Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.
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Prompt: December 1st. Harmony's first Christmas together. Write a story featuring HHr celebrating their first Christmas together. They can be friends, dating, engaged, or married.
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As Subtle As A Brick
The sound of the doorbell was preceded by less than a second the raucous voice of Mrs Black screeching at the top of her lungs, both sounds diametrically opposed to Sirius singing his versions of Christmas carols. Thankfully for Harry, all three sounds were faint, distant. An unsurprising fact considering that he was currently in the attic of Grimmauld Place, about as far away from everyone as he could get.
Quick, heavy thudding on the steps caused his head to turn slightly towards the door; the heavy, tattoo that beat on said door had him grimacing. Couldn't people understand that he wanted to be left alone, needed to be left alone, that it was safer for everyone if he was left alone? Accordingly, he ignored it, sure that whoever it might be (and his galleons was on it being Mrs Weasley trying to convince him to come down and eat) would quickly give up and go away if he didn't respond.
"Harry James Potter! What is the meaning of this?"
Harry had shied away from the door crashing open, a hand whipping out to his side the only thing that had stopped him from falling into the old, dry hay that he was sitting on.
He stared at Hermione, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. She wasn't supposed to be here. But there she was, framed in the doorway, her hair seemingly cracking with energy as she stared at him, her chocolate eyes staring at him. He saw her chest rise and fall as she took a deep breath, some of the tension in her shoulders loosening.
He watched as she turned around, closed the door and then pulled out her wand. Instantly, he scuttled backwards. He'd seen what she could do with a wand when she was angry, indeed, he'd seen what she could do without a wand when she was angry. Inexplicably, though, her wand wasn't pointed at him. He watched, entranced, as she pointed it at the door.
"Colloportus!" she incanted, making the door instantly glow blue. Next, she began pointing her wand at the walls and even the floor, sending silencing spells into them.
"There," she said, putting her wand away, "that should give us some privacy."
Harry stared at her. "Hermione?"
His question was ambiguous with multiple meanings but, Hermione being Hermione, he knew that she'd understand every single one of them.
"Did you know, Harry, that magic cannot be detected when performed within the confines of wards, especially wards that surround and protect ancient, magical houses?" she asked lightly. "I must admit that I was surprised to find out that fact in a conversation that I had the other month with Susan Bones. Of course, I checked for myself in the library but she was right, unsurprising, really, considering who her aunt is."
He stared at her. They could do magic here and it couldn't be detected? But surely Mrs Weasley and the other adults here knew that! Pushing the thought to the side to be studied later, before addressing his best friend once again.
"Hermione?"
But she wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, she was facing Buckbeak. He watched as she gave the proud hippogriff a low bow, never once taking her gaze from him. As Harry knew he would, Buckbeak bowed back to her from where he was resting on the other side of the room.
"Now, Harry," she said, turning back to him. "Where were we? That's right. You're wondering what I'm doing here. The answer, of course, is that you are being an idiot."
Harry instantly bristled. "I am not being an idiot! Do you know what's happened? What I've done? What I became?"
Her face remained impassive during his outburst, even as he burst to his feet in the middle of it.
"I understand what has happened. But shall we check the facts and look at things logically?" she asked.
Harry couldn't help but snort. "When is anything or anyone in the magical world logical?"
"I will concede your point," she allowed. "However, you must admit that you and I, having grown up in the non-magical world, have a different perspective, one where logic exists. I will always maintain that logic has to exist somehow, even if we can't always see it. You do agree with me, don't you?"
It was a challenge and one that Harry knew better than to disagree with.
"I guess," he replied reluctantly.
"Very well," she said. "Shall we review the facts? You were asleep in your bed in Gryffindor Tower on the night in question. Multiple witnesses will attest that you did not leave the room, nor could you, after all, Hogwarts, A History, states that no one can apparate from under its wards. Do you agree so far?"
"Yes," he said. As much as he knew that he'd done what he had to Mister Weasley, those facts were inarguable.
"At the time of the event, Mister Weasley was in the Ministry of Magic, a place where you were not," she continued. "I believe that Saint Mungo's has confirmed that Mister Weasley was bitten by a snake?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"You, Harry Potter, cannot turn into a snake. You are not an animagus – unless there is something that you're hiding from me and believe me, you would not want that to be the case."
"No, I'm not an animgus, snake or otherwise," he replied quickly, vigorously shaking his head.
She gave a single, sharp nod of her head. "Therefore, despite the fact that you obviously had some sort of dream or vision of where you saw what was happening – something that I might remind you has happened before – you were not there and you did not do it!"
