather not remember where my wand ended up," Harry said, chuckling.

"Well," said Hermione, "As much as I hate to end this date, I think we'd better go now if we're gonna get to class on time."

"All right," said Harry, getting up, "but we're having dinner in the Room of Requirement."

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The rest of the day went by quickly, and they enjoyed their dinner date. They exchanged gifts at dinner. Harry gave her a Valentine's Day card that softly played her favorite love song when she opened it, along with a blue-green muggle teddy-bear that was wearing glasses and holding a book. She gave Harry a dvd of the movie 'Jaws' to play on his laptop, with a note to be careful in the second task.