Harry blinked at her. She was right. He had had visions like that before. One back in the summer of Voldemort and Wormtail killing an old man sprang to mind. And now that he was thinking of it, he was sure that there was snake, Voldemort's snake, in that dream too. Was that what it was? Something Voldemort related?
"But it felt so real," he whispered. "It felt like I was the one biting Mister Weasley."
"Which, considering how you feel for the man, for all the Weasleys, would account for how you're feeling," she said gently.
"I didn't do it?" he asked desperately, hopefully.
"No, Harry. You didn't," she replied, emphasizing her point by forcing his eyes to look directly into hers.
He stared long and hard at her. They were so sure. Sure of this, sure of him.
Those chocolate eyes trusted him, believed in him, forced him to know that there was one person who would never leave him, never doubt him, would always be by his side. Hermione. His best friend. His Hermione. She'd stood by him in everything, from setting a teacher's robes on fire to riding on the back of a hippogriff despite her fear of heights and flying to even to defying a professor to form an illegal defence group with him.
Time seemed to stand still as they stood there and he relaxed into simply being with her. He fell into her eyes, noticing not for the first time the twin dark specks in the iris of her left eye as well as the fact that her chocolate eyes weren't all one colour, instead that there were hints of amber and gold in there as well.
"Hermione?" he eventually asked, a realisation suddenly occurring. "Why are you here?"
"I told you, Harry, you were being an idiot," she smiled.
"Were?"
"Yes, 'were', I believe we've gotten that out of your system," she replied.
"But I'm not the only one who believed that I did it. All of the Weasleys believe it, too. None of them will even look at me," he confided.
"Yes. Well. I'll deal with them later," she frowned. "But you, Harry, you were the most important of all."
He shook his head slightly, reluctantly breaking eye contact. "No, I'm not. Besides, you should be with your parents. It's Christmas."
"Harry, my parents are skiing; can you really see me enjoying skiing?" she asked rhetorically. "Besides, I wanted to spend my first Christmas with my new boyfriend."
Instantly, Harry's eyes locked back on hers. Boyfriend?
"But you don't have a boyfriend, Hermione?" he said quickly. "Unless there's something that you've forgotten to tell me."
"That's true, Harry," she replied, her eyes intensifying in a way that he couldn't identify. "I don't have a boyfriend. But that's only because he hasn't asked me yet."
Harry knew that he was incredibly thick when it came to girls and relationships but even he wasn't thick enough to miss a hint like that.
Hermione wanted to be his girlfriend? He'd never dared to dream, well, that wasn't quite true, he'd dreamt of it for longer than he cared to admit, even to himself. But he'd never done anything with it, too scared that he'd ruin things and push her away. He'd rather live a life devoid of love than be in a world without Hermione in his life.
The way that she was looking at him, encouraging him, waiting expectantly for him gave him the courage to do what he wanted to do with everything in him.
"Hermione, would you be my girlfriend?"
Instantly, her eyes intensified, shining brighter than he'd ever seen before. There was pure joy and elation and something else that he dared not identify just then.
"Yes, Harry, yes! I thought you'd never ask!" she replied excitedly.
"You know me, Hermione, sometimes I just need to find the right moment to act," he grinned.
"Or a hint as subtle as a brick," she laughed.
"Or that," he agreed.
Deciding to take the initiative while he still had his courage up, he took half a step forward until they were practically nose to nose. He saw her eyes widen before they began to close. He followed her lead even as he leant forward, tilting his head slightly until, finally, their lips touched.
It was tentative at first, that was until he felt her lips move against his. He pressed forward, parting his lips a little and kissed her more fully. It started sweet, gentle before transforming into something breathtaking and marvellous. How long it lasted, how long they kissed, tasting each other for that first, glorious kiss was anyone's guess. It could have been moments or perhaps centuries. However long it was, it was perfect.
When their lips finally parted, it was so that they could rest their foreheads against each other, their eyes once again locked together. Harry found that his hands were on her hips, hers around his neck, not that he had any idea when that'd happened.
"Does this mean that you're here for all of Christmas?" he asked hopefully.
"I told you, Harry, "I'm here to spend my first Christmas with my new boyfriend."
Harry gave the only response that seemed appropriate – he leant in again and captured her lips with his.
This may have started out looking as though it was going to be one of his worst Christmases ever, but he was now positive that it was going to be the best one ever! And all because of the girl in his arms, Hermione, his Hermione.